Showing papers in "Comparative Political Studies in 1985"
TL;DR: The authors examined how well parties perform their representation role and found that the clarity of party positions, represented by a centralized party structure and non-centrist ideology, strongly influences the efficiency of the party linkage process.
Abstract: Political representation in most Western democracies occurs through and by political parties. Based on parallel surveys of voters and party elites in nine West European nations, this article examines how well parties perform their representation role. The opinions of voters and party elites are compared for 40 party dyads. In some cases there is close correspondence between these opinions (e.g., economic and security issues), but in other instances the evidence of voter-party agreement is substantially weaker (e.g., foreign policy). An examination of party characteristics and contextual factors suggests that the clarity of party positions, represented by a centralized party structure and noncentrist ideology, strongly influences the efficiency of the party linkage process.
334 citations
TL;DR: This paper showed that a long-term process of intergenerational value change was taking place, based on strong inter-cohort differences that persisted throughout the tumultous economic ups and downs of the past 14 years.
Abstract: This article responds to two central questions about value change that are raised by other articles in this volume: (1) Are political cleavages in Western society gradually being transformed from the traditional pattern based on social class and religion, toward one that increasingly reflects the polarization between materialist and postmaterialist goals? (2) Has an intergenerational value shift been taking place in recent decades—or do the observed differences between the priorities of old and young simply reflect an unchanging life cycle pattern? Cohort analysis based on more than 140,000 interviews carried out at numerous time points from 1970 through 1984 demonstrates that a long-term process of intergenerational value change was taking place, based on strong intercohort differences that persisted throughout the tumultous economic ups and downs of the past 14 years. Additional evidence indicates that this process has had a major impact on political cleavages, changing the political meaning of left and...
65 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that the two core assumptions of postmaterialism theory can be combined in different ways and that at least two interpretations can be found in Inglehart's writings.
Abstract: In a recent article, Ronald Inglehart (1981) reexamined his hypothesis that postwar affluence has led to intergeneration change from materialist to postmaterialist values among Western publics. Using data covering the seventies, he came to the conclusion that postmaterialism continues to prevail in an “environment of insecurity.” In this article, we will call into question both this conclusion and the hypothesis of generational change. In the first section it will be shown that the two core assumptions of postmaterialism theory can be combined in different ways and that at least two interpretations can be found in Inglehart's writings. In the second part, we attempt to test both models empirically using the same data as Inglehart (1981) did, yet applying appropriate techniques for cohort analysis and covering more time points. The cohort effects and trend effects are estimated with the program NONMET. Neither in Western Europe nor in West Germany do the patterns of value change correspond to either versio...
61 citations
TL;DR: This article showed that Inglehart's postmaterialists are not a unified social and political group, and that future public policy issues will continue to be framed in ideological, in addition to postmaterialist, terms.
Abstract: In his attempt to predict future political conflict, Ronald Inglehart writes that traditional class cleavages and ideologies will slowly erode and be replaced by the dominant value orientation of postmaterialism. This article shows that Inglehart's postmaterialists are not a unified social and political group. Postmaterialists of the right have attitudes that differ significantly from postmaterialists of the left about the ways in which society should be directed. These conflicting values and societal goals have their basis in social class and ideology, and the existence of the two groups suggests that political conflict will have its origin in intragenerational as well as intergenerational cleavages. This distinction also suggests that future public policy issues will continue to be framed in ideological, in addition to postmaterialist, terms.
44 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the existence of conflict diffusion in the post-World War II international system and showed that positive spatial diffusion looks like in Africa, and presented a series of analyses that exclusively utilize the variables that are central to the argument: borders, types of borders, and factors related to the treatment of having a Warring Border Nation.
Abstract: As part of an ongoing project, we have investigated the existence of conflict diffusion in the post-World War II international system. The initial systemwide tests of our Warring Border Nation model of positive spatial diffusion were replicated successfully in a study of conflict in the African region that appeared in this journal. Although both the systemwide and African regional studies demonstrated the existence of conflict diffusion, the present article begins to specify exactly which processes are operative by unpacking the earlier results and their attendant methodologies. To describe what positive spatial diffusion looks like in Africa—the states for which it holds and the conditions under which it does so—we present a series of analyses that exclusively utilize the variables that are central to the argument: borders, types of borders, and factors related to the “treatment” of having a Warring Border Nation.
