Showing papers in "Political Studies in 2010"

If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them? Explaining Social Democratic Responses to the Challenge from the Populist Radical Right in Western Europe

Abstract: Over the last three decades many Western European social democratic parties have been challenged by populist radical right parties. The growth and success of parties on the right flank of the party system represents a triple challenge to the social democrats: they increase the salience of issues traditionally ‘owned’ by the right; they appeal to working-class voters who traditionally support the centre left; and they may facilitate the formation of centre-right governments. This article explores social democratic parties' strategic options in the face of this challenge, and tests the widespread assumption that the centre-left parties respond by taking a tougher stance on issues related to immigration and integration. Comparative analysis of developments in Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway reveals significant variation in the substance, scope and pace of the strategic responses of their social democratic parties. And it suggests that those responses are influenced not only by the far right but also by the reactions of mainstream centre-right parties and by parties on their left (and liberal) flank. Internal disunity, potential or actual, is also an important factor.

Inequalities in Non‐institutionalised Forms of Political Participation: A Multi‐level Analysis of 25 countries

Abstract: Various studies suggest that while institutionalized and electoral forms of political participation are in decline in Western societies, non-institutionalized forms of participation (like demonstrating, political consumerism or signing petitions) are on the rise. This expansion of the political action repertoire of citizens, however, also entails the question of equal participation opportunities. It can be argued that contemporary ideals of democratic participation assume an equal representation of citizens’ interests. In this paper, we analyze the equality of participation patterns using comparative data from the 2004 ISSP survey. Our results suggest that non-institutionalized forms of participation increase patterns of inequality due to education but strongly reduce or even reverse gender and age inequalities. As such, both institutionalized and non-institutionalized forms of participation have specific (dis)advantages from the perspective of preserving equal access to democratic decisionmaking procedures.

Angry White Men: Individual and Contextual Predictors of Support for the British National Party

Abstract: The British National party (BNP) is the most successful extreme right party in Britain's electoral history and is the fastest growing political party in twenty-first century Britain. This article presents the first ever individual-level analysis of BNP supporters, utilising a survey data set uniquely compiled for this purpose. We find that support for the BNP is concentrated among older, less educated working-class men living in the declining industrial towns of the North and Midlands regions. This pattern of support is quite distinct from that which underpinned the last electorally relevant extreme right party in Britain – the National Front (NF) – whose base was young working-class men in Greater London and the West Midlands. Extreme right voters in contemporary Britain express exceptionally high levels of anxiety about immigration and disaffection with the mainstream political parties. Multi-level analysis of BNP support shows that the party prospers in areas with low education levels and large Muslim minority populations of Pakistani or African origin. The BNP has succeeded in mobilising a clearly defined support base: middle-aged working-class white men anxious about immigration, threatened by local Muslim communities and hostile to the existing political establishment. We conclude by noting that all the factors underpinning the BNP's emergence – high immigration levels, rising perceptions of identity conflict and the declining strength of the cultural and institutional ties binding voters to the main parties – are likely to persist in the coming years. The BNP therefore looks likely to consolidate itself as a persistent feature of the British political landscape.

The Use of Repression as a Response to Domestic Dissent

Abstract: This study contributes to our understanding of government repression in response to internal threats using a quantitative approach. In contrast to previous research, it focuses on the outbreak of s...

Women's Representation in Parliament: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Abstract: In recent years, statistical and case study research has increasingly reached conflicting findings in terms of the factors explaining cross-national variations in the percentage of women elected to national parliaments. To reconcile the conclusions of large-n and small-n research, this article employs qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), a medium-n technique, to study two populations of cases, Western and sub-Saharan African countries. In contrast to work predicated on assumptions of causal homogeneity and causal competition, the study reveals that multiple combinations of conditions lead to higher and lower levels of female representation. This finding corroborates the two guiding principles of QCA, causal combination and equifinality, suggesting that these methods may offer greater leverage than traditional techniques in discerning the various factors facilitating and hindering women's access to political office.

