scholarly journals Centralized personalization at the expense of decentralized personalization. The decline of preferential voting in Belgium (2003–2014)

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 511-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bram Wauters ◽  
Peter Thijssen ◽  
Peter Van Aelst ◽  
Jean-Benoit Pilet
Keyword(s):  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Preferential Vote ◽  
Personalization Of Politics

For more than two decades, scholars have been debating the so-called personalization of politics. Some studies confirm such an evolution, while others demonstrate that evidence of personalization is at best mixed, or even absent. This article aims at shedding a new light on this controversy by looking at the evolution of the use of preferential voting in Belgium. Preferential voting has been constantly growing, but since 2007, the trend has been reversed and fewer voters decide to cast a preferential vote. We argue that this decline is not evidence against personalization. Rather, it illustrates the need to distinguish conceptually and empirically between two dimensions of personalization: ‘centralized’ and ‘decentralized’ personalization. The decline in the use of preference votes is not related to a decline in the former (which refers to a handful of political leaders). Instead, it is due to the decline of the latter form of personalization (referring to a large group of individual politicians). Candidates other than party leaders appear to have growing difficulties to attract votes. This negative relationship holds, even when we control for measures of electoral reform and the newness of parties. Our results also show that leadership effects are stronger in new parties.

The AfD as a ‚Leaderless’ Right-Wing Populist Party. How the Leadership-Structure Dilemma Left an Imprint on the Party’s Leadership

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-60
Author(s):  
Gregor Zons ◽  
Anna Halstenbach
Keyword(s):  
Party Competition ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Leadership Structure ◽  
Consolidation Phase ◽  
Leadership Turnover ◽  
Party Institutionalization

AbstractDespite its right-wing populist character, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) shows no signs of a strong party leadership. We ascribe this state of the party leadership to the AfD’s institutionalization as a new party and show how organizational features interact with the skill set and goals of the party leaders. At the party level, we, firstly, outline the organizational change at the top of the party and the party leader selection rules. Secondly, we depict leadership turnover and competitiveness. At the leader level, we investigate the failure of Bernd Lucke, the key founder and one of the initial party leaders, as a manifestation of the leadership-structure dilemma of new parties. Embedded in a leadership team and faced with a growing extra-parliamentary party structure, Lucke tried to secure his initial autonomy and position of power by an attempt to become the sole party leader. His subsequent exit from the AfD laid bare the fact that he was not able to manage the challenges of the organizational consolidation phase, in which a new party needs a coordinator and consensus-builder. The AfD itself has proven its organizational autonomy from its initial leaders and its distaste for a strong and centralized party leadership. The barriers for the latter remain in place while, at the same time, the party institutionalization is still on-going, especially regarding its place in the German party competition.

“I think Canadians look like all sorts of people”: ethnicity, political leadership, and the case of Jagmeet Singh

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Joanie Bouchard
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Sociodemographic Profile ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Voting Intentions

Abstract Research into the impact of a politician's sociodemographic profile on vote choice in Westminster-style systems has been hindered by the relative sociodemographic homogeneity of party leaders. Past research has focused mainly on the evaluation of local candidates in the American context, but given that elections in plurality systems are far less candidate-oriented , the evaluation of local candidates tells us little about the prevalence of affinity or discrimination in other contexts. This article investigates the effect of political leaders' ethnicity on political behavior by looking at the case of Jagmeet Singh in Canada, the first federal party leader of color in the country's history. While the literature has shown that the gender of leaders in Canada can matter, little is known about the attitudes of Canadians toward party leaders of color specifically. We are interested in the evaluations of Singh and his party, as well as the shifts in voting intentions between elections in 2015 and 2019. We uncover affinity-based behaviors from individuals who identify as Sikh, as well as a negative reception of Singh's candidacy in Quebec.

Een verscheurende keuze : Analyse van het stemgedrag van de VU-leden bij de ledenbevraging over het voortbestaan van de partij

Res Publica ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26
Author(s):  
Bram Wauters
Keyword(s):  
Mail Survey ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
Party Member ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Nationalist Party ◽  
The Future

The Flemish-nationalist party Volksunie ceased to exist in 2001. Due to deep divisions within the party, it was decided to organise a referendum in which each party-member could vote for a project, outlining the future of the party. Since none of the three projects managed to obtain a 50 %-majority, a requisite to preserve the party name, the name Volksunie disappeared and the party was split up in two new parties.  In this article we tried to answer the question which members voted for which project. A mail survey was held among a sample of Volksunie-members. Explanations for voting behaviour were found in characteristics of voters, their viewpoints on issues and their appreciation of notable party leaders. Finally, we analysed the second preference-party of the Volksunie-members in order to estimate with which existing parties the two new parties could possibly form future alliances.

