Understanding Political Consulting: A Systems‐Theoretical View

Abstract

The article analyses political consulting as an attempt at controlling political communication effects, using Luhmann's theory of social systems as the framework. On the basis of causal attributions, the instruments of political consulting provide campaign decisions with special expertise. However, the selectivity of these causal attributions intensifies the second‐order observation of public opinion. An appraisal of the, mostly American, literature on election campaigns and consulting therefore leads to the conclusion that political consulting both reduces the uncertainty of specific campaign decisions and increases the overall uncertainty of politics. The double‐edged effects of political consulting are a consequence of the self‐referential operation of a differentiated political system. This is highlighted by a comparison with Russia where, under conditions of inchoate functional differentiation, the equivalent of political consulting takes on a different character.