To Buy or Not to Buy: Who are Political Consumers? What do they Think and How Do they Participate?

Abstract: Political consumerism has recently generated academic interest among political participation researchers. While some scholars underscore political consumerism as an emerging civic and political engagement, others discredit its democratic potentials. Drawing on two national survey samples in 2002 that measured both boycotting and ‘buycotting’, this study examines political consumers' demographic backgrounds, socio-political attitudes, issue orientations and their status of civic and political participation. Findings suggest that: (1) boycotters and buycotters should be distinguished because their demographic backgrounds are substantially different; (2) political consumers possess post-material values and are mainly interested in lifestyle-oriented social issues; and (3) political consumers are more active political participants. Theoretical implications of the findings and an agenda for future studies are also discussed.

Bargaining Power in the European Union: An Evaluation of Competing Game-Theoretic Models

Abstract: This article evaluates, by drawing on Barry's distinction between ‘power’ and ‘luck’, the predictive accuracy of competing bargaining models. We explore whether models that take various facets of political power into account predict legislative outcomes more precisely than purely preference-based models like the Nash Bargaining Solution (NBS). Our empirical examination compares how well different formal models predict the outcome of 66 legislative decisions made within the European Union (EU). A model that considers the saliency actors attach to a contested issue performs best among all the models under examination. Although resource-based models provide less accurate forecasts on average, they offer relatively precise point predictions. The analysis also shows that domestic constraints are not a particularly important bargaining resource in legislative decision making.

The Core Executive: Gender Power and Change

Abstract: The core executive is a central focus for the study of policy change especially in Westminster-style parliamentary democracies such as the UK. This venue is recognised as the locus of power and where attention should be given for identifying and assessing the process of policy change. It is surprising, then, that studies on women’s substantive representation – showing whether and how women can make a difference to politics and policy – have not examined this institution, focusing instead on parliament or women’s policy agencies.We plug this gap in scholarship in suggesting that the core executive should be the key venue for examining substantive representation of women. At the same time we present the case that the core executive is a gendered institution in terms of recruitment, resource allocation, relationships and rules.We argue that this gendered disposition shapes the opportunities and constraints available to feminist actors intent on altering the gender emphasis of public policy and illustrate this empirically through a case study of the actions and successes of two feminist ministers – Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt. As such this article makes a contribution to mainstream core executive research, gender and politics scholarship as well as the new and feminist institutionalist literatures.

The Process is the Reality: Perceptions of Procedural Fairness and Participatory Democracy

Abstract: To (re)connect and (re-)engage citizens with their governing institutions, many advanced industrial democracies have adopted innovative reforms designed to ‘transform’ the way citizens interact with public institutions. This article assesses the extent to which the Scottish Parliament's petitioning system, a reform designed to connect the Scottish public with its parliament, influences broader trust in the political system. Using structural equations to model data from a survey of Scottish Parliament petitioners, the article finds that process evaluations far exceed outcome evaluations in influencing petitioner trust in political institutions. Hence simply adopting reforms that allow for ‘civic engagement’ is not enough to improve public support for the political system. Great care must be taken in adopting transformative reforms to ensure that those members of the public who do choose to ‘engage’ with political institutions see procedures as fair and politically neutral.

Crime and Support for Democracy in Africa and Latin America

Abstract: Much of the scholarship on democratization has a myopic focus on economic conditions. Using Afrobarometer and Latinobarometro survey data, the article examines how crime victimization and perceptions of crime influence citizens' attitudes toward democracy. After elaborating on several theoretical frameworks that help illuminate the relationship between crime and support for democracy, the article applies fixed effects and generalized hierarchical linear models to the cross-national survey data. The results show that a citizen's perception of public safety is as important a factor as any socio-economic variable in predicting support for and satisfaction with democracy. This finding is important because widespread support for democracy among the citizenry is considered a requisite for the consolidation of democracy.

