Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
107
result(s) for
"Voting Cross-cultural studies."
Sort by:
Democracy, Intermediation, and Voting on Four Continents
This book presents the results of systematic comparative analyses of electoral behaviour and support for democracy in thirteen countries on four continents. It is based on national election surveys held in ‘old’ and ‘new’ democracies in Europe (Germany, Britain, Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Bulgaria), North and South America (the United States, Chile and Uruguay), and Asia (Hong Kong) between 1990 and 2004. The book's core concern is ‘political intermediation’ (i.e. the flow of political information from parties and candidates to voters through the mass media, membership in secondary associations, and face-to-face contacts within interpersonal networks), which was first introduced to the study of electoral behaviour by Paul Lazarsfeld and his collaborators in the 1940s. In addition to reviving that long-neglected analytical framework, this book explores the impact of socio-political values on electoral behaviour. It also analyzes the role of political intermediation in forming basic attitudes towards democracy (which are crucial for the consolidation of new democracies) and, in turn, channelling those orientations into various forms of political behaviour. Some of the findings presented in this book are dramatic, and clearly reveal that these channels of information are among the most powerful factors influencing the development of political attitudes and partisan electoral behaviour. So, too, are socio-political values in some countries (particularly the United States).
eBook
New faces, new voices
Making up 14.2 percent of the American population, Hispanics are now the largest minority group in the United States. Clearly, securing the Hispanic vote is more important to political parties than ever before. Yet, despite the current size of the Hispanic population, is there a clear Hispanic politics? Who are Hispanic voters? What are their political preferences and attitudes, and why? The first comprehensive study of Hispanic voters in the United States,New Faces, New Voicespaints a complex portrait of this diverse and growing population.
Examining race, politics, and comparative political behavior, Marisa Abrajano and R. Michael Alvarez counter the preconceived notion of Hispanic voters as one homogenous group. The authors discuss the concept of Hispanic political identity, taking into account the ethnic, generational, and linguistic distinctions within the Hispanic population. They compare Hispanic registration, turnout, and participation to those of non-Hispanics, consider the socioeconomic factors contributing to Hispanics' levels of political knowledge, determine what segment of the Hispanic population votes in federal elections, and explore the prospects for political relationships among Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Finally, the authors look at Hispanic opinions on social and economic issues, factoring in whether these attitudes are affected by generational status and ethnicity.
A unique and nuanced perspective on the Hispanic electoral population,New Faces, New Voicesis essential for understanding the political characteristics of the largest and fastest growing group of minority voters in the United States.
eBook
The many faces of strategic voting : tactical behavior in electoral systems around the world
\"Strategic voting is classically defined as \"voting for one's second preferred option to prevent one's least preferred option from winning when one's first preference has no chance.\" Voters want their votes to be effective, and casting a ballot that will have no influence on an election is undesirable--therefore, some voters cast a strategic ballot when they decide it is useful. This edited volume includes case studies of strategic voting behavior in Israel, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, and the UK, and provides a conceptual framework for understanding strategic voting behavior in all types of electoral systems. The classic definition explicitly considers strategic voting in a single race with a single winner, which has at least three candidates. This situation is more common in electoral systems that have single member districts that employ plurality or majoritarian electoral rules and have multiparty systems. Indeed, much of the literature on strategic voting to date has considered systems like those in Canada and the United Kingdom. This book contributes to a more general understanding of strategic voting behavior by taking into account a wide variety of institutional contexts, such as single transferable vote rules, proportional representation, two round and mixed electoral systems\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems
Citizens living in presidential or parliamentary systems face different political choices as do voters casting votes in elections governed by rules of proportional representation or plurality. Political commentators seem to know how such rules influence political behaviour. They firmly believe, for example, that candidates running in plurality systems are better known and held more accountable to their constituencies than candidates competing in elections governed by proportional representation. However, such assertions rest on shaky ground simply because solid empirical knowledge to evaluate the impact of political institutions on individual political behaviour is still lacking. The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems has collected data on political institutions and on individual political behaviour and scrutinized it carefully. In line with common wisdom results of most analyses presented in this volume confirm that political institutions matter for individual political behaviour but, contrary to what is widely believed, they do not matter much.
eBook
Voting and elections the world over
Voting and Elections the World Over examines the electoral process across twenty-two countries. The book is a quick reference source for information about the major issues to consider when analyzing elections and their administration across nations. Thus, Voting and Elections the World Over looks at not only the type of electoral system in these countries, but also describes who administers elections; which are the offices people can vote for; who is allowed to vote with a particular emphasis on women's voting rights as well as the voting rights of felons. Furthermore, it provides information on the voting process and whether it is compulsory, the major political and financial regulations in the twenty-two countries pertaining to the conduct of elections, and information about voter turnout for national elections over at least the past ten years. The book provides useful reference information about the year when elections were first held in the countries we look at and information on when women received suffrage across these nations.
eBook
Political Legitimacy, Authoritarianism, and Climate Change
Is authoritarian power ever legitimate? The contemporary political theory literature—which largely conceptualizes legitimacy in terms of democracy or basic rights—would seem to suggest not. I argue, however, that there exists another, overlooked aspect of legitimacy concerning a government’s ability to ensure safety and security. While, under normal conditions, maintaining democracy and rights is typically compatible with guaranteeing safety, in emergency situations, conflicts between these two aspects of legitimacy can and often do arise. A salient example of this is the COVID-19 pandemic, during which severe limitations on free movement and association have become legitimate techniques of government. Climate change poses an even graver threat to public safety. Consequently, I argue, legitimacy may require a similarly authoritarian approach. While unsettling, this suggests the political importance of climate action. For if we wish to avoid legitimating authoritarian power, we must act to prevent crises from arising that can only be resolved by such means.
Journal Article
Ideological Congruence and Electoral Institutions
Although the literature examining the relationship between ideological congruence and electoral rules is quite large, relatively little attention has been paid to how congruence should be conceptualized. As we demonstrate, empirical results regarding ideological congruence can depend on exactly how scholars conceptualize and measure it. In addition to clarifying various aspects of how scholars currently conceptualize congruence, we introduce a new conceptualization and measure of congruence that captures a long tradition in democratic theory emphasizing the ideal of having a legislature that accurately reflects the preferences of the citizenry as a whole. Our new measure is the direct counterpart for congruence of the vote-seat disproportionality measures so heavily used in comparative studies of representation. Using particularly appropriate data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, we find that governments in proportional democracies are not substantively more congruent than those in majoritarian democracies. Proportional democracies are, however, characterized by more representative legislatures.
Journal Article