scholarly journals Need for security and system fairness on the political extremes

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Hulda Þórisdóttir ◽  
Eva Heiða Önnudóttir
Keyword(s):  
Context Effects ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
The Political ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The People ◽  
Sense Of Security ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Political Opinions

We advance and empirically test the idea that people on both the far right and far left will be more likely than political moderates to perceive the system as fair, as long as it serves their heightened needs for security. We argue that political extremists may be especially drawn to systems that offer certainty and security. As long as ideological extremists are not alienated from the political system in general, they will, therefore, be especially motivated to see the system as fair, in particular, if extremism is coupled with a heightened need for security. We test this notion using data from Iceland, a country with a wide left–right spread in terms of the political opinions of both parties and people and which was, at the time of the study, still reeling from an economic crisis that strongly affected political trust and threatened people’s sense of security. We analyzed nationally representative data from the European Social Survey in 2012 (N = 752). The results showed a significant three-way interaction between political extremism, the need for security, and political trust in predicting perceived system fairness. The people most likely to perceive the system as fair were political extremists, with relatively high political trust and need for security. The results are discussed in light of context effects and how people on the left and right might have higher needs for security with different threats in mind.

Openness and Self-enhancement are predictors of cultural and economic beliefs: an analysis of European countries across 15 years

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Czarnek ◽  
Małgorzata Kossowska
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Economic Beliefs ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Self Transcendence ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

In this study, we investigate the relationship between values and political beliefs and how it varies as a function of cultural context and time. In particular, we analyzed the effects of Conservation vs. Openness to change and Self-transcendence vs. Self-enhancement for cultural and economic political beliefs using data from nationally representative samples of citizens from 34 European countries from eight rounds of the European Social Survey (data spans the 2002–2016 period). We found that the effects of values on political beliefs are moderated by the Western vs. Eastern cultural context and that there is a modest round-to-round variation in the effects of values on beliefs. The relationship between Openness and cultural beliefs was negative and largely consistent across the Western and Eastern countries. Similarly, the effects of Self-enhancement were positive across these Western and Eastern countries. In contrast, the effects of Openness on economic beliefs were positive for the Eastern countries but largely weak and inconsistent for the Western countries. Finally, the effects of Self-enhancement on cultural beliefs are weak for both cultural contexts.

scholarly journals LEFT, RIGHT, AND ANTISEMITISM IN EUROPEAN PUBLIC OPINION

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-371
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Е. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
European Public ◽  
Mass Publics ◽  
Right Wing Populism

Antisemitism has long been found on both the political far-right and farleft. The recent rise in antisemitism worldwide raises the question of whether current antisemitism is found more with the far-right or far-left, the former a function of right-wing populism and the latter with what has been termed the new antisemitism. This paper uses data from the 2014 round of the European Social Survey in 20 nations to test for the connection between ideological selfplacement and antisemitic attitudes in mass publics. Analysis finds greater levels of antisemitism with the extreme far-right compared to the far-left, but extreme leftists appear slightly more antisemitic than moderate leftist. Further, there is less antisemitism than anti-Muslim and anti-Roma (Gypsy) attitudes at all positions on the left-right continuum. The conclusion puts the findings into context and suggests directions for future research.

scholarly journals Left-Wing Xenophobia in Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svenja Kopyciok ◽  
Hilary Silver
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Ethnic Inequality ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Redistributive Policies ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Political Spectrum

Given rising populist nationalism and multiplying meanings of “right” and “left,” this paper assesses whether Europeans who identify as extremely left-wing on the political spectrum hold anti-immigrant attitudes. In contrast to right-wing xenophobes, we further examine whether the political left, who conventionally emphasize class conflict, oppose immigrants less for cultural reasons and more for materialist reasons. We also consider whether socioeconomic status and values traditionally associated with the political left—favoring redistributive policies, egalitarianism, or social rights to benefits and services for immigrants—temper left- more than right-wing xenophobia. We find that a surprisingly large share of those who identify as far left do express extremely xenophobic attitudes, and we profile them in contrast to far right xenophobes. With logistic regression analysis of nine waves of the European Social Survey (2002–2018), we find that, all things equal, socioeconomic status influences far left xenophobia more than far right xenophobia, but inegalitarian values, less support for redistributive policies, and welfare chauvinism can only partially account for far left xenophobia and unexpectedly do not distinguish it from far right xenophobia. This implies that far left parties might adopt anti-immigrant policies to try to retain their loyal voters, even though such policies do not comport with broader left-wing values and may increase racial and ethnic inequality. Controlling for demographic and attitudinal differences reduces the probability of xenophobia among the far left by about sixty percent, but there remains some residual anti-immigrant attitudes among this group still to be explained.

scholarly journals How might reform of the political system appeal to discontented citizens?

