Influences on the Number and Gender of Candidates in Canadian Local Elections

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Breux ◽  
Jérôme Couture ◽  
Royce Koop
Keyword(s):  
Local Elections ◽  
National Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Mayoral Elections ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Election Results ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Cross National

AbstractWe explore influences on the number of candidates, and female candidates in particular, who contest mayoral elections in Canada. We draw on an original cross-national data set of election results from mayoral elections in Canada's 100 largest cities between 2006 and 2017. An average of 4.96 candidates contested mayoral elections in this period, and 16 per cent of all candidates were women. Density and mayoral prestige were related to higher numbers of candidates; in contrast, incumbent candidates and the availability of other elected positions were related to lower numbers. Notably, the presence of a female incumbent was related to higher numbers of women running for the position of mayor; in contrast, higher mayoral salaries were associated with an increase in the number of male but not female candidates. This analysis enhances our understanding of the factors underlying contested local elections, as well as the factors that appear to facilitate women contesting local elections.

scholarly journals Assessing Short-Term Fertility Intentions and Their Realisation Using the Generations and Gender Survey: Pitfalls and Challenges

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzanna Brzozowska ◽  
Eva Beaujouan
Keyword(s):  
Fertility Intentions ◽  
Fertility Intention ◽  
National Data ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Questionnaire Adaptation ◽  
Cross National

AbstractThe use of fertility intention questions to study individual childbearing behaviour has developed rapidly in recent decades. In Europe, the Generations and Gender Surveys are the main sources of cross-national data on fertility intentions and their realisation. This study investigates how an inconsistent implementation of a question about wanting a child now affects the cross-country comparability of intentions to have a child within the next three years and their realisation. We conduct our analysis separately for women and men at prime and late reproductive ages in Austria, France, Italy and Poland. The results show that the overall share of respondents intending to have a child at some point in their life is similar in all four analysed countries. However, once the time horizon and the degree of certainty of fertility intentions are included, substantial cross-country differences appear, particularly in terms of proceptive behaviour and, consequently, the realisation of fertility intentions. We conclude that the inconsistent questionnaire adaptation makes it very difficult to assess the role of country context in the realisation of childbearing intentions.

Linkage to the West and Electoral Manipulation

2020 ◽  
pp. 147892992092010
Author(s):  
Jaroslav Bílek
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
National Data ◽  
The West ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Taking Action ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
International Linkage ◽  
Cross National

The relationship between linkage to the West and the survival of political regimes has gained increasing attention in recent years. Despite this attention, one aspect of this linkage remains poorly understood, and that is the effect of linkage to the West on electoral manipulation. Scholars have suggested that linkage to the West raises the cost of government abuse because it increases the probability of Western governments taking action in response to reported abuse. This assumption then suggests that incumbents should choose the forms of repression more wisely. Consequently, in cases of the higher level of linkage to the West incumbents are less likely to use the more visible forms of repression and manipulation. I test the aforementioned assumptions on time series, cross-national data set with observations of 147 elections in competitive authoritarian regimes between 1990 and 2010. I find that extensive international relations to the West have only minimal and statistically non-significant effect on visible forms of repression and manipulation. These results contribute to our understanding of international linkage as they show that linkage to the West does not provide sufficient protection to opposition leaders and groups.

The electoral advantage of the left in times of fiscal adjustment

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel Bojar
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
National Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Fiscal Adjustment ◽  
Exit Options ◽  
Cross National

Despite widely held views on fiscal adjustment as a political minefield for government parties, the empirical literature on the issue has been surprisingly inconclusive. A crucial variable that has been often overlooked in the debate is partisan politics. Building on the micro-logic of Albert Hirschman’s ‘exit, voice, and loyalty’ framework, this article offers a novel theoretical perspective on the conditioning impact of partisan government in the electoral arena. Due to their more limited exit options at their disposal, left-wing voters are less likely to inflict electoral punishment on their parties, offering the latter an electoral advantage over their right-wing rivals. Relying on the largest cross-national data set to date on the evolution of close to 100 parties’ popularity ratings in 21 democracies, time-series–cross-section results confirm this electoral advantage. Somewhat paradoxically, while center-right government parties systematically lose popularity in years of fiscal adjustment, no such regularity is found for left-leaning incumbents.

Go Means Green: Diasporas’ Affinity for Ecological Groups

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anca Turcu ◽  
R. Urbatsch
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Ecological Groups ◽  
National Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Large N ◽  
Political Voice ◽  
Cross National

Recent expansions of diaspora rights have given overseas residents increasing political voice. This is particularly significant for environmental politics, because expatriates’ distinctive values, which are typically more cosmopolitan and multicultural than those of domestic voters, are likely to align with values of green organizations. Large- N analyses of an original, cross-national data set of election returns confirm this hypothesis: political parties from the ecological family receive larger shares of the emigrant vote than of the domestic vote, even when controlling for other factors that may win diaspora votes. Enhancing expatriates’ political power may accordingly increase the influence of a country’s environmentalist groups and parties.

scholarly journals Not all social cleavages are the same: On the relationship between religious diversity and party system fragmentation

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 364-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Raymond
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Party System ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
National Data ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Number Of Parties ◽  
Social Cleavage ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross National

AbstractMost studies examining the relationship between social cleavages and party system fragmentation maintain that higher levels of social diversity lead to greater party system fragmentation. However, most aggregate-level studies focus on one type of social cleavage: ethnic diversity. In order to develop a better understanding of how different cleavages impact electoral competition, this article considers another type of social cleavage: religious diversity. Contrary to previous literature, higher levels of religious diversity provide incentives for cross-religious cooperation, which in turn reduces party system fragmentation. Using a cross-national data set of elections from 1946–2011, the results show that, in contrast to most studies examining the effects of social cleavage diversity on the number of parties, higher religious diversity is associated with lower levels of party system fragmentation.

