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.

The New Progressive Dilemma through the Lens of Comparative Welfare State and Party Research

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis C. Spies
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Attitudinal Change ◽  
Welfare Institutions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Social Expenditures ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross National

The chapter summarizes the New Progressive Dilemma (NPD) debate, identifying three arguments from comparative welfare state and party research likely to be relevant to the relationship between immigration and welfare state retrenchment: public opinion, welfare institutions, and political parties. Alignment of anti-immigrant sentiments and welfare support varies considerably between countries, especially between the US and Europe, leading to different party incentives vis-à-vis welfare state retrenchment. The chapter introduces insights from comparative welfare state and party research to the debate, discussing inter alia, political parties in terms of welfare retrenchment, immigrants as a voter group, and cross-national variation of existing welfare institutions. It addresses the complex debates around attitudinal change caused by immigration, levels of welfare support, voting behavior, and social expenditures. Combining these strands of literature, a common theoretical framework is developed that is subsequently applied to both the US and Western European context.

scholarly journals Palestinian State through the Official and Unofficial Israeli Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Rami Saleh Abdelrazeq Musleh ◽  
Mahmoud Ismail ◽  
Dala Mahmoud
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
National Security ◽  
West Bank ◽  
The Political ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
The West ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Factions ◽  
Descriptive Approach

The study focused on the Palestinian state as depicted in the Israeli political discourse. It showed that the Israeli strategy is based on denying the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside the Israeli one. Israel's main concern is to protect its national security at all costs. The study showed the Israeli political factions' opposition to the formation of an independent Palestinian state in addition to their refusal to give up certain parts of the West Bank due to religious and geopolitical reasons. To discuss this topic and achieve the required results, the analytical descriptive approach is adopted by the researcher. The study concluded that the Israeli leadership and its projects to solve the Palestinian issue do not amount to the establishment of a Palestinian state. This leadership simply aims to impress the international public opinion that Israel wants peace. In contrast, the Israeli public has shown that it cannot accept a Palestinian state, and the public opinion of the Palestinian state is not different from that of the political parties and leaders in Israel.

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 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.

Compulsory Voting and Dissatisfaction with Democracy

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 843-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane P. Singh
Keyword(s):  
Natural Experiment ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Surveys ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Cross National

Compulsory voting is often linked to pro-democracy orientations in the public. However, there is reason to question the strength and universality of this link. Engaging research on the effects of coercion and punishment, this article argues that forced participation inflates the tendency of those with negative orientations towards democracy to see the democratic system as illegitimate, and to be dissatisfied with democracy. The study finds support for these expectations in analyses of three separate cross-national surveys and a natural experiment. Compulsory voting heightens dissatisfaction with democracy within key segments of the population.

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN INDEPENDENT LATVIA

Via Latgalica ◽  
2009 ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Vladislavs Malahovskis
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
The State ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Church

The aim of the paper is to reflect the political activities of the Roman Catholic Church in two periods of the history of Latvia and the Roman Catholic Church in Latvia – in the period of First Independence of the Republic of Latvia, basically in the 1920s, and in the period following the restoration of Latvia’s independence. With the foundation of the independent state of Latvia, the Roman Catholic Church experienced several changes; - bishops of the Roman Catholic Church were elected from among the people; - the Riga diocese was restored the administrative borders of which were coordinated with the borders of the state of Latvia; - priests of the Roman Catholic Church were acting also in political parties and in the Latvian Parliament. For the Church leadership, active involvement of clergymen in politics was, on the one hand, a risky undertaking (Francis Trasuns’ experience), but, on the other hand, a necessary undertaking, since in this way the Roman Catholic Church attempted to exercise control over politicians and also affect the voters in the elections for the Saeima. The status of the Church in the State of Latvia was legally secured by the concordat signed in the spring of 1922 which provided for a range of privileges to the Roman Catholic Church: - other Christian denominations in Latvia are functioning in accordance with the regulations elaborated by the State Control and confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior, but the Roman Catholic Church is functioning according to the canons set by the Vatican; - releasing the priests from military service, introduction of the Chaplaincy Institution; - releasing the churches, seminary facilities, bishops’ apartments from taxes; - a license for the activity of Roman Catholic orders; - the demand to deliver over one of the church buildings belonging to Riga Evangelical Lutherans to the Roman Catholics. With the regaining of Latvia’s independence, the Roman Catholic Church of Latvia again took a considerable place in the formation of the public opinion and also in politics. However, unlike the parliamentarian period of the independent Latvia, the Roman Catholic Church prohibited the priests to involve directly in politics and considered it unadvisable to use the word “Christian” in the titles of political parties. Nowadays, the participation of the Roman Catholic Church in politics is indirect. The Church is able to influence the public opinion, and actually it does. The Roman Catholic Church does not attempt to grasp power, but to a certain extent it can, at least partly, influence the authorities so that they count with the interests of Catholic believers. Increase of popularity of the Roman Catholic Church in the world facilitated also the increase of the role of the Roma Catholic Church in Latvia. The visit of the Pope in Latvia in 1993 was a great event not only for the Catholic believers but also for the whole state of Latvia. In the autumn of 2002, in Rome, a concordat was signed between the Republic of Latvia and the Vatikan which is to be classified not only as an agreement between the Roman Catholic Church in Latvia and the state of Latvia but also as an international agreement. Since the main foreign policy aim of Latvia is integration in the European Union and strengthening its positions on the international arena, Vatican as a powerful political force was and still is a sound guarantee and support in international relations.

