Private Donations and Policy Ambiguity

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 754-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Cahill ◽  
Andrey Tomashevskiy
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Campaign Contributions ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Political Finance ◽  
Private Donations ◽  
Cross National

An important dimension of party positioning remains largely unexamined—that is, the clarity with which parties present policies to the electorate. Moreover, the effects of private campaign contributions on party positions are also vastly understudied. We address these gaps using a unique new data set on private contributions to political parties in eight Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries from the early 1990s to the present. We argue that parties are incentivized to present increasingly ambiguous, or broad appeal, policy positions as a result of increased private campaign contributions. Broad appeal campaigns allow parties to appease their donors with more extreme policy preferences while maintaining the support of their more moderate base supporters. We find support for this argument and show that increasing donations are associated with increased policy ambiguity. Using new data, this article is the first to examine an important connection between political finance and party positioning on a cross-national and time-series basis.

scholarly journals How Parties React to Voter Transitions

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 940-945
Author(s):  
TARIK ABOU-CHADI ◽  
LUKAS F. STOETZER
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Competitive Behavior ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Strategic Policy ◽  
Election Results

This letter investigates how voter transitions between parties affect parties’ policy positioning. While a growing literature investigates the role of election results as signals for parties’ policy adaption, it has mostly focused on vote changes of individual parties. However, parties do not know only whether they have won or lost in an election; they also have detailed information on which parties they won votes from and which parties they lost votes to. We make two arguments about how voter transitions should affect the strategic policy choices of political parties. First, when a party has lost votes to another party it will adapt its policy positions toward that party. Second, parties that have overall lost more votes become more likely to adapt their positions. Making use of a data set on individual voter transitions and party positions we can demonstrate that voter transitions indeed affect parties’ competitive behavior.

Political Finance and Participation in Congressional Elections

1976 ◽  
Vol 425 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Dawson ◽  
James E. Zinser
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Capita Income ◽  
Congressional Elections ◽  
Campaign Contributions ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Political Finance ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Registered Voters ◽  
Campaign Expenditures

Citizens participate in the electoral process both to enjoy intrinsic benefits and in the hope of future bene fits. Factors affecting the strength of these consumption and investment motives therefore will affect registration and turnout rates, levels of campaign contributions, and electoral margins. To some extent, the strength of these motives is fixed by relatively static factors: levels of district per capita income, the degree of income inequality, the partisan division of registered voters. However, both motives also are affected by factors more apt to vary: for example, statutory arrangements, the activities of political parties, levels and types of campaign expenditures. In particular, statutory arrangements and the activities of parties which reduce costs can increase participation. Moreover, substan tial efforts to alter the partisan division of registered voters can increase campaign contributions. Also, campaign expenditures channel motivations in partisan directions, stim ulate partisan turnout, and affect electoral margins. Results reported here suggest the likelihood of bipartisan support for policies facilitating registration and voting, challenge assumptions about the effects of incumbency on campaign contributions, raise doubts about legislated ceilings on cam paign expenditures, and weaken the case for public financing of congressional elections.

scholarly journals Party Responsiveness to Public Opinion in Young Democracies

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172199363
Author(s):  
Raimondas Ibenskas ◽  
Jonathan Polk
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Surveys ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Established Democracies ◽  
Expert Surveys ◽  
Cross National

Are political parties in young democracies responsive to the policy preferences of the public? Compared to extensive scholarship on party responsiveness in established democracies, research on party responsiveness in young democracies is limited. We argue that weaker programmatic party–voter linkages in post-communist democracies create incentives for parties to respond to their supporters rather than the more general electorate. Such responsiveness occurs in two ways. First, parties follow shifts in the mean position of their supporters. Second, drawing on the research on party–voter congruence, we argue that parties adjust their policy positions to eliminate previous incongruence between themselves and their supporters. Analyses based on a comprehensive dataset that uses expert surveys, parties’ manifestoes and election surveys to measure parties’ positions, and several cross-national and national surveys to measure voters’ preferences provide strong support for this argument.

scholarly journals A Common Left-Right Scale for Voters and Parties in Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Lo ◽  
Sven-Oliver Proksch ◽  
Thomas Gschwend
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Scaling Method ◽  
National Surveys ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Systematic Biases ◽  
European Election ◽  
Political Groups ◽  
Cross National

This article presents a scaling approach to jointly estimate the locations of voters, parties, and European political groups on a common left-right scale. Although most comparative research assumes that cross-national comparisons of voters and parties are possible, few correct for systematic biases commonly known to exist in surveys or examine whether survey data are comparable across countries. Our scaling method addresses scale perception in surveys and links cross-national surveys through new bridging observations. We apply our approach to the 2009 European Election Survey and demonstrate that the improvement in party estimates that one gains from fixing various survey bias issues is significant. Our scaling strategy provides left-right positions of voters and of 162 political parties, and we demonstrate that variables based on rescaled voter and party positions on the left-right dimension significantly improve the fit of a cross-national vote choice model.

