How party polarization shapes the structuring of policy preferences in Europe

2022 ◽  
pp. 135406882110646
Author(s):  
Frederic Gonthier ◽  
Tristan Guerra
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Political Sophistication ◽  
Citizen Competence ◽  
Party Polarization ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Sociocultural Issues

A significant body of literature has addressed the impact of party polarization on voting behavior. Yet little is known of the relationship between party polarization and belief systems. The present study argues that party polarization enhances the ideological consistency of belief systems and does so for the citizenry as a whole. We first demonstrate that the more party systems are polarized on economic and sociocultural issues, the more consistently belief systems are aligned with the progressive-conservative continuum. Second, we show that ideological consistency is greater in highly polarized party systems, not only among the most politically attuned Europeans but also among those with lower levels of political sophistication. Results have implications for our understanding of citizen competence and responsiveness to elite cues in polarized party systems.

scholarly journals Inequality, policy polarization and the income gap in turnout

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882110119
Author(s):  
Matthew Polacko
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Income Gap ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Logistic Regressions ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Previous research into the relationship between income inequality and turnout inequality has produced mixed results, as consensus is lacking whether inequality reduces turnout for all income groups, low-income earners, or no one. Therefore, this paper builds on this literature by introducing supply-side logic, through the first individual-level test of the impact that income inequality (moderated by policy manifesto positions) has on turnout. It does so through multilevel logistic regressions utilizing mixed effects, on a sample of 30 advanced democracies in 102 elections from 1996 to 2016. It finds that higher levels of income inequality significantly reduce turnout and widen the turnout gap between rich and poor. However, it also finds that when party systems are more polarized, low-income earners are mobilized the greatest extent coupled with higher inequality, resulting in a significantly reduced income gap in turnout. The findings magnify the negative impacts income inequality can exert on political behavior and contribute to the study of policy offerings as a key moderating mechanism in the relationship.

The Impact of Candidates’ Negative Traits on Vote Choice in New Democracies: A Test Based on Presidential Elections in South Korea

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-228
Author(s):  
HeeMin Kim ◽  
Jungho Roh
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Personal Traits ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Western Democracies

The impact of candidates’ negative traits (CNTs) on voting behavior has received significant attention in election studies in recent decades. However, scholarly efforts have focused primarily on elections in advanced Western democracies, largely overlooking the relationship between candidates’ personal traits and the electorate’s voting behaviors in the context of new democracies. In this study, we fill this gap by investigating the impact of CNTs on the electorate’s vote choices in South Korean presidential elections. Our study of CNTs in South Korea shows that CNTs have statistically significant effects on the electorate’s vote choices. Our findings are particularly relevant because many new democracies are implementing fair and free elections, and the elites under previous authoritarian regimes are running in these elections.

Party organizational change and leader effects on voting behavior: Linking the electoral and party faces of presidentialization

2019 ◽  
pp. 135406881989351
Author(s):  
Frederico Ferreira da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Contextual Data ◽  
Selection Procedures ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Leadership Elections ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Western Democracies

Changes in electoral markets in the late 20th century have forced political parties to adapt. Having lost much support and facing growing disaffection, parties often resorted to organizational structure reforms as means to reengage with a debased electorate. This article explores the impact of two changes in party organization—democratization of leadership selection procedures and increasing leadership power—on the extent to which leaders have an effect on voting behavior. In doing so, it analyzes the understudied interconnection between the electoral and the party faces of the presidentialization of politics thesis. The results provide mixed evidence regarding the relationship between both dimensions of presidentialization: more leadership power boosts leader effects, but only non-divisive direct leadership elections favor leader effects. This is a comparative study on Western democracies, combining individual-level data from the Comparative of Study of Electoral Systems with contextual data from the Political Party Database Project.

The Impact of VAAs on (non-Voting) Aspects of Political Participation: Insights from Panel Data Collected During the 2017 German Federal Elections Campaign

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-134
Author(s):  
Vasilis Manavopoulos ◽  
Vasiliki Triga ◽  
Stefan Marschall ◽  
Lucas Constantin Wurthmann
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Electoral Campaigns ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Online Tools ◽  
German Bundestag ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThus far, research on the effects of Voting Advice Applications has focused on some aspects of voting behavior, whether, for example, these online tools impact citizens’ likelihood to vote or their voting choices. Relatively under-researched remain questions concerning the relationship between using VAAs and other forms of engagement with politics, such as involvement in electoral campaigns and information seeking about politics and parties. This paper seeks to examine effects in these behaviors associated with VAA-use employing panel data generated during and after the period of the German Bundestag Federal Election in September, 2017. The data from roughly 1120 participants, sampled to be representative of the German internet users, were collected in four waves, 1 month before the election at the earliest and several weeks following at the latest. We find that VAA-use is positively associated with consuming information about politics through other media (e.g. TV) and other election-related information-seeking activities, such as reading party programmes. On the other hand, we find no statistically significant relationship between VAA-use and interpersonal talk about politics or more active engagement with electoral campaigns such as attending party rallies.

The Impact of Government Participation and Prospects on Party Policy Preferences in Belgium

2013 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 630-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Régis Dandoy
Keyword(s):  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Government Formation ◽  
Party Strategy ◽  
The Government ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Opposition Parties

This article analyses the impact of government prospects and government participation on party policy preferences. Comparing the content of manifestos of governing and opposition parties in Belgium during three decades, I observed that the relationship of a party to the act of governing influences the content of its manifesto. In that sense, party preferences are not only driven by ideology and vote-seeking arguments but are part of a larger party strategy: parties adapt their electoral platform when they are in government or are willing to enter into it. The conclusion of the article also discusses the literature on government formation. Such literature hypothesizes that parties that are ideologically similar would form a coalition. However, results for the Belgian case demonstrate that parties strategically adapt their electoral platform when wanting to enter the government. Coalitions are made up of parties with similar policy preferences, not because they ‘are’ alike but because parties strategically ‘make’ them alike.

