Suchergebnisse

"Over the past forty years, citizens of most Western industrialized countries have become increasingly alienated from, and mistrustful of, their elected officials. In this study, scholars of political science and psychology argue that significant changes in values, the result of several cross-societal transformations - such as the increase of wealth in western countries, a change in the source of that wealth, a rapid growth in the level of education among the general population, and the resulting growth of the middle class - are responsible for these shifts in attitude. Consequently, they argue, the institutions of democratic governance now operate in a profoundly different environment than that in which they were founded." "Among the issues discussed are how these value changes affect citizens' views of democracy, government, and legislation, and how these changes have affected modern democracy. The contributors consider the impact value changes will have on future governments, and the implication for this shift in citizen-state relations for the course of further policy making, as well as look at ways governments can address emerging issues important to today's citizens. As part of the Trends Series to examine Canadian public policy from the point of view of academia, this book is part of an effort seeking to strengthen government policy development on long-term issues."--Jacket

Do evaluations of presidential candidates in the US affect the level of voter turnout? Voters' affections towards presidential candidates, we contend, can either stimulate or inhibit voter inclinations to turnout. Voters are more inclined to turn out when they have positive feelings towards the candidate with which they identify because they want "their" candidate to win. But citizens may also be more likely to vote when they dislike the candidate of the party with which they do not identify. In that case, voters are motivated to prevent the candidate from being elected. Utilizing the American National Election Studies data for 1968–2020, the analysis finds that the likelihood of voting is affected by (a) the degree to which voters' affections towards the candidate differ from one another (having a clear‐cut choice between options) and (b) the nature of the affections (negative or positive) towards both in‐ and out‐party candidates.

AbstractSatisfaction with the workings of democracy seems to have declined in Canada, as it has in other established democracies. Political scandals are one frequently invoked explanation for that shift. But there is substantial scholarly disagreement about whether political scandals undermine democratic satisfaction. This paper uses evidence from a conveniently timed round of the CES (Canadian Election Study) from 2004, as well as the CES panel from 2004 and 2006, to explore this relationship more definitively than is usually possible. The results indicate that the scandal eroded satisfaction with the way democracy works but did not undermine support for democracy more generally.