Suchergebnisse

A combination of factors renders problematic the establishment of a competitive party system in Russia. Survey evidence from the period of the 1993 Duma election is used to examine the nature of attitudes to parties; these are found to be more supportive than might have been expected. The extent of public orientations to party is found to relate to interest in politics and belief in the meaningfulness of elections. General similarity in party orientation is found to exist among parties of different sizes and ideological stances. The importance of the development of public belief in political parties as a basis for democracy is emphasized.

A combination of factors renders problematic the establishment of a competitive party system in Russia. Survey evidence from the period of the 1993 Duma election is used to examine the nature of attitudes to parties; these are found to be more supportive than might have been expected. The extent of public orientations to party is found to relate to interest in politics & belief in the meaningfulness of elections. General similarity in party orientation is found to exist among parties of different sizes & ideological stances. The importance of the development of public belief in political parties as a basis for democracy is emphasized. 2 Tables, 12 References. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractReferendums are rare events in most parliamentary democracies, and when they do occur they present an analytical puzzle. Are they such unusual events that they fall outside of the theoretical frameworks familiar to students of elections? Or, even though they enter political life infrequently, can they be understood as something not entirely foreign to our thinking about electoral politics? Here, we argue that voting in referendums such as the constitutional referendum of October 26, 1992 is driven by many of the same factors that are present in elections—parties, leaders, issues, a campaign timetable, the interplay between long- and short-term forces and the dynamic of the campaign itself. In spite of their unique features, referendums can be understood in terms of models of voting behaviour familiar to students of elections in Canada and elsewhere. But, devoid of some of the long-term partisan and social anchors which play a role in elections, their outcome is even more dependent on the short-term elements of the campaign. As such, referendums are subject to greater volatility and uncertainty than that typically found in ordinary parliamentary elections.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN RECENT BRITISH AND CANADIAN ELECTIONS The 2019 elections in Britain and Canada illustrate the difficulties in communication between a concerned public and prospective office-holders on the most critical set of issues of our times. An increased level of public awareness and concern about the state of the environment has been expressed in public opinion polls, social movement activity has increased, and Green parties have expanded their appeal. Despite these developments in recent years, environmental issues have not been able to exert a major impact on individual voting behaviour in elections, or on overall election outcomes. Issues related to the environment are usually treated, by both politicians and the public, in valence terms. Valence issues are ones upon which there is broad consensus about the goals of public policy, and political debate focuses not on "what to accomplish" but rather on "how to do it" and "who is best able." Regarding the environment, general formulations like global warming and climate change prompt politicians to offer concerned rhetoric and engage in virtue signaling, but specific policy proposals are often absent. This paper examines four reasons why environmental/climate change issues did not have a major impact on the 2019 Canadian and British elections. First, environmental concern in society at large was imperfectly translated into election issues. Second, the major political parties produced inadequate and unconvincing environmental manifestos. Third, environmental issues were not central to most voting decisions. Fourth, environmental issues had limited impacts on election outcomes.

A comprehensive and unique overview of elections and voting in Canada from Confederation to the recent spate of minority governments, this book examines changes in the composition of the electorate, as well as the technology and professionalization of election campaigns

The gradual withdrawal of young voters from the active electorate is one of the strongest and most important factors in accounting for declining voter turnout in Canada and other western democracies. Because qualitative approaches may be better able to probe the reasons underlying these changing values and attitudes than traditional mass surveys, we used the popular social media site Facebook during the 2008 federal election campaign to collect data on young people's perceptions of electoral politics in the context of their civic obligations. This medium proved to be a valuable and productive research tool. Based on this project, we argue that non-voting tends to be seen as a more socially acceptable behaviour to young voters than is typically found in the thinking of older cohorts, and that this may be connected to changing concepts of the obligations of citizenship. Adapted from the source document.