Referendums on European Integration

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
SIMON HUG ◽  
PASCAL SCIARINI
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Institutional Characteristics ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Government Coalition ◽  
Relevant Factors

Referendums have received increasing attention after the recent round of votes on the Maastricht treaty and the widening process of the European Union. Despite this increased interest in these instruments of decision making, scholarship has not provided us with insights into the relationship between the institutional characteristics and voter's decision. The authors provide a theoretical argument on how the voter's choice is affected by the nature of the referendum. Relevant factors are whether the referendum is required, whether the people's decision has a binding character, or which government coalition is presently in power. These institutional features mediate the impact of political factors, above all partisanship, on voting behavior. The authors test their theoretical arguments on the basis of empirical material from 14 referendums on European integration and find consistent support for their theoretical contentions.

scholarly journals Representation and Rights: The Impact of LGBT Legislators in Comparative Perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW REYNOLDS
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Government Ideology ◽  
Bisexual And Transgender ◽  
Lgbt People ◽  
The Impact ◽  
National Legislatures ◽  
The Relationship

This article focuses on the link between the representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in national legislatures and the existence of equality laws focused on sexual orientation. It addresses three interrelated questions: how many “out” LGBT legislators have served in national parliaments, what explains the cross-national variation in their legislative presence, and what is the relationship between the presence of gay legislators and the enactment of laws that treat gay and straight citizens equally? There is an established literature arguing that the representation of women and ethnic minorities “descriptively” in national legislatures improves the realization of their policy preferences and the position of the group within the society as a whole. This article draws on that literature and extends the analysis to LGBT communities. It finds that the presence of even a small number of openly gay legislators is associated significantly with the future passage of enhanced gay rights, even after including controls for social values, democracy, government ideology, and electoral system design. Once openly gay legislators are in office they have a transformative effect on the views and voting behavior of their straight colleagues. This “familiarity through presence” effect is echoed in studies of U.S. state legislatures and levels of social tolerance of homosexuality in the population at large.

Parties, Partisanship, and Public Policy in the Pennsylvania Legislature

1954 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 450-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Keefe
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
State History ◽  
Fruitful Research ◽  
American Party ◽  
The Impact

A significant result of the report “Toward A More Responsible Two-Party System” has been the marked growth of interest in the American party system. It is nevertheless true that our knowledge about the way in which party systems function is far from complete. An area promising fruitful research and presenting many hypotheses susceptible of systematic inquiry is that of the role of party organizations in the legislative process.It is the purpose of this article to examine the legislative role of political parties in the Pennsylvania General Assembly; more precisely, to measure their influence in the formation of the state's public policies in one session of the legislature. The most recent completed session at the time of this study was that of 1951—the longest session in state history.In order to evaluate the impact of party upon legislation, the concept of a “party vote” has been used. This is merely an operating definition by which to measure differences in party attitudes on questions subjected to roll-call votes on the floor. The assumption was made that the interests of the parties can be established best by analyzing the voting behavior of their membership. Questions to which partisan significance is attached will find the parties aligned against each other.

Intersections of Childhood Victimization Experiences, Gender, and Dominance: The Makings for Sexual Coercion Transnationally?

2020 ◽  
pp. 105756772098265
Author(s):  
Aimée X. Delaney
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Childhood Experiences ◽  
Sexual Coercion ◽  
Sexual Offending ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Adverse Childhood ◽  
Coercive Behavior ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Although the use of sexual violence has been widely researched, data on sexual offending tend to be limited. Since adverse childhood experiences have been found to be correlated with being a victim of sexually coercive behavior, more research is needed to understand the impact of adverse childhood experiences on the perpetration of sexually coercive behaviors. Yet, there is little published research explaining such risk factors for sexually coercive behaviors and even less transnationally. This study seeks to expand the current literature by exploring the impact of violence and dominance-based beliefs on sexually coercive behaviors. Using data from the International Dating Violence Survey, the results from multilevel modeling regression analysis indicate that beliefs in relational dominance moderate the relationship between violent childhood experiences and sexually coercive behaviors. More importantly, despite theoretical premises that men engage in more sexually coercive behaviors, the results found that sexually coercive behaviors are more prevalent among those who hold dominance-based belief systems over intimate partners regardless of gender. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Accent Policy and Accent Modification Enterprises as Potential Indicators of Intercultural Power Relations: A Call for an Updated Research Agenda

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brynne D. Ovalle ◽  
Rahul Chakraborty
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Cultural Organization ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This article has two purposes: (a) to examine the relationship between intercultural power relations and the widespread practice of accent discrimination and (b) to underscore the ramifications of accent discrimination both for the individual and for global society as a whole. First, authors review social theory regarding language and group identity construction, and then go on to integrate more current studies linking accent bias to sociocultural variables. Authors discuss three examples of intercultural accent discrimination in order to illustrate how this link manifests itself in the broader context of international relations (i.e., how accent discrimination is generated in situations of unequal power) and, using a review of current research, assess the consequences of accent discrimination for the individual. Finally, the article highlights the impact that linguistic discrimination is having on linguistic diversity globally, partially using data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and partially by offering a potential context for interpreting the emergence of practices that seek to reduce or modify speaker accents.

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