The Political Bases of Citizen Contacting: A Cross-National Analysis

1985 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan S. Zuckerman ◽  
Darrell M. West
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
The Political ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Political Ties ◽  
National Analysis ◽  
Cross National

This article examines a mode of political participation that frequently has been overlooked—individual efforts to obtain assistance from government officials. Using the seven-nation data set of Verba, Nie, and Kim, we develop and empirically evaluate alternatiave models of citizen contacting. Our first model draws on variations in the distribution of social and economic resources to explain the likelihood of contacting. The second focuses on differences in political ties to locate those most likely to contact government officials. We find greater support for the political ties model. Persons active in political parties and election campaigns are the most likely to engage in citizen contacting. Without political ties, few poor or uneducated persons would ask officials for assistance. We conclude by noting the more general theoretical and normative implications of our study.

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 Analyzing the cross-national comparability of party positions on the socio-cultural and EU dimensions in Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ryan Bakker ◽  
Seth Jolly ◽  
Jonathan Polk
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Core ◽  
Chapel Hill ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Common Scale ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Cross National

Abstract Using survey vignettes and scaling techniques, we estimate common socio-cultural and European integration dimensions for political parties across the member states of the European Union. Previous research shows that party placements on the economic left-right dimension are cross-nationally comparable across the EU; however, the socio-cultural dimension is more complex, with different issues forming the core of the dimension in different countries. The 2014 wave of the Chapel Hill Expert Survey included anchoring vignettes which we use as “bridge votes” to place parties from different countries on a common liberal/authoritarian dimension and a separate common scale for European integration. We estimate the dimensions using the Bayesian Aldrich–McKelvey technique. The resulting scales offer cross-nationally comparable, interval-level measures of a party's socio-cultural and EU ideological positions.

Party-Political Financing, Democracy, and Constitutionalism in Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
pp. 293-328
Author(s):  
Zelalem Degifie
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
Political Finance ◽  
Private Donations ◽  
Party Funding ◽  
Ruling Party

Political party funding stands central to the process of democratization, because it affects whether the political playing field is level allowing for electoral competition. However, it can also threaten democracy if party funding regimes allow parties to be captured by private interests or a ruling party abuses its position as the incumbent government to gain access to resources. Adequately regulation is thus required. This chapter examines the interplay of party financing regulation, democracy, and constitutionalism in Ethiopia. Based on the normative framework of political finance in the democratic process, the study finds that badly designed and weakly enforced rules are the main challenges for political finance regulation in Ethiopia to provide a level playing field. The legislative framework and its implementation favours the ruling party, thereby causing a wide discrepancy in financial capacity between the ruling party and opposition parties. Furthermore, political parties are not transparent in their financial matters, as the law requires because the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) is reluctant to enforce the rules requiring such. Finally, the chapter recommends political finance reforms in order to level the political playing field and ensure transparency with regard to the funding of political parties. In this regard, diversified sources of income that combine regulated private donations with regular public funding should be introduced. Finally, the chapter suggests restrictions on the size of financial contributions and also imposing spending ceilings. A reformed legal framework would require, however, that the NEBE enforce it in a rigorously and non-discriminatory manner.

From Text to Political Positions on Foreign Aid: Analysis of Aid Mentions in Party Manifestos from 1960 to 2015

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 980-990
Author(s):  
Simone Dietrich ◽  
Helen V Milner ◽  
Jonathan B Slapin
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Party Manifestos ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Election Manifestos ◽  
Positive Sentiment

Abstract Looking at texts of election manifestos, this paper examines systematic differences among political parties within and across countries in how they position themselves on foreign aid and in how these manifesto pledges translate into commitments to disburse aid. Conventional wisdom suggests that left-leaning parties may be more supportive of foreign aid than rightwing parties, but also that foreign aid may not be sufficiently electorally salient for parties to stake out positions in campaign materials, such as manifestos. We leverage a new data set that codes party positions on foreign aid in election manifestos for 13 donors from 1960 to 2015. We find that parties differ systematically in how they engage with foreign aid. Left-leaning governments are more likely to express positive sentiment vis-à-vis aid than right-leaning governments. We evaluate the effects of positions on aid outcomes and find that positive aid views expressed by the party in government translate into higher aid commitments, though only for left-leaning parties.

scholarly journals Coder Reliability and Misclassification in the Human Coding of Party Manifestos

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Slava Mikhaylov ◽  
Michael Laver ◽  
Kenneth R. Benoit
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Text Generation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Empirical Estimates ◽  
Party Manifestos ◽  
Party Policy Positions

The Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP) provides the only time series of estimated party policy positions in political science and has been extensively used in a wide variety of applications. Recent work (e.g., Benoit, Laver, and Mikhaylov 2009; Klingemann et al. 2006) focuses on nonsystematic sources of error in these estimates that arise from the text generation process. Our concern here, by contrast, is with error that arises during the text coding process since nearly all manifestos are coded only once by a single coder. First, we discuss reliability and misclassification in the context of hand-coded content analysis methods. Second, we report results of a coding experiment that used trained human coders to code sample manifestos provided by the CMP, allowing us to estimate the reliability of both coders and coding categories. Third, we compare our test codings to the published CMP “gold standard” codings of the test documents to assess accuracy and produce empirical estimates of a misclassification matrix for each coding category. Finally, we demonstrate the effect of coding misclassification on the CMP's most widely used index, its left-right scale. Our findings indicate that misclassification is a serious and systemic problem with the current CMP data set and coding process, suggesting the CMP scheme should be significantly simplified to address reliability issues.

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