Suchergebnisse

Nas últimas décadas os politólogos têm procurado explicar as assimetrias de envolvimento dos cidadãos na política. Apesar de extensa e diversificada, grande parte desta investigação tem negligenciado uma questão pertinente: o que leva a que alguns cidadãos estejam mais envolvidos no domínio da política local e outros no da política nacional? Após rever alguns conceitos e estudos fundamentais sobre o tema, esta dissertação argumenta que os modelos predominantes de estudo do envolvimento político tendem a descartar a importância da "escala geográfica" nos estudos sobre o grau de envolvimento político. Assim, em vez de almejar um modelo explicativo unificado da participação, o propósito desta dissertação é decompor o problema para obter um entendimento mais aprofundado sobre o modo como as pessoas comuns se relacionam com os seus sistemas políticos. Este objectivo é concretizado através de uma sequência de quatro estudos empíricos. O segundo capítulo consiste numa meta-análise de investigações sobre a participação ao nível agregado que destrinça as conclusões de 185 publicações provenientes de uma grande diversidade de contextos. A meta-análise mostra que variáveis como os gastos de campanha, a competitividade da eleição e os requisitos de recenseamento têm um poder explicativo mais robusto nas eleições de âmbito nacional, ao passo que variáveis como a dimensão e a heterogeneidade populacional, a simultaneidade de eleições e o sistema eleitoral são melhores preditores da participação em eleições subnacionais. O terceiro capítulo reporta os resultados de uma análise quantitativa da participação eleitoral em Portugal ao nível municipal entre 1993 e 2013 e corrobora, neste contexto específico, alguns dos principais resultados no capítulo anterior. Recorrendo a regressões espaciais e a uma matriz original da distância social entre os municípios portugueses, este capítulo ilustra também a relação complexa entre a densidade da sociedade civil ao nível municipal e as variações de participação eleitoral. Os dois últimos ...

Scholars have emphasized the decline of party membership and a decrease in party activism. Yet these general patterns hide a diversity of party members with distinct profiles, attitudes and behavior. Using Portugal as a case study, this article examines the heterogeneity of party members based on the different motivations for joining the party and distinct levels of involvement. The findings support previous typologies that distinguished between more activist versus more passive party members. The results also suggest that different party types present a distinct proportion of the two types of affiliates. In addition, these two types of members display distinct levels of ideological congruence with the party.

UID/CPO/04627/2013 SFRH/BD/87140/2012. ; Research about voter turnout has expanded rapidly in recent years. This article takes stock of this development by extending the meta-analysis of Geys (2006) in two main ways. First, we add 102 studies published between 2002 and 2015 to the initial sample of 83 studies. Overall, we document only minor changes to the original inferences. Second, since different processes might conceivably play at different levels of government, we exploit the larger sample to separately analyse the determinants of voter turnout in national versus subnational elections. We find that campaign expenditures, election closeness and registration requirements have more explanatory power in national elections, whereas population size and composition, concurrent elections, and the electoral system play a more important role for explaining turnout in subnational elections. ; authorsversion ; published

AbstractHow do parties that have long been confined to opposition behave once they take the decision to support government? This article analyses the case of the three Portuguese radical left parties that took such a move in the wake of the post-bailout 2015 election. Leveraging the concept of contract parliamentarism and the analysis of different data sources through different methods, we show that the three parties adopted a similar strategy after agreeing deals with the centre-left socialists. Specifically, while keeping close scrutiny on the executive action, the parties have voted consensually on most of the legislation proposed by the government. In exchange, the majority of policy pledges agreed with the socialists were implemented by the beginning of the legislature. Based on these findings, the article underlines the importance for supporting parties of conducting a thorough negotiation of policy goals and the timing of their implementation before joining the government, and of pursuing an autonomous discursive agenda.