44 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the status of postmaterialist syndrome in Norway is established empirically based on a national sample survey carried out in 1981 (N = 1, 170), and the analysis focuses on two major questions: the distinctness of post materialism in a left-right context, and the congruity between different value domains.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to establish empirically the status of Ronald Inglehart's postmaterialist syndrome in Norway. As a prototypical social democratic state, and one of the only European countries yet to be adequately tested for postmaterialism, Norway represents a particularly interesting case for the Inglehart thesis. On the basis of a national sample survey carried out in 1981 (N = 1, 170), the analysis focuses on two major questions: the distinctness of postmaterialism in a left-right context, and the congruity between different value domains. Of particular importance is the finding that there exists a postmaterialist profile for democratic values that is much more distinct than the literature has allowed for up to now.
40 citations
TL;DR: This article found that the Converse model fails to account for the strength of partisanship found among new electorates, thereby raising doubts about the model in general, and pointed out that political experience and age are not collinear.
Abstract: Converse proposed a model drawing on an individual's experience with the vote and socialization by the father to explain the strength of political partisanship. This experience-based model, despite varied criticisms, has gained wide acceptance. By focusing on cases in which political experience and age are not collinear, this article finds that the Converse model fails to account for the strength of partisanship found among new electorates, thereby raising doubts about the model in general.
38 citations
TL;DR: This paper identified Duverger's key concepts on party structure, links the concepts in 19 formal bivariate propositions, operationalizes the concepts using data from a worldwide sample of 147 parties in 53 countries, and tests all 19 propositions.
Abstract: Maurice Duverger's Political Parties, written more than three decades ago, remains the most prominent source of hypotheses on parties and party systems. Although many years have passed since its publication, no one has formalized Duverger's main hypotheses on political parties and subjected them to empirical test. This article identifies Duverger's key concepts on party structure, links the concepts in 19 formal bivariate propositions, operationalizes the concepts using data from a worldwide sample of 147 parties in 53 countries, and tests all 19 propositions. Twelve are supported by the cross-national empirical test. Interrelationships among these 12 bivariate propositions are shown in a causal diagram, and suggestions are made for moving beyond Duverger's bivariate thinking to more powerful multivariate theorizing about the causes and consequences of party structure.
35 citations
TL;DR: In the Italian system, preference voting is a potentially important possibility for voters in many proportional representation systems, especially the Italian System as mentioned in this paper, and preference voting has been shown to be useful in many electoral systems.
Abstract: Intraparty preference voting is a potentially important possibility for voters in many proportional representation systems, especially the Italian system. Three hypotheses—that preference voting is...
34 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an ecological analysis of the electoral outcomes at the regional level of the political parties in 16 European democracies was conducted in terms of a comparative ecology model and the search for relationships between voter alignments and the social structure was conducted.
Abstract: Following the Lipset-Rokkan cleavage approach, we present an ecological analysis of the electoral outcomes at the regional level of the political parties in 16 European democracies. The search for relationships between voter alignments and the social structure is conducted in terms of a comparative ecology model. Ecological factors at the regional level within each country account for 75% of the variance in support for 93 parties over three elections during the 1970s. More than half of the “regional” variance could be explained by five “structural” properties of the regions: industry, agriculture, affluence, religion, and ethnicity. The impact of these structural properties varied across countries and across party types. Some of the more theoretically interesting variations are discussed for specific countries, individual parties, and party types.
34 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the record of economic growth of Third World countries so far supports the claim that at a certain stage late industrialization is best served by bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes.
Abstract: The question posed in this article is whether the record of economic growth of Third World countries so far supports the claim that at a certain stage late industrialization is best served by bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes. A multiple interrupted time-series design is used to assess and compare the impact of bureaucratic-authoritarian and democratic regimes on economic growth in South America.
TL;DR: This article examined the characteristics of the political administration in Canada and compared these characteristics with those found in other liberal democratic systems, and concluded that relations between bureaucrats and politicians in Canada are not well understood and the implications of these relations for the autonomy of the democratic state.
Abstract: This article examines the characteristics of the “political administration” in Canada and compares these characteristics with those found in other liberal democratic systems. The findings are based on interviews conducted with 82 federal public officials interviewed in 1982 and 1983. The contact patterns of these public officials and their attitudes toward the personnel and institutions of liberal democracy are studied within the structural context of the bureaucracy. Three communications networks are identified: a departmental policy, a policy integration, and a private sector network. The former two networks are shown to intervene in a developmental model between structural location in the bureaucracy and attitudes consistent with a “tolerance for politics.” Conclusions are drawn with respect to relations between bureaucrats and politicians in Canada and the implications of these relations for the autonomy of the democratic state.
TL;DR: In this paper, the voting behavior of the urban poor in the Third World has been studied and it has been shown that demand aggregation by political parties is not clear-cut in a multi-party system.
