Suchergebnisse

The word 'democracy' has predominantly negative connotations when referring to its practical implementation in Russia. However, Russians are favourable to the idea of democracy in principle, and support the establishment of genuine democracy in the country. Beliefs that elections ensure accountability of elected officials, allow public input on the policy direction of government, and give personal benefits to individuals would help to increase acceptance of the value of Russian democracy. A combination of factors, however, makes it doubtful that the current negative attitudes can be overcome quickly.

Abstract. Merged survey and aggregate data sets allow examination of the inter‐relationship between individual characteristics and contextual variables. The addition of constituency context variables to the Canadian National Election study of 1979 enhances our ability to explain variations in partisanship. Party weakness in a constituency, female NDP candidates, and the lack of an incumbent seeking re‐election all render partisanship more flexible. Concentrations of Roman Catholics and the university educated in a constituency solidify Liberal and NDP strength respectively. Problems of study design and data interpretation presently limit our ability to utilize combined micro‐macro analysis.

Drawing on a large-scale Canadian postelection survey (1979) & aggregate data sets, individual voting behavior is analyzed, using partisanship as the dependent variable. The findings indicate that party weakness in a constituency, female New Democratic Party (NDP) candidates, & lack of an incumbent all result in more flexible partisanship. The importance of the electoral context to explain partisan change is emphasized; however, the effects of increased concentrations of Roman Catholics on Liberal partisanship, & of greater working-class populations on the NDP, demonstrate the importance of the constituency context as well. It is shown that an approach using both aggregate & individual-level data encounters problems of interpretion. Along with individual qualities & attitudes & consituency characteristics, consideration must also be given to whether Catholics in a constituency containing substantial numbers of coreligionists perceive this situation to exist, look to their religion as a cue for voting, & relate political parties to interest representation. It is argued that understanding of the relationship between micro- & macrolevels of analysis will remain exploratory until the means to investigate these perceptions become available. 6 Tables, 21 References. S. Millett

Examines the politics of personal gain, group gain, communalism, ideology, and issues and opinion; includes discussions of historical and contemporary elections.