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Young People's Voting Behaviour inEurope -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Plan of the Book -- Note -- 2 Age, Generations and Voting Behaviour -- 2.1 Theoretical Background -- 2.2 Research Questions and Analytical Framework -- 2.3 Data and Method -- Notes -- 3 Young People, Politics and Vote Between Continuity and Change -- 3.1 Young People and Socio-demographic Characteristics -- 3.2 Young People, Religion and Values -- 3.3 Young People and Politics -- 3.4 Young People and Voting Intentions -- 3.4.1 France

'This book provides a methodologically rigorous analysis that sheds new light on the young peoples' voting behaviour in Western Europe. A great reference for academics, practitioners, and students.' - Professor Alessandro Chiaramonte, University of Florence, Italy, & New York University, USA This book uses various concepts of 'age' to examine young people's voting behaviour in six European countries between 1981 and 2000. It addresses questions such as: what are the determinants of voting choices among young people, and to what extent are these factors different from those of adults? Through an innovative approach aimed at studying party choice with a strong empirical orientation, the author argues that age is less important in influencing voting choices than having been young and socialized to politics in a given historical period. Ultimately, values and political factors explain young people's voting choices more than social identities, which marks a change from previous generations. This book will appeal to students and scholars in comparative politics, electoral behaviour, party politics, and political sociology. Nicola Maggini is Research Fellow at the University of Florence, Italy, and a member of CISE (Italian Centre for Electoral Studies). He has published on Italian and international scientific journals and co-edited several volumes for the Dossier CISE series. His research focuses on socio-political attitudes and voting behaviour in a comparative perspective.

Intro -- Young People's Voting Behaviour inEurope -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Plan of the Book -- Note -- 2 Age, Generations and Voting Behaviour -- 2.1 Theoretical Background -- 2.2 Research Questions and Analytical Framework -- 2.3 Data and Method -- Notes -- 3 Young People, Politics and Vote Between Continuity and Change -- 3.1 Young People and Socio-demographic Characteristics -- 3.2 Young People, Religion and Values -- 3.3 Young People and Politics -- 3.4 Young People and Voting Intentions -- 3.4.1 France -- 3.4.2 Great Britain -- 3.4.3 Italy -- 3.4.4 Netherlands -- 3.4.5 Spain -- 3.4.6 Sweden -- 3.5 Young People Towards the Centre or Outside Politics? -- 3.6 Conclusion -- Notes -- 4 The Explanatory Model: The Determinants of Youth Voting Choices -- 4.1 Age, Cohort and Vote: A General Explanatory Model -- 4.2 The Youth and the Adults: Similarities and Differences in the Determinants of Voting Choices -- 4.3 The Context, the Period Effects and the Voting Behaviour of Young People and Adults -- 4.4 Behind and Beyond the 'Generic' Party Choice: The Relationship Between Some Independent Variables and the Youth Voting for Specific Parties -- 4.5 Conclusion -- Notes -- 5 Conclusions -- Appendix -- References -- Index.

The economic crisis, the fall of the Berlusconi government and the birth of the technocratic government led by Mario Monti have produced several changes in the Italian political system. Certainly, one of the most important innovations in the context of Italian politics has been the emergence of the Five Star Movement. Such a new party has achieved spectacular overnight success in several elections at sub-national level, and now it is the most voted party in the 2013 national elections. The Five Star Movement combines anti- establishment rhetoric with demands for political reform. The article analyses the electoral growth of the Five Star Movement using both aggregate data and individual data from "Osservatorio Politico CISE" (i.e. cross-section and panel surveys conducted from November 2011 to March 2013). In particular, the author investigates whether the profile of the supporters of the Five Star Movement has changed over time, both from a political and a social standpoint. Finally, the author analyses what factors influence the electoral choice for the Five Star Movement, also from a longitudinal perspective.

The economic crisis, the fall of the Berlusconi government and the birth of the technocratic government led by Mario Monti have produced several changes in the Italian political system. Certainly, one of the most important innovations in the context of Italian politics has been the emergence of the Five Star Movement. Such a new party has achieved spectacular overnight success in several elections at sub-national level, and now it is the most voted party in the 2013 national elections. The Five Star Movement combines anti-establishment rhetoric with demands for political reform. The article analyses the electoral growth of the Five Star Movement using both aggregate data and individual data from 'Osservatorio Politico CISE' (i.e. cross-section and panel surveys conducted from November 2011 to March 2013). In particular, the author investigates whether the profile of the supporters of the Five Star Movement has changed over time, both from a political and a social standpoint. Finally, the author analyses what factors influence the electoral choice for the Five Star Movement, also from a longitudinal perspective. Adapted from the source document.