Defending Democracy: The Concentric Containment of Political Extremism

Abstract: In this article we develop a concentric containment policy for dealing with political extremism starting from the deliberative model of democracy. This model of democracy is particularly well suite...

Explaining the Success of Neo‐liberal Populist Parties: The Case of Lijst Dedecker in Belgium

Abstract: Neo-liberal populist parties, like Forza Italia or Lijst Pim Fortuyn, aim to reverse the trend towards big government and state intervention while at the same time defending the ‘ordinary people’ against an allegedly ‘corrupt elite’. While it is possible to distinguish neo-liberal populism from the populist radical right, it is less clear whether the causes of their electoral successes might be differentiated as well. This article attempts to explain the unexpected breakthrough of the neo-liberal populist Lijst Dedecker (LDD), a new party which gained representation in the Belgian parliament in 2007. It is argued that LDD profited from an electoral opportunity structure – that is, an ideological gap between the mainstream parties, which had converged to the centre, and the Vlaams Belang on the radical right – and the populist appeal from its charismatic leader. Both the populist radical right and neo-liberal populism seem to profit mainly from the same breeding ground.

Citizen Deliberation on Nuclear Power: A Comparison of Two Decision‐Making Methods

Abstract: This article analyses the impact of decision-making methods on democratic deliberation. An experiment was designed to study the effects of two distinct decision-making methods. This citizen deliberation experiment took place in November 2006. The topic was: ‘Should a sixth nuclear power plant be built in Finland?’ A random sample of 2,500 people was first polled and invited to take part in the deliberation experiment. Eventually, 135 people took part in the event where they read written information, heard an expert panel and deliberated in small groups. The participants were randomly divided into two treatments. In the first treatment, the small group decisions were made through a secret ballot. In the second treatment, each group was asked to formulate a common statement reflecting the group's opinion. The present article analyses changes in the participants' opinions and knowledge, as well as indicators of social pressures. There were no systematic differences between the treatments in terms of opinion ...

When Deliberative Theory Meets Empirical Political Science: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in Political Deliberation

Abstract: Re-linking deliberative theory with empirical political science has become a major theme in the discipline. But when philosophical concepts are to be integrated into positive political science, researchers confront both theoretical and methodological challenges. Focusing on deliberative democracy, a major theoretical challenge is the practical implementation of deliberative ideals. Comparative scholars have explored institutional contexts that favour deliberation, but they have largely neglected actor-centric and cultural variables that might affect deliberative quality as well. Focusing on legislatures in Switzerland and Germany, we show that political institutions as well as partisan strategies and status strongly affect deliberative action, while the effects of culture are less clear. Methodologically, one (frequently neglected) challenge concerns the appropriate statistical tools with which to study deliberation. On the one hand, analysing deliberative processes is demanding and time consuming; hence we tend to have only few and non-randomly selected cases at the group or context level. In addition, the real world of deliberation presents us with a complex matrix of cross-classified speakers. We demonstrate that Bayesian multi-level modelling provides an elegant way to tackle these methodological problems.

‘The Righteous Considereth the Cause of the Poor’? Public Attitudes towards Poverty in Developing Countries

Abstract: Events in 2005 such as the G8 Summit in Gleneagles and the Make Poverty History campaign have been successful in focusing the public's attention on the problem of world poverty. Despite these high-profile events and consistently high levels of public support for development assistance programmes, people's understanding of poverty and development issues remains shallow and levels of official development aid for many OECD countries fall well below the 0.7 per cent GDP goal. In this article we examine what factors drive individual-level attitudes of concern for poverty, how the media portray poverty in developing countries and how media portrayal affects individuals' concern for poverty. Drawing on extant literature on motivations for aid, we argue that individual concern for poverty can stem from self-interest or moral drivers. However, the implications of the different drivers do not appear to be well understood, yet they have important consequences for DFID and the OECD; strategies based on preference-accommodation rather than preference-shaping strategies may undermine rather than strengthen public concern for poverty. The data for the article come from DFID's 2005 Omnibus survey of public attitudes towards development and a content analysis of eight UK newspapers from January to December 2005. Using a binary logistic regression model we estimate individual concern for poverty in developing countries as a function of moral judgements, self-interest, awareness of poverty and assessments of achieving Millennium Development Goals, controlling for a host of demographic variables. Results from the content analysis show that economic and political frames dominate media coverage of poverty in developing countries. We find differential effects for moral and self-interested attitudes on concern for poverty; moral attitudes are positively related to concern, whereas self-interested attitudes are negatively related to concern.

