Rasprava o izborima i izbornim sustavima zapravo je rasprava o tome kakvi mogu biti učinci predstavništva u demokratskim političkim sustavima. Razumijevanje te poveznice nije moguće bez poznavanja tehničkih detalja od kojih su satkani izborni sustavi. Unatoč nepostojanju općeprihvatljivoga pojmovnog okvira i postojanju kompleksnosti različitih definicijskih pristupa i interpretacijskih polazišta, i o izborima i o izbornim sustavima, postignuto je suglasje o tome da se izbori vežu uz predstavničku demokraciju te da predstavljaju njezinu središnju instituciju, a da izborni sustavi predstavljaju načine na koje birači mogu izraziti svoje preferencije kroz glasove, te mogućnosti kako se ti glasovi mogu pretvoriti u zastupničke mandate. Kakvu izbornu strategiju, uobličenu u izbornom modelu, primijeniti? Kako kombinirati strukturne elemente izbornih sustava da bi se postigli priželjkivani politički učinci? Pitanja su na koje odgovor može dati samo dobro poznavanje složene izborne problematike koja je u dodiru s ukupnim krajolikom političkog: institucijama, procesima i sadržajima. ; Discussion about elections and electoral systems is in fact discussion about the effects of representative bodies in democratic political systems. Understanding of that link is not possible without knowing technical details used for forming electoral systems. Despite nonexistence of generally accepted conceptual framework and complexity of different definition approaches and interpretation bases of both elections and electoral systems, there is an agreement that elections are related to representative democracy and they represent its central institution, while electoral systems represent the ways in which voters can express their preferences through their votes and possibilities how those voices can be turned into representative mandates. Which elections strategy, formed in electoral model, should be applied? How to combine structural elements of electoral systems in order to achieve hoped-for political effects? Those are the question which could be answered only by good knowledge of the complex electoral problem area which is in contact with total political landscape: institutions, processes and contents.
Rad se bavi istraživanjem učinaka personalizacije izbornog sustava prije svega na političke stranke i kandidate za zastupnike. Pod personalizacijom izbornog sustava smatra se uvođenje mehanizama u izborni sustav koji osiguravaju veću ulogu birača u izboru njihovih parlamentarnih zastupnika. U radu su predstavljene četiri gusto opisane studije slučaja koje su služile kao temelj za testiranje temeljne i pomoćnih hipoteza. Rad sadrži fokusiranu poredbenu analizu dometa personalizacije izbornog sustava u odnosu na tri ključna slučaja (Austrija, Nizozemska i Finska), kao i u odnosu na kontrolni slučaj Kosovo. U radu je dokazano da snažni personalizirani izborni sustavi, koji imaju najveće vrijednosti personalizacije, odnosno izmjerene vrijednosti utjecaja dva institucionalna potičuća mehanizma koji su predstavljali nezavisne varijable ovog istraživanja (a. preferencijsko glasovanje unutar razmjernog sustava stranačkih lista i b. procedura selekcije kandidata), dovode do personalizacije političkih stranaka na razini zastupnika. Kroz dokazivanje pomoćnih hipoteza ispraćeni su učinci personalizacije izbornog sustava na političke stranke, kandidate/zastupnike, birače odnosno stranački/politički sustav. U radu predstavljeni nalazi fokusirane poredbene analize potvrđuju da snažna personalizacija izbornog sustava vodi personalizaciji izborne kampanje te smanjenoj ulozi političkih stranaka u političkom životu. Smanjena uloga stranaka u kampanjama otvara prostor jačanju uloge konkretnih donatora. Poslanici postaju nezavisniji u odnosu na stranku, ali s druge strane otvoreni za utjecaje donatora svojih kampanja. Nemogućnost opoziva, odnosno tekovina da je zastupnik, a ne stranka vlasnik mandata, dodatno ojačava poziciju zastupnika, a slabi poziciju stranke. Pozicija zastupnika jača, kao i birača koji imaju u snažno personaliziranim izbornim sustavima mogućnost presudnog utjecanja na to tko će ih zastupati u parlamentu, odnosno na koga će privremeno prenijeti suverenitet kao njegovi nositelji. Finski primjer najbolje pokazuje utjecaj snažne personalizacije izbornog sustava na političke stranke, kandidate i birače u konsolidiranoj demokraciji. Slučaj Kosova kao kontrolni slučaj govori da ukoliko izostane prevlast osobnog u odnosu na stranačko u unutarstranačkim procesima, učinci snažnog preferencijskog sustava bit će umanjeni. Izostanak vladavine prava utječe na ravnopravnost kandidata u predizbornim kampanjama, ali snažno preferencijsko glasovanje umanjuje negativne efekte izostanka demokratskih procedura unutar stranke te potiče daljnju demokratsku konsolidaciju u nekonsolidiranim demokracijama. ; The doctoral dissertation deals with research into the effects of personalization of the electoral system primarily on political parties and candidates for deputies. The personalization of the electoral system means the introduction of mechanisms in the electoral system that ensure a greater role for voters in the election of their parliamentary representatives. I define the electoral system as a "set of laws and party rules governing electoral competition between and within the parties" (Cox 1997: 38). This wider definition of the electoral system gives us space to build a more complete picture of the electoral system's impact on political parties, candidates and voters as main actors in the electoral process. The focus of the research is the relationship between personal and party representation. In order to conduct a more comprehensive analysis of the effects of personalization on political parties, the research framework is narrowed down to list proportional electoral systems with preferential voting. Contemporary liberal democracy is characterized by a highly personalized politics. Governments are more recognizable by their leaders than by the parties that are the basis of their constitution. This personalization trend is not characteristic exclusively of presidential systems, but has become a feature of parliamentary political systems. In addition to personalization of the party at the leader level, there is also the personalization of politics at the level of members of parliament (MPs). In this paper, we only use the term 'personalization of a party' in reference to personalization at the level of the MP. We will not deal with the question of the presidentialization of political parties. Under the personalization of a political