Center for the Study of Democracy

About: Center for the Study of Democracy is a nonprofit organization based out in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Politics & Democracy. The organization has 63 authors who have published 163 publications receiving 2845 citations.

Economics, environmentalism and party alignments: A note on partisan change in advanced industrial democracies

Abstract: ‘We are neither Left nor Right, we are out in front’ was the mantra of the environmental movement in the 1970s and early 1980s. This research examines the relationship between the traditional left/right economic cleavage and the environmental cleavage in structuring party competition in advanced industrial democracies. It begins by discussing the theoretical rationale for the separation of environmentalism from the traditional economic cleavage, and utilises new expert data to describe the evolution of party positions between 1989 and 2002–2003. An initially strong relationship between party positions on both dimensions in 1989 has strengthened over time. The convergence occurs largely because of changes by Green parties and by the addition of new parties that define themselves on both dimensions. This points to the ability of democratic party systems to integrate a new political cleavage, and the process of integration. However, leftist parties still continue to diverge with respect to how they respond to the environmental cleavage.

Party representation across multiple issue dimensions

Abstract: Issue congruence between citizens and policy makers should be one of the central aspects of a democratic process. This study uses the 2009 European Election Study to compare the views of citizens and party elites on a diverse set of domestic policy issues and overall Left-Right identities. We find very high levels of congruence for Left-Right positions and socio-economic issues. Parties are less representative of their supporters on the newer cultural issues of immigration and authority, as well as gender issues. National political contexts have limited influence on congruence levels, although some party characteristics such as political extremism or party family are linked to citizen-voter agreement. On the whole, citizens and like-minded parties do connect through the electoral process to a high degree. However, the results also argue for a multidimensional approach to assessing representation to recognize where parties agree and deviate from their supporters.

Waxing or waning? The changing patterns of environmental activism

Abstract: Is environmental action waxing or waning? Using the environmental modules of the International Social Survey Program from 1993, 2000, and 2010, two dimensions of environmental activism are described: environmental political activity and conservation behavior. Political activity has generally decreased, but in contrast, conservation behavior has become more common over the same time span. The correlates of these changes suggest that broad societal forces produced these trends, since most social groups follow these same trends, although some evidence was found of increased partisan polarization in Green activism.