Innsbruck 2002

EAPC • Europe Meeting • May 1 to 4, 2002 • Innsbruck /Austria

Speeches

Horst Becker
Erhard Busek
Michael Carmichael
Ana Fernandes
Peter Frei
Helmut Mader
Dominik Meier
Joe Napolitan
Fritz Plasser
Guido Schommer
Carlo Willeit


Michael Carmichael

Political Consultants
today - tomorrow

In the early years of the 21st century, political reality is changing rapidly. Technological advances like the internet combined with the integration of the press and media provide citizens everywhere in the world with the latest developments in what has been aptly named The Information Age. Gone forever are the early days of television when the public could be spoon fed focussed messages, while politicians relaxed secure in the knowledge that the voters would react like Pavlovian dogs and unfailingly support the candidate with the biggest advertising and marketing budget. Over the course of the past five decades the voting public has become increasingly wary and suspicious of the political process. Pollsters and political consultants must face the music and recognise that they are largely responsible for this growing trend of cynicism. More recently, the ideal of democracy has begun to sour. The 2000 presidential election in the US and the dubious character of its resolution have given a new burst of momentum to the new tides of political suspicion that are sweeping across every nation on our planet. Politicians, pollsters and political consultants are facing a crisis of confidence on a global scale. How we react to this challenge will determine the success or failure, the survival or extinction of our profession. The primary role for political consultants of tomorrow is to restore confidence in the democratic process itself. The stakes are high, for failure will result in the end of the classical democratic ideals of freedom and the open society.