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Seyd ◽  
John Curtice ◽  
Jonathan Rose
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Changes ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Using Data

In Britain, levels of political trust have declined, stimulating policy makers to explore ways of appealing to discontented citizens. One such initiative involves reform of the political system. Yet, this raises the question of which types of political reform are likely to appeal to discontented citizens. Existing studies have examined how individuals respond to political reforms, yet these studies only consider a limited range of institutional changes. Scholars and policy makers thus know little about the popular appeal of a wider set of institutional reforms. Taking advantage of proposals for political reform in Britain, this article considers public reactions to a wide range of institutional changes. Using data from the 2011 British Social Attitudes survey, we find that direct democratic reforms are not the only changes that appeal to discontented citizens. Instead, policy makers may also appeal to the distrustful via reforms that allow voters more control over their political representatives.

scholarly journals A Taste of Georgia. Far Right Populism with a Unique Georgian Flavour

Populism ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-222
Author(s):  
Michael Cole
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
The Political ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Traditional Values ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The People ◽  
Populist Movements

Abstract Georgia has proved no exception to recent political trends, which have seen the increased prominence and influence of far right populist parties and movements purporting to represent ‘the people’ in an antagonistic struggle against the ‘elites’ or ‘enemies’. However, while considerable academic attention has been devoted to cases in Central and Western Europe (CWE), studies of Georgian far right populism are less common. This paper examines the political styles of two Georgian far right actors, the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia (APG) and Georgian March (GM). I argue that the populist discursive frames both employ demonstrate enough commonalities with their CWE counterparts to consider them members of the far right populist ‘family’. However, the prevalence of populist politics, highly influential role of ‘traditional values’ promoted by the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC), and Russian influence, are three important factors which produce a uniquely Georgian ‘flavour’ to far right populist movements in Georgia.

scholarly journals Do Autonomous People Tend to Trust Political Institutions More? Multi-level Evidence from European Countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladislav Krivoshchekov ◽  
Olga Gulevich
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Need Satisfaction ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
European Values

According to the Self-Determination Theory, the social context — the actions of those around us — promotes or hinders the autonomy need satisfaction. The latter, in turn, improves the attitudes toward the people around. Most of the studies that have demonstrated this relationship have been conducted in the proximal social context (family, school, organizations). At the same time, few studies examined the role of the distal social context (culture, political system, economic structure of society). We aimed to examine the relationship between the political regime, autonomy need satisfaction, and trust in political institutions. To examine the link, we used data from two waves of the European Values Study (2008, 2017). The results revealed that the political regime (as estimated by Freedom House Index) was positively associated with one’s reported autonomy need satisfaction. However, the former was not related to the trust in political institutions. In addition, autonomy need satisfaction was positively associated with political trust in the police, the justice system, parliament, government, and political parties. However, the severity of this link, in some cases, varied between the regimes: it was more pronounced in more democratic countries than in less democratic ones.

scholarly journals The dynamics of social capital in Croatia, 1995 - 2003

Sociologija ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Stulhofer ◽  
Ivan Landripert
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
East European ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Using Data

The concept of social capital has gained wide acceptance and use in social sciences, particularly in sociology, political science and institutional economics. Its popularity should be primarily attributed to various societal benefits, theoretically and empirically well explored, linked to the production and persistence of social capital. This paper reconsiders the dynamics of social capital in Croatia presented in a previous article (Stulhofer, 2003a). Using data from two cross-sectional nationally representative social surveys (World Values Survey - Croatia 1995, and South East European Social Survey, 2003), the authors focus on the dynamics of social capital during the 1995-2003 period. In spite of economic growth increasing political stability and advancing democratization in the observed period, the findings point to the erosion of social capital. The main factors behind the negative dynamics of social capital in Croatia seem to be growing perception of corruption and declining religiousness.

