Political communication has become an academic and professional field where communication and politics converge with particular intensity, to the point where today politics is unthinkable without sustainable communication management.
Therefore, there is no politics without communication. But we are not in the age of communication. It is politics alongside communication. It is politics with communication, necessary for building consensus to govern, or to legitimize political actions in a democracy.
A 360° view of Political Communication is needed to provide management tools to officials, communication teams, advisors and consultants in national, intermediate, and local governments, party and social leaders, and journalists, in a context where democracy does not guarantee adequate political representation. Thus, the master's program seeks to raise awareness of the importance of governing and managing crises, as well as understanding electoral dynamics, but without associating communication with political marketing. It focuses on building legitimacy through political communication.
That graduates acquire the necessary skills to become political-communicative leaders in the institutions and organizations for which they work.
That they are able to diagnose in depth the various communicative factors that are encompassed in the political processes that develop in society.
That they manage to design the appropriate communication strategies to become part of the political processes.
That they can measure – both quantitatively and qualitatively – and assess the results of their communication strategies in political processes.
That they can lead the processes of change through communication, and understand that their profession has an ethical dimension and a democratic responsibility.
How and when does the course take place?
You can attend classes on the following days and times:
Compulsory and optional subjects:
Friday 8.30 to 13.30 pm / 9 to 13 pm
Friday 15 to 19 pm / 15 to 20 pm
Optional subjects:
Saturdays 9 a.m. to 13 p.m.
+ two or three subjects in intensive mode.
Where do I take the course?
The course is online and some subjects have optional in-person attendance at the Buenos Aires campus of the Universidad Austral, Cerrito 1250, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
TOTAL DEDICATION
Between 18 and 24 months.
The master's degree is aimed at professionals in Human or Social Sciences, particularly those in the fields of Political Science, Social Communication, Journalism, International Relations, Sociology, Public Relations, Public Administration, Advertising, Psychology, Law and Economics, among others.
In this sense, it will be of vital importance for those dedicated to academia and research focused on the study of public opinion formation processes and the social impact of political communication; Professionals in the field of political consulting, public opinion, market research and advertising; Communicators and journalists linked to the topics of the postgraduate program; Members of communication departments, those responsible for communication in political parties, governments and public institutions, communication advisors in the public, political and electoral spheres; Political analysts and professionals in active politics.
I chose the Master's in Political Communication because I wanted to professionalize the work I was already doing. I've worked in consulting for over 20 years. I specialize in public opinion research, but current times mean that clients increasingly require communication services. So, the idea of professionalizing this field and having access to professors who are leading experts in the subject is what drew me to the program. Universidad Austral
Theories of political behavior (required)
Political behavior can be considered the core of political analysis. The actions of political actors shape, within a complex framework, the characteristics, dynamics, and outcomes of political processes. Therefore, understanding why political actors do what they do is central to any approach that attempts to explain these processes.
Ethics of communication (mandatory)
This course presents an anthropological foundation for professional ethics, understood as a framework for analyzing the real problems encountered in the management of public affairs and communication. It defines the responsibilities arising from the dynamics of communication, both personally and institutionally. It proposes new ways of resolving ethical conflicts that respect the dignity of those involved in the act of communicating and the nature of communicative action itself.
Communication Theory (optional)
This course attempts to describe how the role of communication has changed in philosophy and the social sciences, according to the views of the major authors and theories of Western thought. The most important themes are: communication as a foundation, communication as a problem, communication as a mechanism, and communication as a determinant.
The class methodology includes the professor's presentation and the discussion of the bibliography in groups of two or three people.
Public opinion, agenda and framing (optional)
The notion that humans access events beyond their direct experience primarily through the media had a twofold implication. First, it highlighted the relevance of media power in granting the status of “reality” to that which is always the result of an active production process. Second, it prompted an inquiry into the various components of the relationship between the media system, the political system, and public opinion. Since the media do not operate independently of the political system, their role in the public sphere must be studied both for the effects they generate on public opinion and for the internal and external factors affecting media institutions that condition journalistic practice. In other words, it is important to investigate both the frameworks in which such discourses are produced and those they generate. We speak of frameworks—or framing—because we understand that the values, traits, and interests shared by the members of a community are reflected in media narratives. The course “Public Opinion, Agenda, and Framing” focuses on this problematic intersection.
