historical phases of campaigning, each dominated by a particular set of practices and organisational traits. The first campaign phase that is commonly referred to in literature is the pre-modern phase that developed in the late nineteenth century as a result of the expansion of the franchise. Lipset and Rokkan suggest that, during this period, electoral support for parties were based on stable social cleavages such as class, religion and region. 200 Hence elections and campaigns were viewed as mechanisms to reinforce partisan support rather than win voters from opposition parties. 201 The campaign, therefore, reflected this view with Norris suggesting that is was based on a ‘local - active’ model in which campaign organisation was decentralised and human-intensive, constituency-orientated activities such as doorstep canvassing and local rallies were preferred. 202 However, Dalton, Flanagan and Beck (1984) write that in the mid-twentieth century, there was a marked rise in dealignment as a result of socioeconomic developments thus parties adopted catch-all strategies to attract voters on a national rather than a local scale; this development has been coined the modern phase. In this phase, the campaign became centrally organised with parties employing professional campaign workers in order to make the most of the opportunities of the expansion of television, which had radically transformed party communications such as the advent of paid television advertisements , ‘prime time’ party broadca sts and controlled photo opportunities. Since the latter part of the twentieth century, some scholars have conveyed that the campaign has evolved as a result of the growth of the internet as well as the fragmentation of media outlets; these developments have facilitated new forms of interaction with voters and has been associated with the rise of the 200 Lispset, S.M., & Rokkan, S. (1967). Party systems and voter alignments. New York: Free Press. p.69 201 Lazarsfeld, P.F., Berelson, B., & Gaudet, B. (1944). The peoples choice: How the voter makes up his mind in a presidential campaign. New York: Columbia University Press. p.89 202 Norris, p.3
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