Abstract: Existing research on the voting behavior of the urban poor in the Third World has frequently suggested that demand aggregation by political parties (especially in a multiparty system) is not clear-...
TL;DR: This article argued that Tocqueville's explanation of the French Revolution, the disjuncture between social and political institutions and social reality, lacks an intervening variable providing a necessary variable.
Abstract: This essay argues that Tocqueville's explanation of the French Revolution, the disjuncture between social and political institutions and social realities, lacks an intervening variable providing th...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the impact of economic development and generational turnover on trends in sex differences in political participation and found that these socioeconomic processes have had a negligible impact on the sex difference trends.
Abstract: This study examines the impact of economic development and generational turnover on trends in sex differences in political participation. Election studies of the United States and West Germany are the sources of the trend data, which cover the period between 1952-1953 and 1980. Controls are imposed for increased education levels, the decreased preponderance of rural residents and farming families, and the replacement of older generations by younger ones. The results show that these socioeconomic processes have had a negligible impact on the sex difference trends. Furthermore, these socioeconomic processes cannot explain the variations in the rate of change by nation and by indicator of political participation. The article identifies different configurations of factors affecting the trends in voter turnout, in media attention and discussion, and in organizationally related types of campaign activity.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the argument that the Labour party's poor performance in the 1979 general election reflects a long-term decline that is largely the result of its own natural suppor...
Abstract: This article critically examines the argument that the Labour party's poor performance in the 1979 general election reflects a long-term decline that is largely the result of its own natural suppor...
TL;DR: In this paper, voter preferences for political parties and their choices can be modeled as a set of equations with three endogenous variables: (1) the perceived distance between the voter's ideological position and that of a party, (2) the utility that the voter assigns to a party; and (3) behavior, whether or not a voter votes for a given party.
Abstract: Voters' preferences for political parties and their choices can be modeled as a set of equations with three endogenous variables: (1) the perceived distance between the voter's ideological position and that of a party; (2) the utility that the voter assigns to a party; and (3) behavior—whether or not a voter votes for a given party. Spatial models of party competition imply that (1) the perceived ideological distance between a voter and a party is a function of the perceived spatial distances between the voter's most preferred point on each electorally relevant issue and the party's position—the greater these distances, the greater the perceived ideological distance; (2) the utility assigned to each party is a function of this ideological distance, as well as the issue distances; and (3) the higher the assigned utility, the higher the probability that a voter votes for a given party, but the greater the ideological and issue distances, the lower this probability. These hypotheses are operationalized and t...
TL;DR: The authors argue that the nation-building process in the post-World War II era often results in changes in the definitions of adolescence and in the status of youth, and that these state-sponsored activities are guided by institutional "recipes" for development that are embodied in world system ideology.
Abstract: This article argues that the nation-building process in the post-World War II era often results in changes in the definitions of adolescence and in the status of youth. This happens because both nation building and economic development have become the responsibilities of modern states. Using the work of John Meyer and his students (1978, 1979), I argue that these state-sponsored activities are guided by institutional “recipes” for development that are embodied in world system ideology. A key component of this ideology is the idea that rational action results from the activities of appropriately socialized individuals. As a result, harnessing the motivation of individuals to collective goals becomes a central concern of modern states. Efforts to do so have produced a number of institutional forms that have diffused rapidly throughout the periphery, for example, educational expansion. The adoption of other institutional devices to link individuals to the state depends on the internal characteristics of nati...
TL;DR: In this paper, several propostions about resource allocation behavior are tested with data for the Japanese national government and 46 prefectural governments and compared with those from parallel tests employing data for West German national government, 105 municipal governments.
Abstract: Several propostions about resource allocation behavior are tested with data for the Japanese national government and 46 prefectural governments. Results are compared with those from parallel tests employing data for the West German national government and 105 municipal governments. Most of the behavior observed in both countries seems compatible with the incremental model's assumptions. However, the West German national government's spending patterns are shown to be just as stable as the Japanese national government's. This finding runs counter to baransu descriptions of budgeting in Japan. Findings for subnational governments in both countries also contadict the literature. In particular, the expenditure pattern variability of Japanese prefectures and West German municipalities decreases with increased interparty competition.
TL;DR: In this article, cross-national variations and longitudinal changes in the duration of the reigns of monarchs are analyzed for the period from 877 to 1972, covering 439 monarchs from 10 selected nations.
Abstract: This article analyzes cross-national variations and longitudinal changes in the duration of the reigns of monarchs. Data cover 439 monarchs from 10 selected nations for the period from 877 to 1972....