Rethinking the Modern Prince: Partisanship and the Democratic Ethos

Abstract: This article lays out and defends the role of political parties in cultivating a democratic ethos among citizens. It argues that citizens' commitment to the democratic idea of self-rule requires positive conviction of the worth of collective political agency, and suggests that this conviction draws on three main sources, characterised as normative, motivational and executive. The article shows theoretically why parties are able to cultivate all three sources in a way no other political actor can match, thus constituting a unique and indispensable mode of civic engagement. Moreover, it proposes that the widely noted shortcomings of parties in contemporary democracy leave this basic capacity unimpaired, indeed that certain important developments herald renewed opportunities.

Cosmopolitanism and Global English: Language Politics in Globalisation Debates

Abstract: While it is commonly agreed that language standardisation was an integral feature of the historical formation of the modern nation state, current debates on globalisation and its effects on the nat...

On the Confusion Between Ideal and Non-Ideal in Recent Debates on Global Justice:

Abstract: This article assesses two contending global theories of justice (cosmopolitanism and statism) in light of the role that ideal and non-ideal considerations should play in political theory. It starts with a distinction between ideal and non-ideal and it proceeds to show how both statists and cosmopolitans are ideal when non-ideal considerations should prevail and how both are non-ideal when ideal theorising is required. This view is assessed with reference to two issues on which statists and cosmopolitans appear particularly divided: the relevance of states and the principles of global justice. With regard to the former, the article shows that the discussion on states is ideal (discussing the place of special associative relations in normative justifications of distributive equality) when it should be non-ideal (emphasising the role of states as the most relevant agents of justice in real-world circumstances). On the second issue, it illustrates how the discussion on principles is non-ideal (limited to assessing the consequences of global poverty in unfavourable conditions) when it should be ideal (investigating the grounds of injustice at the appropriately fundamental level). The article concludes by sketching an alternative analysis of global justice which is able to accommodate some statist and cosmopolitan concerns but which avoids the criticisms that each theory usually attracts.

Democracy and Nature: Speaking and Listening

Abstract: This article is about the nature of democracy in environmental politics, with special reference to the issue of representation, and to the issues of speaking and listening It is argued that politics has always been regarded as concerned with ‘speechifying’, and that this has created problems for politicising environmental issues, many of which have to do with ‘dumb nature’ The work of Bruno Latour is examined in this context as a way of including nature in politics without resorting to extravagant claims about ‘nature speaking’ Latour's epistemological approach to ‘politicising nature’ is discussed, and attention is focused on the importance for the political (and especially democratic) process of ‘listening’ as well as ‘speaking’

Is Co-decision Good for the Environment? An Analysis of the European Parliament's Green Credentials

Abstract: The European Parliament (EP) has long been regarded as a positive force for environmental change in the EU, but there has been little detailed empirical scrutiny to determine whether its reputation as a green champion is deserved. Nor has there been any evaluation of the environmental impact of the increase in EP powers under co-decision. These oversights are rectified by an evaluation of the EP's amendments to environmental legislation using typologies that rank them in terms of their level of ecological commitment and importance. EP amendments proposed under three procedures of decision making are compared in order to determine whether recent increases in the EP's powers under the co-decision procedure have affected its ability and willingness to adopt ‘green’ amendments. It is clear that the EP has consistently tried to strengthen environmental legislation but there is some ambiguity as to whether co-decision has been good for the environment.