scholarly journals Political Trust and Political Leadership Legitimacy: Implications on Voters’ Behaviour

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Khairul Azmi Mohamad ◽  
Nooraini Othman
Keyword(s):  
Political Leadership ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economics Education ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Leadership Performance ◽  
Health Safety ◽  
The People ◽  
The Government ◽  
Good Policy

This paper intends to reflect on the importance of political trust to voters’ behaviour. Political trust has a strong link to the political leadership legitimacy. Voters voted political leaders because of their trust to them or to their party. In the context of this paper, political trust refers to the performance of political leaders. In essence, political leadership performance of their duties will have a substantive effect to the voters’ decision on who to vote in an election. Political trust characterised the image of the political leaders as well as their party. Political trust is not easy to regain once broken. Voters will remember them. Adversaries will play the issue to gain support towards their party. Trustworthiness and reliability would normally result from good policy and programmes that the leader or party who lead the government initiate or implement. These programmes benefited the people and the country. Trust deficit in the realm of politics is in need of a serious repair. This work will speak of political trust and contextually relate it to political leadership. The performance of political leaders and government will be viewed from the economics, education, health, safety and religious points of views. These are some of the most important factors becoming the supporting pillars of political trust especially in the context of Malaysia. Their upright performance will gather voters’ support and consequently, the opposite will direct to political decline.

scholarly journals Using and Trusting in Media, Type of Governance and the Political Trust of University Students: A Case Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Jahangir Jahangiri ◽  
Khalil-Allah Sardarnia
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
The Political ◽  
Master's Students ◽  
Media Type ◽  
Sense Of Security ◽  
The Government

<p><span lang="EN-US">Political trust in governments and political organs is a significant determinant of legitimacy. This quantitative study, using survey and questionnaire, has studied and investigated the effects of two variables of the state’s governing method and performance, as well as soft power on students’ political trust. The sample of the study included 400 bachelor’s and master’s students studying at Shiraz University. The result revealed a positive relationship students’ use of domestic media and trusting their contents and their political trust on the government and the political institutions. There was a negative and inverse relation when it came to the Internet and satellite channels. In terms of government performance indicators (including sense of security, notion of rule of law, services, accountability and political effectiveness) and political trust, a positive relationship was observed. However, an inverse and significant relationship was seen between the thought that there’s discrimination and corruption and political trust. </span><span lang="EN-US">The multivariate analysis showed that the variables namely Trust in news of local media, </span><span lang="EN-US">notion of corruption in institutions, notion of accountability, responsibility and supervision in the government and administration, sense of security</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">notion of rule of law, and </span><span lang="EN-US">sex (being man), totally explained 49.7% of changes in political trust.</span></p>

scholarly journals The Political Integration of Immigrants: How Pre- and Postmigration Contexts Matter

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Dollmann
Keyword(s):  
Political Trust ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Integration ◽  
Political Behaviour ◽  
Immigrant Background ◽  
Integration Of Immigrants ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Attitudinal Dimension ◽  
Large Representative

AbstractThis study examines the political integration of immigrants in Germany and asks whether immigrants and their descendants show similar rates of political participation and expression of political attitudes as the population without an immigrant background. Furthermore, the study focusses on the pre- and postmigration context of immigrants and analyses whether immigrants differ in their level of political integration depending on (1) whether they come from more or less authoritarian regimes and (2) whether they have experienced discrimination in the receiving context. Using data from CILS4EU-DE, with a large representative sample of (children of) immigrants and non-immigrants in Germany, we observe differences in the political integration between immigrants and non-immigrants only on the attitudinal level, with immigrants showing lower levels of political trust but also slightly higher levels of satisfaction with the democratic system in Germany. When focussing on the effects of the pre- and the postmigration context, we observe differential results for the behavioural and attitudinal dimension: when immigrants stem from more authoritarian countries as well as when they have experienced more discrimination in the receiving context, this seems to mobilise respondents with respect to their political behaviour; however, it results in lower levels of political integration on the attitudinal dimension.

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