Comparative political and electoral systems. Comparative legislation (optional)
The objectives of the subject are to acquire knowledge that allows for understanding, analyzing, and critically evaluating the different contemporary political and electoral regimes; to identify the typifying features of each of them, in order to approach them from the particularities with which each State designs and adopts them for its own power and government structure; to empower the student in terms of their capacity for analysis and construction of political discourse, differentiating according to the approach that they should carry out from their profession; and finally, to provide them with dialectical and discursive capacity to critically review political discourse, identifying its conceptual strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of the political and electoral regimes to which it must be applied.
History of political communication (optional)
The objectives of the subject are to incorporate and deepen a historical vision in the study of the media, to understand the relationship between government, politicians and the media from a historical perspective and, finally, to know the evolution of the media and its link with politics.
Analysis of politics in the media context (optional)
The objectives of this course are: to develop an analytical perspective on political communication actions and their potential impacts on media-saturated societies; to understand the role of media actors involved in public communication, especially journalists and political communicators; to understand the role of mass media in social exchange and its articulation with communication technologies in the contemporary media system; to develop a responsible attitude in political communication by identifying its potential impact on public information; to understand the nature of social interactions in the media-saturated public sphere and the social responsibility that political organizations and actors have within them; and finally, to develop a vision of the mediatization of politics and the evolution of journalism, for communication advisors to politicians or public bodies.
Government and public policy communication (mandatory)
The objectives of the subject are: to understand the routines of government communication for building consensus, the myth of government and the separation of government communication from electoral, crisis and risk communication; to understand crisis communication strategies in public affairs and scandal management; to analyze the possible convergence actions of a government and the implementation of digital strategies and, finally, to promote a better organization of communication offices for a better communication strategy.
Electoral Strategy and Communication. Electoral Campaigns in Latin America (required)
The subject aims to carry out diagnoses that allow defining both the campaign objectives and the population segments to which the persuasive communication of the candidate and party should be directed; recommend and apply methods and techniques, resources and instruments, tools and tactics, inherent to the planning of political communication strategies, as well as the presentation of the image of the candidates.
Public Affairs and Crisis Communication (mandatory)
The course presents an advanced introduction to the problems that business, state, and non-governmental corporations encounter within the public sphere.
The student incorporates and analyzes the concepts of organizational power structure, public arena, institutionalization, legitimation, risk, crisis, and public conflict. The theoretical perspective is that of communication.
The classes are expository and work using the case method.
Media relations and media planning (mandatory)
The subject aims to describe the internal workings of journalism, attempting to reflect the enormous heterogeneity of this professional sector; to understand the needs and advantages of organizations in their relationships with the media; to know and apply tools for press management in the field of organizations and, finally, to be able to make a press relations plan based on the needs of a specific organization.
Organization and planning of government and crisis communication (optional)
The subject aims to integrate the structural variables of government and crisis communication into a communication plan, both strategic and operational; to analyze the relationship between management areas and their communication and spokesperson departments in the handling of government and crisis communication; and finally, to link the general communication plan to special or complex situations.
Internal Communication (optional)
Internal communication has developed remarkably over the past 20 years, both in academia and in the professional world, but this development has been linked almost exclusively to the institutional and corporate sphere. Today, however, with the increasing professionalization of governments at all levels (supranational, national, provincial, and local), the development of internal government communication has become imperative. No government can fully achieve its mission, vision, and values without the commitment of its employees. And having this commitment fundamentally means achieving consensus. The necessary changes in motivations, attitudes, and behaviors to reach this consensus with the objectives of the government project are achieved primarily through internal communication.
The objective of this subject is for master's students to incorporate the basic theoretical concepts of governmental internal communication and its differences with respect to institutional and corporate communication; be able to diagnose a communicative situation from the perspective of internal communication; be able to develop a strategic internal communication plan and execute it; and, finally, possess the necessary knowledge to evaluate the results of the implementation of that plan.
International Communication and Public Diplomacy (optional)
The subject aims to understand the field of study of global communication, to understand Country Branding and Public Diplomacy as global communication strategies and, finally, to analyze different country branding and public diplomacy strategies in the development of the external national image.