Public Opinion, Political Communication and the Internet

Politics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Savigny
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
Potential Challenge

In contemporary society public opinion is generally mediated by the mass media, which has come to encompass the Habermasian ‘public sphere’. This arena is now characterised by the conflict between market and democratic principles, by competing interests of politicians and the media. The presentation of information for debate becomes distorted. The opinion of the ‘public’ is no longer created through deliberation, but is constructed through systems of communication, in conflict with political actors, who seek to retain control of the dissemination of information. The expansion of the internet as a new method of communication provides a potential challenge to the primacy of the traditional media and political parties as formers of public opinion.

scholarly journals Party Policy Diffusion

2016 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
TOBIAS BÖHMELT ◽  
LAWRENCE EZROW ◽  
RONI LEHRER ◽  
HUGH WARD
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Policy Diffusion ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Spatial Econometric ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Econometric Analyses ◽  
Established Democracies

Do parties learn from or emulate parties in other political systems? This research develops the argument that parties are more likely to employ the heuristic of learning from and emulatingforeign successful (incumbent) parties. Spatial-econometric analyses of parties’ election policies from several established democracies robustly confirm that political parties respond to left-right policy positions of foreign political parties that have recently governed. By showing that parties respond to theseforeign incumbent parties, this work has significant implications for our understanding of party competition. Furthermore, we contribute to the literature on public policy diffusion, as we suggest that political parties are important vehiclesthroughwhich public policies diffuse.

A Strike against the Left: General Strikes and Public Opinion of Incumbent Governments in Spain

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172198992
Author(s):  
Alison Johnston ◽  
Kerstin Hamann ◽  
Bonnie N Field
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Lag Time ◽  
Organizational Decline ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Costs ◽  
General Strike

Political links between labor unions and leftist political parties have weakened over the last four decades in Western Europe, reducing the former’s influence on the latter. Unions’ prolonged organizational decline suggests that their capacity to pressure left parties should become more limited. We examine whether unions can use general strikes to influence public opinion when left parties in government pursue austerity policies. Executing a distributive lag time series analysis of quarterly public opinion data from 1986 to 2015 in Spain, we find that Socialist governments incurred significant public opinion penalties in the wake of a general strike. Not only did PSOE prime ministers lose confidence from the public, but they also witnessed a significant reduction in voting intentions. In contrast, Spain’s conservative governments incurred no such public opinion penalties in response to general strikes. We conclude that general strikes carry significant political costs for left governments that stray from union ideals.

Recent Public Opinion in the United States Toward Punishment and Corrections

1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTOPHER A. INNES
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
The Public ◽  
Generalized System ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys ◽  
Do So

This article reviews recent public opinion data concerning punishment and corrections, yielding a number of apparently contradictory viewpoints. Rather than being irrational or unrealistic, these patterns of responses, it is argued here, can be deciphered only by assuming that the public holds a complex, generalized system of beliefs about punishment and corrections. This system of beliefs, however, is organized around broader symbols and images, not a set of mutually exclusive and logically consistent policy options. The public appears to have an abstract commitment to justice, wants the criminal justice system to work properly, and is frustrated that it does not appear to do so. Although the public is decidedly punitive toward criminals, they are more lenient toward inmates because they are no longer seen as an immediate threat. Rehabilitative efforts, so long as they are conducted within prisons, receive strong support. But the public is more wary of programs that carry greater risks because of a perceived conflict with the higher priority goal of public safety. This view is speculative; no single survey or study has explored all these issues together. It is, however, consistent with the details of various public opinion surveys, and it also lends support to those current correctional practices that seek to integrate programs for inmates with the more general concerns of correctional management. There are, therefore, several ways that correctional administrators can present their mission in a manner that is sensitive to the concerns of the public and that avoids language or terms that may be misinterpreted.

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