Suchergebnisse

It is, of course, Aristotle who pointed out that "Man is by nature a political animal" (quotation taken from Lipset, 1981:vii). One could of course speculate whether he meant only the male half of the human species were political animals. It is, however, the case that men tend to participate more in politics than women. This particular study focuses upon men and women's political participation in Greece, the place many regard as the birthplace of democracy.

Using Greece as a case in point, examined is political party preferences by "erratic issues," defined by I. Budge & D. J. Farlie (Explaining and Predicting Elections: Issue Effects and Party Strategies in Twenty-Three Democracies, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1983) as issues regarding foreign relations, candidate evaluations, & government records favorable to the party defining the issues. Data were gathered via an interview survey of 600 Athenians conducted in May 1986 by Eurodim, an Athens-based political research group, on a number of political topics. The results indicate that the success of parties in addressing these erratic issues in a manner favorable to them definitely influences election outcomes. It is concluded that Budge's & Farlie's theory could be applied to the understanding of political party preferences in other countries & might be accepted as a standard for interpreting political preferences. 4 Tables. J. W. Stanton

Two important traditions of research on the causes of voting preferences, one that stresses social variables and is associated with the University of Columbia and the other that examines current issues and is identified with the University of Michigan Survey Research Institute, are drawn upon to help provide an analysis of political party preference in Greece. Among the social variables used in the study, age is the only significant one. Issues related to foreign policy concerns, socioeconomic redistribution, and government record tend to have strong effects on left‐leaning party preference. It is suggested that Greek parties do tend to proclaim rather distinct positions on foreign policy issues and socioeconomic redistribution, and Greeks perceive a difference between the parties on these issues. However, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in reality may not be as radical on foreign policy issues as some of its rhetoric suggests.

This article explores the negative attitudes towards the United States that exist in present day Greek society. The anti‐US attitudes in Greece are greater than in other EEC member countries and exist across various social and economic characteristics of the Greek population. Possible reasons for and sources of these attitudes are explored.

A examination of the influence of SC factors & issue orientations on political party preference in Athens, Greece, based on an interview survey (N = 357 Rs) conducted in 1977. Logit analysis indicates that family income, subjective stratification variables, & issue orientation are significant in shaping party preference. Wc consciousness has a relatively important influence in shaping leftist voting, while persons who preferred a pro-Western foreign policy are the least likely to vote for leftist party candidates. Official survey data collected in 1984 tend to uphold the idea that supporters of the various parties have different views on selected issues. It is tentatively suggested that the failure of the Communist Party to support PASOK, the newest leftist party, in the Oct 1986 municipal elections, particularly in Athens, may reflect concern with the recently adopted economic measures designed to stabilize the economy, which impacted rather harshly on the Wc. However, because issues are so important in predicting voting behavior & supporters of new democracy are so different in their issue orientations from backers of the Communist Party, it is unlikely that the two parties could join forces to work against PASOK for very long. 3 Tables, 44 References. Modified AA