Construction and analysis of political discourse (required)
The objectives of the subject are for the master's students to be able to distinguish the components and forms of the different variants of political discourse; understand the proposed link that promotes political enunciation; be able to analyze, in a differential way, the meaning of different discourses; promote a strategic vision of discourse based on the construction of a sustainable public position and discourse and, finally, construct frameworks of topics and problems, slogans, scripts and texts for various discursive interventions in the public space.
Strategic management of corporate image (mandatory)
This course allows you to analyze and apply the framework necessary to build, project, and improve an organization's image. It explores how corporate communication and the definition of an organization's public image play central roles in daily management. Key topics include: image building, strategic image planning, external analysis, defining the corporate profile, profile communication, and the basic structure of corporate communication.
We work with practical cases and examples.
Political Language and Discourse (elective)
Given the growing importance of Political Communication as an academic discipline and as a field of work for consultants, advisors, journalists, and politicians, it is necessary to begin at the beginning: What are the characteristics of political language and discourse? What linguistic manipulation strategies are typically employed? What stance should be taken regarding the phenomenon of politically correct language? What strategies can be used to improve vocabulary and the clarity of messages? How can the different types of oral and written texts used by politicians be constructed? How does the complex relationship between journalists and politicians unfold from a rhetorical perspective?
It is not simply about analyzing texts, but about understanding and learning to build a coherent and reliable political discourse from the ground up, starting with language.
Argumentation (optional)
This course presents the fundamentals of argumentation theory and practice, its procedures, and fallacies. Through the observation of specific cases, students analyze the arguments necessary for the various professional activities of the master's students: project presentations, personnel evaluations, external and internal communications, etc. Students' oral presentations, the filming and critique of their discourse, stimulate critical thinking and enrich their oral and written expression. Likewise, they allow students to appreciate dialogue as a tool for organizational learning and the collaborative construction of meaning.
Negotiation (optional)
This course introduces, analyzes, and applies the Harvard Negotiation School's method. It is conducted in a workshop format, and the assessment methodology consists of a written assignment in which the learned categories and methods are applied.
Lobbying (optional)
This course explains how to influence public policy at the national, provincial, and municipal levels. Some of the concepts students learn include planning, tactics, strategies, time management, influence, persuasion, and power. The teaching methodology is analytical, and case studies are used to observe and discuss the lobbying process.
Transmedia & Storytelling (optional)
The subject aims to understand, describe and analyze transmedia narratives, both fiction and non-fiction, and relate them to political communication; acquire knowledge about the key aspects of transmedia productions: roles and business models; develop a criterion for analyzing cases of transmedia narratives from the perspective of transmedia consumption and, finally, characterize the new audiences of transmedia narratives.
Media discourses and audiences (optional)
The subject aims to: analyze media discourse from the point of view of ideological and commercial strategy; assess the different ways in which audiences influence the production of media content; recognize the discursive mechanisms of audience acquisition and retention; detect trends in the relationship of audiences with media content; understand the scope and limitations of dissemination studies; and be able to design proposals for reception studies.
Nonverbal communication workshop (optional)
The objectives of the workshop are to develop the ability to communicate better, strengthen the awareness that non-verbal behaviors play a critical role in the overall communication process, acquire knowledge about the most relevant theoretical aspects of Non-Verbal Communication (NVC), and finally, incorporate NVC tools for their application as a change management factor.
Oral and written expression workshop (optional)
The objectives of the workshop are for master's students to recognize, through their writing practices, their strengths and most frequent errors; to write correctly, respecting grammatical, spelling, and typographical rules; to become familiar with text types and paratexts in the academic field; to produce short pieces of academic scientific discourse as part of their preparation for the final master's thesis; to learn the fundamentals of public speaking; to communicate effectively; to influence their audience and persuade them positively; and finally, to incorporate knowledge and skills for preparing an oral presentation.
Negotiation for conflict management (optional)
The objectives of this course are for master's students to acquire knowledge and practice skills to perform effectively in the field of negotiation, operating with a reasonable level of efficiency within the specific profile of their respective professions; to capitalize on the knowledge of the participants and enhance it by systematizing ideas, enabling exchange, and providing new operational tools that will allow them, in the future, to have greater control over the results of their negotiations; to learn negotiation strategies, techniques, and methodological tools with a sufficiently contextualized perspective of the activity and the meaning of integration, in groups that operate on the same sector of reality, from different levels of analysis and interpretation (interdisciplinary approach); to be able to practice group integration through active participation and teamwork; to develop new lines of thought to address problems from diverse angles, different and effective action plans as an expression of creative capacity in pursuit of quality negotiated solutions; and, finally, to be able to identify intra- and extra-organizational situations in each student's professional activity that require negotiation skills.