Fictitious Issues Revisited: Political Interest, Knowledge and the Generation of Nonattitudes

Abstract: It has long been suspected that, when asked to provide opinions on matters of public policy, significant numbers of those surveyed do so with only the vaguest understanding of the issues in question. In this article, we present the results of a study which demonstrates that a significant minority of the British public are, in fact, willing to provide evaluations of non-existent policy issues. In contrast to previous American research, which has found such responses to be most prevalent among the less educated, we find that the tendency to provide ‘pseudo-opinions’ is positively correlated with self-reported interest in politics. This effect is itself moderated by the context in which the political interest item is administered; when this question precedes the fictitious issue item, its effect is greater than when this order is reversed. Political knowledge, on the other hand, is associated with a lower probability of providing pseudo-opinions, though this effect is weaker than that observed for political ...

The Role of Networks in the Development of UK Migration Policy

Abstract: This article examines the ‘policy networks’ that existed between 1997 and 2007 in UK asylum, economic migration and immigrant integration policy. The analysis shows that employers and businesses (together with other state and non-state actors) were part of a tightly organised, ideologically cohesive economic migration ‘policy community’. This policy community was crucial to the development of economic migration policy, in contrast to the development of asylum and integration policies. The central argument of this article is that the mainstream interpretation of UK immigration policy change (that change was driven by an elite-led, powerful executive) is correct in tracing the dynamics of asylum policy development between 1997 and 2007 under New Labour, but wrong for the development of immigration policy as a whole, which was more complex, and where businesses played a key role.

Is Rule by Majorities Special

Abstract: One way of making decisions is for political associates or their representatives to vote on each issue separately in accordance with the majority principle and then take the cumulative outcomes of such majority decision making to define the collective choice for public policy. We call such a system one of majorities rule. Thought of in spatial terms, majorities rule is equivalent to the principle of making decisions according to the issue-by-issue median of voter preferences. If popular control and political equality are core democratic values, they can be rendered as requirements on a collective choice rule, involving resoluteness, anonymity, strategy-proofness and responsiveness. These requirements entail that the collective decision rule be a percentile method. If we then add a requirement of impartiality, as exhibited in a collective choice rule which would be chosen behind a veil of ignorance, then the issue-by-issue median is uniquely identified as a fair rule. Hence, majorities rule is special. Some objections to this line of reasoning are considered.

Deliberative Democracy, the Public Interest and the Consociational Model

Abstract: One of the most basic charges levelled at the consociational model is that, although it may provide for conflict management, it fails to provide for the longer-term goal of conflict resolution. This article seeks to respond to this charge by viewing the consociational model through a deliberative democratic lens. In particular, I argue that deliberative democracy provides normative standards that can inform the design of consociational institutions in ways that encourage political leaders to focus on the interests of everyone in society, rather than merely on the interests of their own ethnic group. In so far as consociational institutions, deliberatively conceived, can have this effect, there is in principle no reason why they might not also provide for conflict resolution.

Discriminating Methods: Tests for Non-nested Discrete Choice Models

Abstract: We consider the problem of choosing between rival statistical models that are nonnested in terms of their functional forms. We assess the ability of two tests, one parametric and one distribution-free, to discriminate between such models. Our monte carlo simulations demonstrate that both tests are, to varying degrees, able to discriminate between strategic and nonstrategic discrete choice models. The distribution-free test appears to have greater relative power in small samples.

