List of Tables and Figures Preface and Acknowledgements 1. In Search of the ‘Good’ Democracy: Comparing Political and Media Systems 2. Citizens, Political Representation and Parliamentary Public Spheres 3. Professionalised Parties, the Electoral Mechanism and the New Wave of Party Leaders: The Rise of David Cameron 4. The Production of Policy and News: Liquid Politics and the Working Cultures of the New Capitalism 5. Journalist-Source Relations, Mediated Reflexivity and the Politics of Politics 6. Celebrity Politics, Symbolic Communication and Media Capital in the Political Field 7. New Media and Fat Democracy: The Paradox of Online Participation 8. Politics and Communication Between the National and the Global: Determining the Boundaries and Significance of ‘International Political Communication’ 9. Foreign Policy-Making, War and the Disembedding of Cosmopolitan Elite Networks: The Case of Iraq 2003 10. The ‘Crisis’ of Politics and Communication in Ageing Democracies List of Interviewees Bibliography Index

"This is a slim volume but it packs a powerful punch, combining sociological and political theory, extensive fieldwork and anthropological observation." - Ivor Gaber, THE"[Aeron Davis] had produced a first-class series of essays that should be at the top of any good political communications reading list" - Ivor Gaber, THE"Aeron Davis’ eloquent study of political communication and democracy in the age of digital media skilfully blends social theory with a wealth of ‘insider’ accounts from senior politicians and journalists to produce a classic text. Richly sourced with contemporary case studies, Political Communication and Social Theory analyses the global ‘crisis’ confronting journalism, media and democracy, and offers essential and compelling reading which sets a new benchmark for political communication scholarship." - Bob Franklin, Professor of Journalism Studies, Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, UK"Aeron Davis’s brilliant new book offers up clear-eyed, critical analyses of social theory, deftly applied to real-world case studies of politics and journalism in action. He doesn’t just review the literature, he transforms it with new ways of thinking about media capital, elite networks, online democracy, and the organizational iron cage. I can’t imagine a more engaging, lucid, and original tour d’horizon of political communication, nor a more convincing testament to the dangers - and opportunities -- facing contemporary democracies." - Rodney Benson, Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University, USA"Aeron Davis’s book could hardly be more timely: it examines the delicate question of the links between democratic politics and media systems in the UK at a moment of great change in both. But it is more than timely: it sets the UK experience into a wider comparative and theoretical framework, and is consistently rigorous in its theoretical analysis and deployment of evidence. It will be invaluable not only to students and researchers, but to practitioners in the media and in the political system." - Michael Moran, Professor of Government, University of Manchester, UK