A Theory of Competitive Partisan Lawmaking

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Krehbiel ◽  
Adam Meirowitz ◽  
Alan E. Wiseman
Keyword(s):  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Canonical Model ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Minority Party

Motivated by polar extremes of monopartisanship and nonpartisanship in existing literature on parties in legislatures, we introduce and analyze a more moderate theory of competitive partisan lawmaking. The distinguishing feature of competitive partisanship is that the minority party, although disadvantaged, has some guaranteed opportunities to influence lawmaking. Our analytic framework focuses on two dimensions of parties in legislatures: agenda-based competition, operationalized as a minority party right to make an amendment to the majority party’s proposal, and resource-based competition, characterized as the ability of both party leaders to use transferable resources when building winning or blocking coalitions. Building on the canonical model, we find that giving voice to the minority party in either one of these ways alone results in outcomes that, on the whole, are less lopsided and more moderate than those predicted by the existing monopartisan and nonpartisan theories.

Presidentialism and the Parties in the French Fifth Republic

1975 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wright Vincent
Keyword(s):  
Party Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Fifth Republic ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Fourth Republic

PARTY POLITICS UNDER THE FIFZH REPUBLIC HAVE BEEN COMPLEX AND confused. New parties such as the Independent Republicans and the Centre Démocrate have appeared, and old ones such as the MRP and the CNIP-two of the great pivotal parties of the Fourth Republic - have disappeared as national forces. The Gaullists have grown, the communists have stagnated, the radicals have declined, and the socialists have experienced dramatically changing fortunes. The observer will be bewildered by the appearance and disappearance of party coalitions, by the political dissensions within the parties, by the bitter squabbles between parties which are in nominal alliance, and by the Quixotic waverings of certain party leaders - veritable weathercocks susceptible to the slightest political draught.

Narrowband Influencers and Global Icons: Universality and Media Compatibility in the Communication Patterns of Political Leaders Worldwide

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-65
Author(s):  
Renana Peres ◽  
Sunali Talwar ◽  
Liav Alter ◽  
Michal Elhanan ◽  
Yuval Friedmann
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Country Characteristics ◽  
The Media ◽  
High Level ◽  
Universal Communication ◽  
Global World

This article analyzes how political leaders communicate with their target audiences and examines whether they adopt a country-specific communication persona, or react to the global media-intensive environment by offering more universal communication. Politicians communicate through presentational (e.g., social media) and representational (e.g., press) outlets, and the compatibility between these outlets represents the leader’s effectiveness in transmitting the desired messages to the audience. The authors of this study suggest a theoretical framework that classifies public figures’ communication along two dimensions: universality (particular–universal) and media compatibility (low–high). The authors used language processing tools to study the sentiment, topic mixture, and use of pronouns by 61 global world leaders in more than 300,000 messages from the leaders’ Twitter accounts and press articles. The results show a high level of universality across political leaders in sentiment, topic mixture, and pronoun usage. The media compatibility is high, with Twitter being slightly more positive. Most leaders fall within the categories of Cosmopolitan Antagonist (high universality, low media compatibility) and Global Icon (high universality, high media compatibility). Overall, the sentiment of their communications is positive. Popular topics include diplomacy, economy, corruption, and the Arab world. No significant relationship was found between the sentiment or communication topics and country characteristics.

scholarly journals Two dimensions of problematic smartphone use mediate the relationship between fear of missing out and emotional well-being

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nino Gugushvili ◽  
Karin Täht ◽  
Dmitri Rozgonjuk ◽  
Maris Raudlam ◽  
Robert Ruiter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Fear Of Missing Out ◽  
Smartphone Use ◽  
The Relationship