Does Power Drive Out Trust? Relations between Labour Market Actors in Sweden

Abstract: Although power and trust are crucial to human cooperation, and considerable attention has been paid to both these concepts in the social sciences, the relationship between them has been poorly investigated. In this article, based on data about a complete network of labour market actors in Sweden, it is investigated whether power ‘drives out trust’ or if power is a requirement of trust. In contrast to previous research, the article concludes that there is a positive relationship between power and trust, although it levels out when power is at a very high level. Also in disagreement with previous findings, it is shown that symmetry in power relations is not a guarantee of trust: two actors with symmetric low power do not trust each other, at least not in this specific institutional setting. Moreover, the theoretical argument is developed and refined by showing that shared beliefs and group membership also have an independent impact on trust, as well as a perception that the other actor is pursuing the common good. Hence, the presumed negative impact of power on trust is not only neutralised, but also transformed into a positive impact in the social context investigated here. However, more research is needed to show whether this finding is true only within certain institutional settings and, if so, within which ones.

The Nature of Ideas, and Why Political Scientists Should Care: Analysing the Danish Jobcentre Reform from an Ideational Perspective

Abstract: Research on the role of ideas has contributed greatly to our understanding of processes of policy change. The article suggests that theories that deal with interest-driven reform processes might also benefit in important ways from including ideas as a variable in their models. Arguing that ideas are useful to power-seeking actors, the article develops a theory about the nature of ideas that emphasises the dynamic and open-ended relation between actors and ideas: actors can use different strategies to affect ideas to work in their interest, but because of their intersubjective nature, ideas have a life of their own and are never fully controllable. Analysing the case of the Danish jobcentre reform it is demonstrated how ideas may be introduced by actors in order to promote their interests, but actors must use ideas with due attention to the historical background of the idea as well as which other ideas can be associated with them, both in present and future policy processes. In this way ideas create – with...

Political Marketing Models: The Curious Incident of the Dog that Doesn't Bark

Abstract: Contemporary politics has become dominated by the use of marketing strategies, techniques and principles. An academic literature has emerged in response to these empirical trends. Much of this literature is grounded in management marketing theory, and the contention of this article is that while this may provide a useful heuristic device, the models of political behaviour it proposes are seriously flawed by their assumptions of a passive or neutral role for the media. The intention here is, first, to restore agency to the media. This is achieved by highlighting their influence in shaping the political message, rather than simply disseminating it as implied by the management marketing models. Second, we draw attention to some of the key democratic implications of applying marketing to the practice of politics and highlight the potential role of the media as agents providing a corrective function to the democratic deficits we identify.

Exploring the Promise of Experimentation in Political Science: Micro-Foundational Insights and Policy Relevance

Abstract: In the face of scepticism experimenters are looking to move out of niche areas to offer their methods to mainstream political science. But even if the strength of experimental logic in demonstrating causal claims is accepted by political science colleagues there are doubts about the practicality and ethics of experimental work. Experimenters need to address these issues head on by showing how the research practice of experimenting is developing and proving to be viable. The particular claims of experimental work to offer insights into the micro-foundations of political behaviour will have to be advanced. Applications of experimental work could produce a political science of relevance to policy makers and citizens. In order to make advances experimenters will need their strategies to deal with the demands of a complex policy world.

Crossing the Interdisciplinary Divide: Political Science and Biological Science:

Abstract: This article argues that interdisciplinary collaboration can offer significant intellectual gains to political science in terms of methodological insights, questioning received assumptions and providing new perspectives on subject fields. Collaboration with natural scientists has been less common than collaboration with social scientists, but can be intellectually more rewarding. Interdisciplinary work with biological scientists can be especially valuable given the history of links between the two subjects and the similarity of some of the methodological challenges faced. The authors have been involved in two projects with biological scientists and this has led them critically to explore issues relating to the philosophy of science, in particular the similarities and differences between social and natural science, focusing on three issues: the problem of agency, the experimental research design and the individualistic fallacy. It is argued that interdisciplinary research can be fostered through shared understandings of what constitutes ‘justified beliefs’. Political science can help natural scientists to understand a more sophisticated understanding of the policy process. Such research brings a number of practical challenges and the authors explain how they have sought to overcome them.