Suchergebnisse

The case study is based on an empirical analysis, which focuses on the effect of local direct democracy on turnout in elections in the Czech Republic. First, the methodological caveats of studying the effect of direct democracy on political engagement are explained. Second, the research design of panel data analysis is explained in detail. As the analysis relied heavily on secondary data from various different sources, it is described how the data were obtained and put together. We also provide a detailed description of all important variables that were included in the analysis. Last, the strategy we used in the panel data analysis, including the way we presented the results of our research, is exhibited. The case study should be helpful to anyone considering using panel data analysis as well as anyone using secondary data in empirical research in political science.

The existing research on contextual sources of support for populist parties has revolved around two factors: the unemployment rate and the size of immigrant groups. Conceived as residential characteristics, observation of these factors has been seen to increase support for radical parties in Western European countries. We identify different contextual (non-individual) drivers of support for populist parties in the post-communist Czech Republic (Czechia). Based on a large sample of voters ( n = 23,734), we identify the (contextual) effect of economic hardship and demographic decline on support for populist parties. We interpret these results as supporting the theory of regional peripheralization. This peripheralization has been identified to be particularly strong in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and has widened regional socio-economic disparities in this region. We show how these processes have affected voting behaviour and support for political parties. In a second step, we use a sample from eastern Germany ( n = 524) to test whether peripheralization affects support for populist parties in other post-communist regions. The results confirm the hypothesis also in the case of east Germany. Our study contributes to the debate by pointing out a novel mechanism that leads to increased support for radical and moderate populist parties.

This article seeks to shed more light on the reasons for the regionally uneven distribution of populist attitudes. We take into account both individual-level and contextual drivers and focus mainly on the latter. We argue that regional peripheralization processes are a key contextual condition driving populist attitudes, especially in post-communist settings. The empirical analysis is based on a unique dataset combining comparable items from two representative surveys covering Germany ( N = 2112) and the Czech Republic ( N = 1000) with economic and demographic characteristics of relevant regional contexts in both countries (167 constituencies in Germany and 77 districts in the Czech Republic). Using multilevel regression models, the article shows that individual-level characteristics do not alone drive populist attitudes. In contrast, the results show that living in peripheral areas of the Czech Republic and eastern Germany increases the likelihood of having populist attitudes. These peripheries are characterized by unfavourable economic conditions in the Czech Republic and demographic decline in eastern Germany.

Does direct democracy lead to increased electoral turnout? Research in the United States has demonstrated this effect and proposed two reasons for it: (1) the process of being involved in direct political participation may educate citizens and lead to their increased long-term political engagement (this explanation draws on the theory of participatory democracy) and/or (2) underlying issues and competitive campaigning draw public interest and cause higher turnout, although this effect is election-specific and short term. Recent empirical findings overwhelmingly favor the latter hypothesis although both mechanisms seem to apply. However, research on this topic is made difficult by the fact that direct democracy and elections take place simultaneously in the United States, which makes it hard to disentangle the effects of each. We present a study from the Czech Republic where direct democracy is not tied to elections. We analyze the effects of local/municipality direct democracy and demonstrate that it leads to increased turnout in upcoming local and national elections. We demonstrate a strong effect sparked by competitive direct democracy campaigns as well as a relatively weak long-term institutional effect of direct democracy.

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Historical field systems are an essential part of the traditional cultural landscape of societies with primarily agricultural subsistence. They embody many functions and values, as they affect the productional, ecological and hydrological functioning of the landscape, its cultural values, the way people perceive the landscape, and their impact on present-day farming. As an aspect of the historical landscape, field systems are a topic investigated in landscape archaeology, environmental studies, historical geography, landscape ecology, and related disciplines. Historical field systems can form many complex spatial structures, shapes and patterns. This paper focuses on identifying environmental and historical/cultural driving forces during the formation and the historical development of various field pattern types. We worked with 523 settlements established in the medieval to the early modern period (approx. 900–1600 AD) in the present-day Czech Republic. We have determined the proportions of different field pattern types in the examined cadastres and have statistically compared them with a variety of environmental and geographical predictors. Our results indicate a strong influence of environmental predictors (terrain undulation, cadastre size), the impact of specific historical events and associated social changes (e.g. land confiscations by the state in the seventeenth century), and a significant relationship between field pattern types and settlement layout types. Furthermore, we have observed the different adaptations of field pattern types to similar environmental conditions, as well as the impact of social and political factors on the processes of landscape formation. Our paper provides the first detailed analysis of the geographical distribution of traditional field systems on the scale of an entire modern state, and emphasizes the importance of transdisciplinary research on cultural landscapes.