eBook

Democracy, Intermediation, and Voting on Four Continents

Montero, José R., Gunther, Richard, Puhle, Hans-Jürgen

2007

Overview

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).

• Publisher: Oxford University Press,Oxford University Press, Incorporated
• Subject: Comparative Politics / Cross-cultural studies / Cross-national analysis / Democracy / Democracy -- Cross-cultural studies / Democratie / Elections / Elections -- Cross-cultural studies / gtt / Kiesgedrag / Political Behaviour / Political participation / Political participation -- Cross-cultural studies / The political process / Vergelijkend onderzoek / Voting / Voting -- Cross-cultural studies / Voting behaviour
• ISBN: 9780191525223, 0191525227, 0199202842, 9780199202836, 0199202834, 9780199202843