scholarly journals Electoral Ergonomics: Three Empirical Examples of the Interface between Electoral Psychology and Design

Societies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Michael Bruter

Electoral ergonomics pertains to the interface between electoral psychology and electoral design. It moves beyond traditional models of electoral organisation that often focus on mechanical effects or changes to who actually votes to investigate the ways in which different forms of electoral organisation will switch on and off various electoral psychology buttons (in terms of personality, memory, emotions and identity) so that the very same person’s electoral experience, thinking process, and ultimately electoral behaviour will change based on the design of electoral processes. This article illustrated this phenomenon based on two case studies, one which showed that young people seemed more likely to vote for radical right parties if they voted postally than in person at the polling station based on panel study evidence from the UK, and another which showed that the time citizens deliberate about their vote varied from 1 to 3 depending on whether they were asked to vote using materialised or dematerialised mono-papers or poly-paper ballots. The article suggested that electoral ergonomics, as the interface between electoral psychology and election design, exceeded the sum of its parts.

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172110511
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Evans ◽  
Roosmarijn de Geus ◽  
Jane Green

How can centre–right parties in majoritarian systems adapt to threats from the radical right? Using a long-term inter-election panel study, we identify a remarkably stable constituency of support for Britain’s recent radical-right parties – the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party. We show also how these same voters defected from the Conservatives across elections. In response, the government used a combination of the election of a new leader, Boris Johnson, and a hardline position on Brexit to reincorporate these voters into its support base, helping to lead to a large Conservative majority in 2019. Cross-party evaluations of Johnson were even more important in influencing this success than the issue of Brexit itself. Effective centre–right adaption to radical-right challenges is not simply about strategic issue positioning, it can also derive from centre–right leaders with populist appeal.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Schumann ◽  
Diana Boer ◽  
Katja Hanke ◽  
James H Liu

Vote shares for populist radical right parties (PRRPs) have increased considerably in recent years, and this advancement of PRRPs has been attributed in part to social media. We assess the affinity between social media and populist radical right parties by examining whether more frequent social media use for news enhances the willingness to vote for a PRRP (exposure effect) as well as whether individuals who have voted for a PRRP in the past use social media more frequently to access news (selection effect). To address these research questions, we analysed data of a two-wave survey study that was conducted in Germany, focusing on the party Alternative for Germany (AfD). Binary logistic regression highlighted that social media use increased the likelihood of supporting the AfD. Pre-registered multinominal analyses, however, showed that this effect was driven by specific party comparisons. That is, using the AfD as a reference category, social media use reduced intentions to vote for parties that expressed similar positions as the AfD on the issue of immigration and with which the PRRP competes over votes. Social media selection effects were not supported.


2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eelco Harteveld ◽  
Elisabeth Ivarsflaten

Radical Right Parties (RRPs) consistently attract more male than female voters. Puzzlingly, there is no equally consistent gender difference in policy preferences on the main issues of these parties – immigration and minority integration policies. Indeed, in some countries, for instance the UK, women have as restrictive immigration policy preferences as men, but are still less likely to vote for RRPs. This article proposes a novel answer to this gender gap puzzle that emphasizes the normative conflicts about prejudice and discrimination that surround RRPs across Europe. It uses representative survey data to show, for the first time, that women are more likely than men to be motivated to control prejudice, and that this difference in motivations has political consequences. More specifically, the study demonstrates that the higher prevalence of internal motivation to control prejudice among women accounts for the gender gap in voting for RRPs that become trapped in conflicts over discrimination and prejudice. Voting patterns for RPPs that have been able to defuse normative concerns about prejudice, such as the Progress Party currently in government in Norway, are different.


Author(s):  
Darren Sharpe

This paper provides a synthesis of qualitative studies, examining youth empowerment projects and initiatives which have encouraged young people to have a voice in local, regional and national political debates. Specifically, the article examines the role of UK youth services in building the spirit of citizenship in young people against the challenging question of the changing behaviour pattern and profiles of young British electorates. To do this, the paper draws on four case studies to help rethink the critical moments for disadvantaged and vulnerable young people in their journeys towards citizenship. The article, presents the advantages and limitations of the youth sector to enrich and furnish the spirit of citizenship in today’s youth and argues for a more innovative role in the part played by the state in an era of austerity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stijn van Kessel ◽  
Nicola Chelotti ◽  
Helen Drake ◽  
Juan Roch ◽  
Patricia Rodi

Populist radical right parties are naturally Eurosceptic. Many responded positively to the British referendum vote to leave the European Union; various observers even spoke of a potential populist radical right-instigated ‘domino effect’. We ask whether this Brexit-enthusiasm prevailed in the proximate aftermath of the UK referendum, by means of a comparative analysis of populist radical right parties’ national election campaigns in the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Italy. The analysis considers whether the UK referendum result served as an external stimulus for populist radical right parties to harden their Euroscepticism and politicise the issue of European integration. The results show that this has, generally speaking, not been the case, and that Brexit has also not stimulated or amplified calls for leaving the European Union. Relating our findings to literature on the politicisation of European integration and strategic party behaviour, we argue that populist radical right parties had few incentives to act differently given the uninviting political opportunity structure.


Author(s):  
Matthew J. Goodwin ◽  
James Dennison

This chapter examines the evolution of the extreme and radical right in the United Kingdom, providing an overview of its historical, organizational, and electoral development. In contrast to the experience of several other Western democracies, the repeated failures of extreme and radical right parties in Britain led academics to point to “British exceptionalism,” or to portray this case as the “ugly duckling” in the wider family of Europe’s extreme right. However, between 2010 and 2016, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) scored a string of impressive successes, finishing ahead of the mainstream parties in the 2014 European Parliament elections, then winning nearly 13 percent of the popular vote in the 2015 general election. The final section considers the role of UKIP in the United Kingdom’s 2016 referendum on European Union membership and what the future is likely to hold for the radical right in Britain.


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-101
Author(s):  
Brian Moore ◽  
Joris van Wijk

Case studies in the Netherlands and the UK of asylum applicants excluded or under consideration of exclusion pursuant to Article 1Fa of the Refugee Convention reveal that some applicants falsely implicated themselves in serious crimes or behaviours in order to enhance their refugee claim. This may have serious consequences for the excluded persons themselves, as well as for national governments dealing with them. For this reason we suggest immigration authorities could consider forewarning asylum applicants i.e. before their interview, about the existence, purpose and possible consequences of exclusion on the basis of Article 1F.


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