party at the level of MPs, we mean strengthening the position of deputies in the intra-party decision-making process. Thanks to the introduction of preferential voting in list proportional list systems, the group of electoral systems in which voters play an important role in the selection of their representatives has significantly expanded. Historically speaking, the representative position has been strengthened by the accepted attitude that the MP, not the party, is the 'owner of the mandate'; preferential voting supports this. This paper deals with the personalization of politics at the level of the representative—the political party. That is to say, it explores the question of to what degree personalization of the electoral system affects the political party, its intra- and its inter-party dimension. Moreover, the paper deals with personal and party representation, an area that is a new field of interest for political scientists. Through this relationship, I explore the effect of electoral systems on political parties, candidates and voters. in developing this work, I was guided by the results achieved by Katz (1980, 1986) and Marsh 9 (1985) who first dealt with this issue. In his book A Theory of Parties and Electoral Systems (1980), Katz took his first steps in the research of preferential systems. Five years later, Marsh (1985) was dealing with differences between the preferential systems in Europe. In their works, Katz and Marsh set forth the first hypotheses about the effects of preferential voting. Although there has been a growing interest in research in this area over the last decade, no significant progress has yet been made. Karvonen (2004) made a significant step in systematizing the hypotheses of Katz and Marsh, and he added some more points. In his last paper on this subject (2011), Karvonen was working within the same group of hypotheses, which were open to further research. They are the basis of this research, with additional contributions. A major impetus for this work was one of the most influential articles in this field, 'Incentives to Cultivate a Personal Vote: A Rank Ordering of Electoral Formulas' by Carey and Shugart (1995), which examines the question of the influence of electoral systems on the candidate's electoral strategies—that is, how electoral systems influence the pre-election roles of parties and their candidates. The authors developed three variables: (1) lack of party leadership control over access to and rank in ballots; (2) degree to which candidates are elected on individual votes independent of copartisans; and (3) whether voters cast a single intra-party vote instead of multiple votes or a party-level vote. By combining these three variables, there are up to thirteen combinations. This approach set me up to explore the impact that personalization creates when it comes to the relationship between the MP candidate and the party, or the MP and the party. Most authors agree that the introduction of personalization of the electoral system significantly affects interparty relations, which are sometimes reflected in a high degree of autonomy in campaigning and even in the collection and spending of funds for funding of their personal campaign. The bidding of candidates from the same party exercises a strong influence on intra-party relations, and it often happens that rival relations within the parties remain in the shadow of rival relations between the parties.
Mijenjaju li se stavovi građana o demokraciji u uvjetima povećane institucionalne nestabilnosti i promjena u stranačkom sustavu u Hrvatskoj u posljednjih nekoliko godina? Nastojeći odgovoriti na to pitanje, autori polaze od koncepta političke potpore demokraciji kakav je izvorno zamislio David Easton, a nadogradili su ga i operacionalizirali Russel Dalton i Pippa Norris. U članku se analiziraju odnos difuzne i specifične potpore demokraciji u Hrvatskoj od 1999. do 2018. i utjecaj na ponašanje birača u oblicima glasovanja za etablirane stranke (lojalnost), nove i marginalne stranke (glas) te apstinencije (izlazak). Analiza obuhvaća sedam vremenskih točaka anketnih istraživanja izbora od 1999. do 2018. i nadovezuje se na druga istraživanja potpore demokraciji u Hrvatskoj. Rezultati potvrđuju da se s vremenom produbio jaz između normativne potpore i zadovoljstva funkcioniranjem demokracije, što se ogleda u povećanju broja kritičkih demokrata i nezadovoljnih autokrata. Premda su obje skupine još razmjerno ravnomjerno raspoređene među etabliranima i novim strankama, ima naznaka da nezadovoljni autokrati sve češće biraju "glas" umjesto "izlaska". Pritom, ukupna slika unutarnje strukture potpore demokraciji nakon 2015. sve više nalikuje na stanje prije velikih institucionalnih promjena 2000, što pridaje posebnu dimenziju političkim promjenama 2015. i 2016. i otvara pitanje o utjecaju uspjeha novih političkih aktera na potporu demokraciji u Hrvatskoj. ; Have the attitudes of citizens on democracy changed under increased institutional instability and party system changes in Croatia in recent years? In an attempt to answer that question, the authors start with the concept of support for democracy as originally conceived by David Easton, and later further elaborated on by Russel Dalton and Pippa Norris. This article provides an analysis of the relationship between diffuse and specific support for democracy in Croatia between 1999 and 2018 and its impact on voting behaviour including casting a ballot for the established parties (loyalty), for the new and protest parties (vote) or abstention (exit). The analysis involves seven time points in electoral survey research between 1999 and 2018 in Croatia and is complementary to other research on support for democracy in the country. The results confirm that the gap between normative support and the satisfaction with how democracy works increases over time, which is also evident from the increase in the number of critical (dissatisfied) democrats, but also of dissatisfied autocrats. Although both groups are still rather evenly represented among the established and the new political parties, there are indications that the dissatisfied autocrats will more often than not opt for the vote rather than the exit. At the same time, the overall picture of the post-2015 internal structure of democratic support increasingly resembles the pre-2000 era, when major institutional changes took place, giving an added dimension to the political changes of 2015 and 2016 and sparking the question of the future impact that new political actors will have on the support for democracy.
