Personalization Of Politics Essay

Political scientists and commentators have discussed the personalization of politics for some years. Personalization refers to ‘the notion that individual political actors have become more prominent at the expense of parties and collective identities’ (Karvonen, 2010: 4). In media coverage, this trend is manifested in the form of increased visibility of candidates and more precisely of party leaders compared to their parties. In fact, many surveys have pointed out that the political power that the candidates hold affects the amount of coverage they receive, with party leaders and the candidates of the party in office becoming more prominent during the election campaign (Tresch, 2009; Schönbach, de Ridder, & Lauf, 2001; Wolfsfeld & Sheafer,