As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, several governments adopted disease containment measures limiting individual freedom, especially freedom of movement. Our contribution aims at studying the role played by party preferences in explaining attitudes towards those freedom limitations during the pandemic, taking into account the moderating role played by confidence in institutions and collectivist-individualistic orientations. Focussing on Italy, as the first western democracy to be hit by Covid-19 and to adopt harsh restrictive measures, we analyse data coming from the ResPOnsE COVID-19 project. Our study initially investigates whether attitudes towards freedom restrictions are associated with the dynamics of the pandemic and the institutional responses to it. Then, through multilevel regression models, we test several hypotheses about the relationship between party preferences, confidence in institutions, collectivistic orientations and public acceptance of Covid-19 containment measures limiting individual freedom. Findings show that party preferences are associated with different attitudes towards freedom restrictions to contain the pandemic, but this occurs only if people have individualistic orientations. Collectivistic orientations and confidence in institutions are positively associated with acceptance of freedom restrictions, regardless of party preferences. As regards the latter, neither a classical ideological explanation (conservative people more inclined to accept limitations to personal freedoms) nor a government-opposition explanation (supporters of government parties more inclined to accept freedom restrictions) seems to be adequate to fully account for the mechanisms behind acceptance of Covid-19 harsh containment measures. Thus, we offer an alternative ideological explanation by pointing out the ambiguous nature of contemporary right-wing populisms. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11135-022-01436-3.

In recent years, the global financial crisis and the ensuing austerity measures in European countries have resulted in dire cuts to public services, massive job losses, and diminished incomes. At the same time, and parallel to the economic crisis, a refugee crisis has arisen. In this context, ordinary citizens and new or re-energised networks of cooperation among civil society actors (e.g. non-governmental organisations (NGOs), churches, trade unions, cooperatives, grassroots initiatives) foster (transnational) solidarity practices. These practices grow in importance as they try to address people's needs, often unmet by national governments given their lack of financial resources. This article investigates whether and to what extent civic initiatives and organisations are involved in transnational solidarity activities. Moreover, it seeks to identify those factors that seem to promote or inhibit the scope of transnational activities. The article critically analyses the initiatives and practices of Transnational Solidarity Organisations (TSOs) in eight European countries on the basis of data on transnationally oriented civic groups and organisations committed to organising solidarity activities in three fields of work (disabilities, unemployment, and assistance to refugees). The analysis aims to contribute, through fresh empirical data, to the scholarly discussion in the field of transnational solidarity mobilisation and organisations by pointing out that most solidarity organisations remain active primarily at the local and/or national level(s) and that only a minority of solidarity organisations are engaged in cross-national activities. Transnational activities are associated with formalisation and professionalisation. Moreover, maintaining a web of transnational partners, being able to communicate with such partners, and conventional action repertoires seem to be conducive to transnational activism. Organisational values linked to cosmopolitanism are also important, but their impact on transnational solidarity actions is mediated and conditioned by the TSOs' level of formalisation.

First Published Online: 15 September 2020 ; In recent years, the global financial crisis and the ensuing austerity measures in European countries have resulted in dire cuts to public services, massive job losses, and diminished incomes. At the same time, and parallel to the economic crisis, a refugee crisis has arisen. In this context, ordinary citizens and new or re-energised networks of cooperation among civil society actors (e.g. non-governmental organisations (NGOs), churches, trade unions, cooperatives, grassroots initiatives) foster (transnational) solidarity practices. These practices grow in importance as they try to address people's needs, often unmet by national governments given their lack of financial resources. This article investigates whether and to what extent civic initiatives and organisations are involved in transnational solidarity activities. Moreover, it seeks to identify those factors that seem to promote or inhibit the scope of transnational activities. The article critically analyses the initiatives and practices of Transnational Solidarity Organisations (TSOs) in eight European countries on the basis of data on transnationally oriented civic groups and organisations committed to organising solidarity activities in three fields of work (disabilities, unemployment, and assistance to refugees). The analysis aims to contribute, through fresh empirical data, to the scholarly discussion in the field of transnational solidarity mobilisation and organisations by pointing out that most solidarity organisations remain active primarily at the local and/or national level(s) and that only a minority of solidarity organisations are engaged in cross-national activities. Transnational activities are associated with formalisation and professionalisation. Moreover, maintaining a web of transnational partners, being able to communicate with such partners, and conventional action repertoires seem to be conducive to transnational activism. Organisational values linked to cosmopolitanism are also important, but their impact on transnational solidarity actions is mediated and conditioned by the TSOs' level of formalisation. ; Results presented in this article have been obtained through the project 'European paths to transnational solidarity at times of crisis: Conditions, forms, role-models and policy responses' (TransSOL). Tis project was funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 649435).

First published: 27 October 2019 ; On 4 March 2018 Italy went to the polls amidst an intense wave of anti-establishment sentiment. The parties that contributed most to, and capitalized from, this political climate were the Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S-Five Star Movement) and the Lega Nord (Lega-Northern League), that is, the challenger, populist parties. Given the Eurosceptical nature of the M5S and even more of the Lega, the election result has been regarded by many as a blow to Europe. However, while the victory of Eurosceptic parties in the 2018 election is a matter of fact, whether Euroscepticism was one of the main explanations for it remains to be determined. Thus, the goal of this article was to assess exactly the role played by Euroscepticism in the outcome of the 2018 Italian general election. For this purpose, we analysed how and to what extent EU-related issues were able to shape parties' strategies and voters' preferences. More specifically, we examined, on the one hand, the emphasis given to them by the parties both in their manifestos and in their official Twitter feeds during the electoral campaign, and, on the other hand, the voters' preferences and priorities on those issues and, in comparison, on other issues. Results show that it is hard to support the interpretation that Euroscepticism was a main determinant of the election outcome. The (still minoritarian) negative views of the EU and the euro did not play a direct role either in shaping parties' mobilization strategies or in structuring the voting choices.