Cursos / 1º Ciclo / Faculty of Law :: International Relations

COMUNICAÇÃO POLÍTICA - 2025/2026

1º curricular year
Semestralidade: 2nd semester
ECTS: 6

Teachers

Leading Teacher: Prof. Doutor Tiago André Lopes

Class type and School hours

Orientação Tutorial : 1 Horas
Teórico-prática : 2 Horas

Teaching Language

Portuguese

Main Aims/Objectives

The course aims to equip students with tools that allow them to understand, decode, and construct various forms of communication with a political purpose. The course will have a dual approach: focusing on the types of communication, but also on the various channels with potential for use.

Specific Aims/Objectives

The course aims for students to understand a crucial domain in contemporary International Relations: Political Communication. The course will have an initial theoretical dimension, to better understand the mechanisms of operationalizing communication with political content; but it will also include a practical dimension in which students will be able to develop professional skills in written and oral communication.

Skills to be acquired

By the end of the semester, the student will be able to: a.) understand the ontological functioning of Political Communication and master the scientific terminology of this field of knowledge; b.) autonomously decode the explicit and implicit meanings of contemporary Political Communication; c.) plan and construct forms of Political Communication.

Teaching Procedures

The course will have several expository classes, particularly in the theoretical-practical classes during the first weeks of the semester. Active learning methods, such as ´think-pair-share´, will be gradually introduced in the second half of the semester. The tutorial orientation classes will opt for active learning models such as ´problem-based learning´ and ´project-based learning´, in order to equip students with professional skills.

Programme

1. Theoretical dimension of Political Communication
1.1. Political Communication Bias in the 21st century
1.2. Gatekeeping, agenda-setting and priming
1.3. Spiral of Silence and Political Polarization
1.4. Theory of Limited Effects and Selective Exposure Theories

2. The arena of Political Communication
2.1. The channels
2.2. The protagonists
2.3. The types of communication
2.4. Effectiveness and sustainability
2.5. Democracy in the era of multi-level Communication

3. Political Communication Lab
3.1. Explicit content vs. implicit content
3.2. Subliminal messages and management of "silences"
3.3. Definition of target audience
3.4. The communicational triptych: Message - Feedback - Response

Evaluation Type

The assessment system is carried out in accordance with the rules defined in the General Regulations for Knowledge Assessment of Lusíada Universities. In this sense, continuous assessment is taken into account, namely attendance, participation, completion of two mid-term assessment tests and research work.

Teaching Resources

Powerpoints provided by the instructor via moodle; online resources; selected scientific readings provided, in digital and paper formats, by the instructor

Sustainability Objectives

Objective 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all

Keywords

International Relations;
Political Communication;
Mass Media;
Social Networks

Main Bibliography

Complementary Bibliography