Research methodology (mandatory)
The aim of this course is for students to learn the necessary steps for presenting a research project and conducting scientific research. Specifically, they are expected to be able to define a scientific problem, propose possible solutions, suggest methodological tools appropriate to the hypothesis being tested, and relate the results obtained to existing theoretical frameworks. The course is assessed through class participation and the submission of a final paper.
Final project workshop (mandatory)
This workshop presents, in a practical way, the steps of the research process and the preparation of the parts of the final master's work: definition of the topic, statement of the problem, state of the art, documentation and bibliography, analysis and diagnosis matrices, development of projects and writing.
Qualitative methodology. Design and interpretation of focus groups. In-depth interviews (optional)
The course aims to equip students with the following objectives: to become fluent in the tools available for qualitative research and their applicability to specific situations; to understand the scope of a qualitative research design and the particularities of its implementation in the field; to develop the capacity for analysis and discernment regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the techniques available for each type of object of study, population, and research question. Finally, to enable them to apply focus group and in-depth interview techniques, based on an understanding of the different aspects to consider for the proper collection of information and its subsequent analysis.
Statistics for Communication (optional)
The subject aims to: enable master's students to introduce statistical analysis of information as a tool for the quantitative description of variables in decision-making; estimate the error made when analyzing percentages in surveys; analyze the relationships of association between variables within the field of communication; and, finally, present the concepts of descriptive statistics, probability, normal distribution, and statistical inference, so that students are able to apply them to the analysis of data from surveys and other information gathering techniques.
Methodology of analysis and interpretation (optional)
With the aim of helping students understand the fundamental problems of interpretation that arise in the humanities and social sciences, this course introduces tools for analyzing diverse discourses from media and social actors. The course proposes methods for validating interpretations in qualitative research and for triangulating them with other scientific approaches. It utilizes lectures, in-class discussions of texts, and the analysis of research case studies.
Content analysis (optional)
That course participants can experience a growing and well-founded decision to deepen their analysis of the different discursive phenomena of the media in order to develop their professional work with responsibility and a creative spirit; to provide analytical criteria that allow participants to understand the functioning of different discourses and the construction of their respective texts; to promote the practice of critical reading of different texts; to stimulate the appreciation of different narrative-audiovisual resources in order to achieve better communication.
Media convergence (mandatory)
The course aims to enable master's students to understand the structural changes in new communication; become familiar with the latest trends in the digital market; analyze the media convergence process and the context in which it occurs; possess a solid foundation of general principles for the study of the communication, technology, and entertainment markets; identify the main players in the digital market and analyze their strategies; analyze the future of conventional media; identify the main sources of employment, the changes in job profiles, and their current position in the value chain; identify new business opportunities in niche markets; and, finally, promote a shift in values towards technology as an everyday factor in the 21st century.
Hypermedia and social media strategy (optional)
The course aims to provide master's students with knowledge of the nature of networks; a comprehensive understanding of the main internet trends; an evaluation of the different technological options available based on their objectives; an integration and use of their professional skills in online platforms; a transformation into ambassadors for the necessary change in organizations; a integration of different generational cultures to reduce the digital divide; and, finally, a development that leverages the potential of online tools to achieve more effective, transparent, coherent, and citizen-friendly political communication.
Within the "General Electives" area, elective subjects belonging to other postgraduate master's degree programs will be offered. Universidad AustralThey may take courses in the Faculty of Law, Business Sciences, or the Graduate School of Communication. As an example, the Faculty of Engineering may offer courses related to the Master's in Data Mining.
GENERAL DISCOUNTS
OTHER CORPORATE DISCOUNTS (20%):
Disney – Pan American Energy – Grupo Petersen – Correo Argentino – Servier Argentina – San Cristóbal – Bridgestone – Sinergium Biotech – Paramount – Dridco – Intervet Merck – MSD Argentina – Accenture – Buenos Aires City Legislature – BBVA Employees.
Ask about other institutional or corporate discounts.
Special discounts for Associations:
If you belong to these associations you get a 15% discount.
If you are from the interior of the country, the discount is 20%.
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