Making the World Safe for Dictatorship

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Dukalskis
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bad News ◽  
United States Government ◽  
National Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The World ◽  
States Government ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Cross National

Authoritarian states try to present a positive image of themselves abroad. They invest in foreign-facing media, retain public relations firms, and showcase their successes to elite and popular foreign audiences. But there is also a darker side to these efforts. Authoritarian states try to obscure or censor bad news about their governments and often discredit their critics abroad. In extreme cases, authoritarian states intimidate, physically attack, or even murder their opponents overseas. This book is about how authoritarian states manage their image abroad using both “promotional” tactics of persuasion and “obstructive” tactics of repression. They adopt these practices to enhance their internal and external regime security or, put differently, to make their world safe for dictatorship. To substantiate these arguments, the book uses a diverse array of data, including fieldwork and author interviews, cross-national data on extraterritorial repression, examination of public relations filings with the United States government, analysis of authoritarian propaganda, media frequency analysis, and speeches and statements by authoritarian leaders. It builds a new data set—the Authoritarian Actions Abroad Database—that uses publicly available information to categorize nearly 1,200 instances in which authoritarian states repressed their critical exiles abroad, ranging from vague threats to confirmed assassinations. It also selects three cases for closer examination to understand in more detail how authoritarian states manage their image abroad using combinations of promotional and obstructive tactics: China, Rwanda, and North Korea. The result is a new way of thinking about the international dimensions of authoritarian politics.

Party Goals and Government Performance in Parliamentary Democracies

1985 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 738-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaare Strom
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Government Performance ◽  
National Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Parliamentary Democracies ◽  
Minority Government ◽  
Significant Performance ◽  
Competing Hypotheses ◽  
Cross National

From assumptions of parties as rational actors, this study develops four measures of government performance: duration, mode of resignation, subsequent alternation, and electoral success. These measures are used in a test of competing hypotheses concerning minority government performance in parliamentary democracies. Minority governments are conventionally portrayed as poor performers, but tests of this proposition have been seriously limited. An alternative hypothesis depicts minority governments as rational cabinet solutions without significant performance liabilities. These hypotheses are tested against an extensive cross-national data set including 323 postwar governments in 15 parliamentary democracies. The conventional wisdom about minority governments is not supported by the evidence. In some respects, minority governments are clearly superior to majority coalitions. Moreover, minority government formation may enhance systemic responsiveness and accountability. The findings support the explanation of minority governments as rational cabinet solutions.

scholarly journals AFTER PARITY. A MIXED METHODS STUDY ON GENDER BIAS IN THE VOLUME OF MEDIA COVERAGE OF ELECTORAL CAMPAIGNS

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frida V. Rodelo
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Gender Bias ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Parity Principle ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
And Gender

The absence of gender bias in the media coverage of political campaigns is one of the elements of the much sought after political participation of women. In this respect, Mexico is an interesting case as its legal framework has transitioned in a few years to include a mandated parity principle. In this study, we examine the relationship between the volume of coverage and gender to determine if there were gender differences in the radio coverage of local elections in Mexico (2012-2015). Findings show lower average shares of coverage for women after the increase in female candidates mandated by the parity principle. Semi-structured interviews conducted with journalists and former candidates suggest that the gender bias may reflect adverse attitudes towards female newcomers benefitted by the parity law, and gender differences in campaign resources, candidate placement criteria, and candidates’ political experience.

An Informed Forensics Approach to Detecting Vote Irregularities

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 488-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob M. Montgomery ◽  
Santiago Olivella ◽  
Joshua D. Potter ◽  
Brian F. Crisp
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning Technique ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Electoral Fraud ◽  
Fraud Risk ◽  
Learning Technique ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Additive Regression ◽  
The One ◽  
Country Specific ◽  
Cross National

Electoral forensics involves examining election results for anomalies to efficiently identify patterns indicative of electoral irregularities. However, there is disagreement about which, if any, forensics tool is most effective at identifying fraud, and there is no method for integrating multiple tools. Moreover, forensic efforts have failed to systematically take advantage of country-specific details that might aid in diagnosing fraud. We deploy a Bayesian additive regression trees (BART) model–a machine-learning technique–on a large cross-national data set to explore the dense network of potential relationships between various forensic indicators of anomalies and electoral fraud risk factors, on the one hand, and the likelihood of fraud, on the other. This approach allows us to arbitrate between the relative importance of different forensic and contextual features for identifying electoral fraud and results in a diagnostic tool that can be relatively easily implemented in cross-national research.

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