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Since the earlier studies about the voting behavior of the United Nations members during the 1950s, there is no agreement among voting analysts on the best methodology to detect states aggregations & blocs in the General Assembly. Almost every author involved in this topic proposed a new method -- or at least a new application of a previous method -- to better show the map of UN members vote. The aim of this paper is to find some common patterns in the wide universe of voting behavior studies in order to turn out the methodological diversity in cumulative knowledge, & to provide practical paths of analysis for future researches. The first paragraph classifies the researches on voting behavior in the General Assembly by the goals, the object & the method of research. The following paragraph shows the main methods used in the last fifty years & their evolution. Finally, the Conclusion underlines the common aspects of voting behavior analysis in the General Assembly & suggests strategies of researches. Adapted from the source document.

The article discusses the evolution of the Italian electoral market. As far as the class cleavage is concerned, the data show the persistent weakness of this variable in explaining voting behaviour. The religious cleavage, which was very strong during the "First Republic," has lost a huge part of its predictive power due to change in the political supply. Also the explanations based on issues & values do not show a close relationship with voting. The "political dimension" is much closer to voting behaviour, & it raises the question of exploring its determinants. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

This paper examines the preferences over candidates expressed by voters in the last three regional Italian elections (1995, 2000, 2005). In these elections, voters were asked to express a single preference, as opposed to the multiple preferences allowed until 1990. The introduction of single preferences voting from 1995 onward had the effect of reducing the number of preferences expressed in 1995, & then increasing it in the subsequent regional elections of 2000 & 2005. The preference rate (that is, the percentage relation between preferences expressed & preferences allowed) dropped at first from 29% in 1990 to 25,2 in 1995, & then increased to 44,3 in 2000 & to 51,7 in 2005, thus doubling the 1995 figure. As far as electoral behaviour in the various geographical regions is concerned, the results of the analysis show to be an increase everywhere in the preference rate & confirm that voters' tendencies to make use of the preference vote varies, for a number of reasons (among which the different subcultures of the various areas), depending on both the region & the list voted for. The remains a North-South divide, which, however, is less significant than in 1995. In the case of all list, there is a tendency for preferences to be disturbed unevenly among the candidates, given the greater attraction of certain candidates (nearly always those at the top of a list). Tables. Adapted from the source document.

In the organization of the recent presidential elections in Somaliland, the implementation of specific political techniques (namely the registration of voters by means of digital fingerprint and facial recordings) took on very distinctive meanings, guaranteeing the international community involved in the process and local political actors of the "free and fair" character of the electoral competition and assuring a complete transition from a political system based on the "government of the community" to one based on western style democratic institutions (a multi-party presidential system). The reality however proved to be not that simple: the registration of voters actually caused conflicts or ignited those already existing, contributing to extend the long and hazardous period of preparation to the polls. In the process, the relationships between "technique" and "politics" appeared far more complex than expected: political techniques determine a space of interaction which eventually produces the assimilation of local political practices to the dominant forms of political organization, specific cultures of voting and a specific electoral body. Technique here operates as a form of self-legitimization which promises neutrality in order to have conformity. The article situates itself in contemporary debates on political development in post-conflict societies but it also reminds how artificial is the opposition between clan or tribal politics and western style democratic politics, generally seen as one of the most specific features of politics in Africa, in particular in Somali history. In reality, a continuous negotiation between corporate and collective forms of participation and activism on the one side and individual expression of vote on the other represents a typical feature shared by the two systems. Adapted from the source document.

The close outcome of the Italian general elections of 2006 highlights the crucial role of floating voters, switching from one coalition to its opponent. Using survey data, the paper studies the relation between the degree of political interest & knowledge of individual voters & their propensity to switch between competing coalitions in subsequent elections. Two rival hypotheses are proposed. The first, dubbed the "electoral market," states that most vote change happens among the most interested & informed. On the contrary, the rival hypothesis of the "electoral bazaar" envisages a scenario where floating voters are mostly among the least politically involved. The results of the analysis show a marked difference between patterns in the First & the Second Republic. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.