Abstract

This study aims to interpret the changes in current electoral campaigns through the analysis of the strategic communication of 150 Italian MPs (of the XVII Legislature), during the electoral campaigns and the subsequent mandate. What is happening in Italy? Is it enough to consider changes only in terms of technological determinism, or of convergence/hybridisation? Starting from questions about the use of electoral tools, and the professionalization of political communication, it is possible to highlight different profiles of parliamentarians and, above all, to emphasize a logic behind the use of tools that is closer to a simple overlap, than to a mature convergence/conciliation between the means of mobilization. Individual politicians interpret the rules of the electoral game differently and this depends on the political culture and perceptions of the competition outcome. The consequence is the co-presence of a plurality of approaches to the campaign itself.