While most studies from western countries emphasize rationality in electoral behavior, the present study proposes that rationality is also a driver of candidates’ behavior in a non‐Western context. The purpose of the present study is to map campaign content as well as campaign strategies of 214 candidates in the 2015 United Arab Emirates legislative elections. The qualitative analysis showed rational consideration drove the selection of both campaign strategies and public policy positions. Candidates decided to include patriotism and social and economic policy issues in their campaigns to attract votes. In addition, while candidates utilized social meda in their campaigns hoping to maximize their voter outreach, doing so was not necessarily decisive in garnering more votes. Thus, juxtaposed with social meda channels like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, SnapChat, and GooglePlus, traditional campaigning strategies remained very potent.

中文翻译：

---

公共政策问题和竞选策略：在中东背景下的立法选举中检验合理性和社交媒体的作用

尽管大多数西方国家的研究都强调选举行为的合理性，但本研究提出，理性也是非西方背景下候选人行为的驱动力。本研究的目的是在2015年阿拉伯联合酋长国立法选举中绘制竞选内容以及214名候选人的竞选策略。定性分析表明，理性的考虑推动了竞选策略和公共政策立场的选择。候选人决定将爱国主义以及社会和经济政策问题纳入其竞选活动以吸引选票。此外，虽然候选人在竞选活动中利用社交手段希望最大程度地扩大选民的影响力，但这样做在赢得更多选票方面不一定起决定性作用。因此，与诸如Twitter，Facebook，