Political Elections in a Global Context
August 22nd, 2010 | Categories: Politics | 5 CommentsThis past weekend, Australia held a federal election. From what I’ve gathered based on my Australian friends’ tweets and skimming related headlines in Google News, Tony Abbott, the leader of the conservative party, is tipped to win by a razor thin margin. Jess has a fairly good summation of the whole election debacle in Australia from a non-conservative’s point of view, for those who are interested.
Several months ago, the UK held an election for a new prime minister as well. The UK had a hung parliament, which was a big deal, and there was a bit of a kerfuffle in sorting out the new governing party. Again, most of the information I got about it was through my friends’ tweets, with a pinch from the Google News headlines.
I wouldn’t know about any of this election information (in Australia, in the UK, or any other country) if I didn’t have friends in those countries, both online and offline, which alerted me to the fact that there was an election occurring and prompted me to do some independent news research. None of this election stuff is really covered in the US media. The only election in recent years I can recall getting any US media coverage is that of Iran in 2009, which is obvious because of what happened with the protests. I know that whenever the US has a presidential election, the entire world covers it in the media. But when other countries have elections, US media is largely indifferent.
I remember in the lead-up to the 2008 US presidential election, a friend of mine from England told me he thought that the entire world should elect the US president, not just US citizens. He said that because the entire world is affected by who the US chooses, the entire world should vote. I guess that’s why US presidential election media coverage is global while elections in other countries get no coverage in the US. Whomever countries like Australia and the UK elect as their leader largely do not affect the US1, but the decision in who becomes the leader of the free world impacts everyone.
- I told a friend about the current election debacle in Australia and his response was, “Why should we care? It’s not like Australia is going to suddenly turn against the US no matter who they elect.” [↩]
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Hi, I'm Manda. I'm a college student studying communications and languages. I like to read, shop, bake, and travel. I have a tendency to listen to my favorite songs on repeat for hours on end. Sometimes I catch myself thinking in a language other than English. 
The US media covered the hung British parliament to some degree. I mean, I knew about it and I have no friends in England. In general, UK elections get some coverage here because we have a close political relationship with them and Americans are somewhat aware of how their government works. Plus, as the offspring of England, we care about them. They’re like our great-grandma and we’re curious about her sometimes. We don’t have a close relationship with Australia though and no significant historical interactions and I honestly didn’t even know they had prime ministers until like last year…
America politics and America in general get a ton of media coverage, but in my opinion, it’s because we’re media whores and total sluts to the adage “All press is good press.” Which isn’t necessarily a good quality about us, haha. And it doesn’t even mean that people were originally at all concerned with us or know anything important about our politics, but we shove ourselves out there so much that we’re kind of commanding people to care and at the very least be able to name our current leading men/women. The AP is probably flooded with press releases form the White House and gets like 2 from other countries. “Look at this picture of Obama looking suave. No I won’t talk about anything political he’s doing, just look at him on vacation! Hear about his new dog! Look at his wife looking all Jackie O! Yes you know who Jackie O is because we were media whores back then too!” (Et cetera, et cetera.)
I totally agree with you about the American public and their appetite for drama in the media. But I disagree about the US not having a close relationship with Australia. It is not as apparent in the media as, say, US relations with the UK, as in comparison Australia is a smaller player on the world stage than the UK. But I was living in Australia when the Iraq War broke out and I saw first hand just how supportive Australia is of America (or was under the Howard leadership). Australia has troops in Iraq, Howard supported the war (one of the few leaders that did at the time it broke out), and I’m sure there are other examples but I can’t think of any off the top of my head.
I get what you mean about people caring (at least to a certain extent) about the US and Americans because we “shove ourselves out there” but… if one country’s actions would affect the future of YOUR country, wouldn’t you care?
Other country’s actions do affect our future. I’m sure China’s affecting me right now as I type this. But could I name their president? Do I know anything about their current policies? No and no, haha.
I get all that you’re saying about how other countries’ people are interested in American politics because it is seen as more influential, I just think that it’s a perception thing, not necessarily truth. I mean, what the EU is doing today is probably just as important globally as what the Senate is doing, but media-whore America will probably win more articles in daily papers. Maybe not, I don’t know.
I really shouldn’t even talk about this since I’ve never left the country for more than a week… the entry just got my mind all rolling with crazy thoughts and screaming “media whore” a lot, very loudly, haha.
I guess that comes down to our different backgrounds – I know a heck of a lot about China’s policies and their leaders, as well as other countries, etc. In our increasingly interconnected world, I think it’s vital to know this about other countries. I’m interested in this kind of stuff, but I also want to know what’s going on because ultimately a lot of this stuff affects me / will affect me in the future, depending on the choices the leaders make.
The US really does affect other countries in huge ways. One example I can think of is the Kyoto Protocol – our old Prime Minister, Paul Martin, agreed to it, but George Bush didn’t. When we got a new Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, he pulled out of the deal because it would have been economic suicide to take part in it when the US wasn’t.
To some extent I think it’s a little extreme to say that every country should have the right to vote in American elections, but it’s true that the US does have a huge impact on the world. I know that once I get my dual citizenship I’ll be voting in American elections, even though I have no desire to ever live there for any real length of time.