It has been shown that both fear of missing out (FoMO) and problematic (i.e., excessive) smartphone use (PSU) are negatively associated with indicators of emotional well-being. Moreover, FoMO has been found to be a key predictor of PSU. This suggests that PSU may mediate the relation between FoMO and decreased emotional well-being but this pathway has never been tested. Moreover, in most studies on PSU, the multidimensional nature of this construct has been ignored. The aim of the present study was to address these gaps by directly testing the mediating role of (subdimensions of) PSU in the association between FoMO and emotional well-being. We conducted a cross-sectional study with Estonian participants (n = 426). Using a simple mediation analysis, we found that PSU partially mediated the relationship between FoMO and decreased emotional well-being. Using a parallel mediation analysis, we found that two specific dimensions of PSU were significant mediators of the relationship between FoMO and decreased emotional well-being: Cyberspace-oriented Relations and Physical Symptoms. This suggests that the negative relationship between FoMO and decreased emotional well-being is due to FoMO stimulating (a) online relationships at the cost of offline interactions and (b) Physical symptoms associated with excessive smartphone use. Overall, this study provides a fine-grained analysis of the relationship between FoMO, PSU and emotional well-being.

scholarly journals “You’re important, Jeremy, but not that important”: Personalised responses and equivocation in political interviews

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 560-581
Author(s):  
Maurice Waddle ◽  
Peter Bull
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Rate Analysis ◽  
The Face ◽  
Political Spectrum

This study was an assessment of personalised equivocation in political interviews, namely, politicians’ responses to questions which, in lieu of an explicit reply, are directed personally at the interviewer. Twenty-six interviews with recent UK party leaders were analysed in terms of questions, replies, and personalisation. The majority of personalised responses contained elements of criticism, although over a quarter were more amicable. For the eight featured politicians, the use of such responses was adjudged to be more about individual communicative style than their position on the political spectrum. Only one politician did not respond in this manner, indicating a more widespread use of personalisation than was previously suggested. Furthermore, an evaluation of interviewer follow-ups showed its effectiveness as a diversionary tactic in the face of troublesome questions. In terms of the proportion of questions which receive a full reply, a general reply rate analysis highlighted how recent political leaders have changed little from their predecessors.

scholarly journals Two dimensions of problematic smartphone use mediate the relationship between fear of missing out and emotional well-being

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nino Gugushvili ◽  
Karin Täht ◽  
Dmitri Rozgonjuk ◽  
Maris Raudlam ◽  
Robert Ruiter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Fear Of Missing Out ◽  
Smartphone Use ◽  
The Relationship

It has been shown that both fear of missing out (FoMO) and problematic (i.e., excessive) smartphone use (PSU) are negatively associated with indicators of emotional well-being. Moreover, FoMO has been found to be a key predictor of PSU. This suggests that PSU may mediate the relation between FoMO and decreased emotional well-being but this pathway has never been tested. Moreover, in most studies on PSU, the multidimensional nature of this construct has been ignored. The aim of the present study was to address these gaps by directly testing the mediating role of (subdimensions of) PSU in the association between FoMO and emotional well-being. We conducted a cross-sectional study with Estonian participants (n = 426). Using a simple mediation analysis, we found that PSU partially mediated the relationship between FoMO and decreased emotional well-being. Using a parallel mediation analysis, we found that two specific dimensions of PSU were significant mediators of the relationship between FoMO and decreased emotional well-being: Cyberspace-oriented Relations and Physical Symptoms. This suggests that the negative relationship between FoMO and decreased emotional well-being is due to FoMO stimulating (a) online relationships at the cost of offline interactions and (b) Physical symptoms associated with excessive smartphone use. Overall, this study provides a fine-grained analysis of the relationship between FoMO, PSU and emotional well-being.

Electoral reform will not ease tensions in Honduras

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Electoral Fraud ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Creation

Significance Protest groups and some opposition politicians maintain that Hernandez’s presidency is illegitimate, due to widespread allegations of electoral fraud surrounding his 2017 re-election. A national dialogue conducted throughout 2018 was intended to resolve the subsequent political tensions. To date, the most concrete outcome is an electoral reform package approved in January. However, critics argue that will undermine efforts to improve transparency. Impacts Protests will flare around key anniversaries, and particularly around the establishment of new electoral authorities. Hernandez will seek to ride out protests by maintaining a pro-consensus policy stance in order to achieve buy-in from opposition groups. Ongoing turmoil will feed the creation of new opposition groupings, creating new parties to challenge the 2021 elections.

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