UID/CPO/04627/2013 ; This report was commissioned as part of the Accountability After Economic Crisis project – a three- year initiative funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC-ES/M011321/1). Members of the project are based at City, University of London, Queens University Belfast, and the University of Kent. The project explores the policies of accountability deployed in the aftermath of the global 2008 economic recession (the 'Great Recession'). Using six case studies (Cyprus, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain), we approach political accountability through a comparative and thematic framework that focuses on the use of specific tools of accountability following the financial crisis. The policies of accountability include prosecutions, fact-finding commissions and truth commissions and official apologies. At base, the project hopes to make contributions both to the theory of 'crisis governance' as well as to the practice of how governments react to economic crises. More than 100 elected officials, civil servants, academics, journalists, and activists were interviewed for the project. We also developed a novel database with prosecutions, truth commissions and apologies in the aftermath of the crisis in the six countries. Drawing on a experts' testimonies and the use of a new database, the project provides policy makers with concrete advice for pursuing accountability in future economic crises. The country reports have a wide readership envisioned, including policy makers in all countries and at various levels of government (including international bodies); scholars; activists; and journalists. They have been written without academic jargon, and in both English and relevant local languages, to facilitate their practical utility. ; publishersversion ; published

UID/CPO/04627/2013 SFRH/BD/87140/2012 SFRH/BD/92180/2013 ; What affects the prospects of candidates in open intra-party elections? This research article examines the determinants of candidate performance in the first open party primaries conducted by LIVRE, a newly emerged Portuguese party, in 2015. This innovative process of candidate selection allowed individuals from outside the party not only to vote but also to run for office. Through the construction of an original dataset and the use of social network analysis, this study shows that centrality in the network of endorsements has a significant impact on the probability to be selected in party lists. Our findings shed additional light on the determinants of success in candidate selection and open new insights into the dynamics behind party primaries. ; preprint ; published

In this article we analyze the evolution of the attitudes towards Europe of Portu-guese parliamentary elites in the context of the sovereign debt crisis. Our analysis relies on interviews to a total of 227 MPs in the context of the ENEC project in 2014 and of the Intune Project in 2009 and 2007. Our principal finding is that an important gap has risen between the attitudes of the MPs and of the masses. Indeed, while the Portuguese are becoming increasingly less pro-European, this is not the case of their deputies. We show that, in 2014, the percentage of deputies that believed that EU membership benefited the country has decreased a little, but it stays as high as 89%. Our data, however, show that MPs now exhibit lower levels of trust towards the European institutions. Interestingly, the drop in the levels of trust towards EU institutions does not affect all institutions equally: trust towards the European Parliament remains constant regarding 2007, whereas the levels of trust in the remaining two institutions decrease. Finally, we show that it is in the Socialist Party (PS) that there is the steepest decline in the level of overall trust, which is rooted in declining levels of confidence in the European Commission. Given that PS has traditionally portrayed itself as the most pro-Europe of the Portuguese parties, this is solid evidence of a growing discontent with the European Commission.

In this article we analyze the evolution of the attitudes towards Europe of Portuguese parliamentary elites in the context of the sovereign debt crisis. Our analysis relies on interviews to a total of 227 MPs in the context of the ENEC project in 2014 and of the Intune Project in 2009 and 2007. Our principal finding is that an important gap has risen between the attitudes of the MPs and of the masses. Indeed, while the Portuguese are becoming increasingly less pro-European, this is not the case of their deputies. We show that, in 2014, the percentage of deputies that believed that EU membership benefited the country has decreased a little, but it stays as high as 89%. Our data, however, show that MPs now exhibit lower levels of trust towards the European institutions. Interestingly, the drop in the levels of trust towards EU institutions does not affect all institutions equally: trust towards the European Parliament remains constant regarding 2007, whereas the levels of trust in the remaining two institutions decrease. Finally, we show that it is in the Socialist Party (PS) that there is the steepest decline in the level of overall trust, which is rooted in declining levels of confidence in the European Commission. Given that PS has traditionally portrayed itself as the most pro-Europe of the Portuguese parties, this is solid evidence of a growing discontent with the European Commission.