The collapse of the traditional social ties, the advance of the mass media & the advent of political marketing have altered the structure & the direction of electoral campaigns. Present-day media-mediated electoral campaigns are hotly debated. On one side are those who claim that campaigns simplify political reality, manipulate voters, encourage voting apathy & in the long run contribute to democratic deficit. On the other side are those who claim that campaigns had to adapt to the new communication environment, that only the attractive, media-honed campaigns can attract voters' attention & that the majority of campaigns on the whole are a positive influence on electoral participation & voters' familiarity with political processes. This paper is an attempt to present the arguments of both sides & to answer how & to what extent electoral campaigns affect the democratic process. References. Adapted from the source document.
Having in mind the long evolution of constitutions & constitutional politics & the universal appeal of the process of the interplay between virtue & demagogy that occurs during presidential elections, the author touches on several topics. The first are the standard "dogmatic" comparative provisions regarding the election of the head of state which the author looks into through the constitutional-legal prism of the so called selection effect. As the institution of the president of the republic exists in many constitutions & is thus among the most significant institutionalized aspects of political & social life of every country, the author focuses on the extent in which that institution in the electoral context contributes to the affirmation of republicanism, democracy & public sphere. The author concludes that the election of presidents & the effects of electoral selection, among other things, affect the process of political integration that ought -- to not only in Croatia but everywhere & due to a plethora of reasons -- promote the universally accepted ontological principles of contemporary constitutional-democratic state. Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.
Demokracija se obično shvaća kao organizirani oblik vlasti koji karakterizira vladavina naroda. Velik broj građana vjeruje u demokraciju kao najpoželjniji oblik vlasti. S druge pak strane, sve je više prisutno nezadovoljstvo građana, razočarenje u demokratske institucije i sve manje povjerenje u izabranu vlast. Kroz ovaj rad nastojala se dati šira slika ovog problema te ukazati na teoretske probleme demokracije, ali i one u stvarnim demokratskim sustavima. Teoretski temelji rada osnivaju se na radovima teoretičara kao što su Robert Dahl, David Held i Joseph Schumpeter. Nedostaci demokracije, ali i njen potencijalni novi smjer prikazan je kroz primjere Turske i Katalonije. Jednakim demokratskim mehanizmom, a s potpuno različitim interesima i Turska i Katalonija udaljile su se od zamišljenog demokratskog ideala te su na taj način poslužile kao koristan primjer za potkrjepljivanje iznesenih tvrdnji u cijelom radu. Ovi primjeri ukazuju i na krizu demokracije, ali i na njen novi smjer u suvremenim političkim sustavima. Demokracija možda u svojoj suštini i nije toliko loša već je problematična njena primjena u stvarnim uvjetima koji stalno zahtijevaju prilagodbu postojećem stanju, rješavanje novih prepreka i problema. ; Democracy as a broad term is usually understood as an organised form of governance characterised by the rule of people. The majority of the citizens believes in democracy to be the best possible and the most desirable form of governance. On the other hand, discontent and disappointment in the democratic institutions as well as distrust in the elected officials has been more and more prominent. The bigger picture of this problem is described throughout this thesis. The main goal was to highlight the problems with the theoretical idea of democracy but also the problems within actual democratic systems in the modern era. Theoretical foundations of this thesis are based on the works of authors like Robert Dahl, David Held and Joseph Schumpeter. Using the examples of recent political events in Turkey and ...
Demokracija se obično shvaća kao organizirani oblik vlasti koji karakterizira vladavina naroda. Velik broj građana vjeruje u demokraciju kao najpoželjniji oblik vlasti. S druge pak strane, sve je više prisutno nezadovoljstvo građana, razočarenje u demokratske institucije i sve manje povjerenje u izabranu vlast. Kroz ovaj rad nastojala se dati šira slika ovog problema te ukazati na teoretske probleme demokracije, ali i one u stvarnim demokratskim sustavima. Teoretski temelji rada osnivaju se na radovima teoretičara kao što su Robert Dahl, David Held i Joseph Schumpeter. Nedostaci demokracije, ali i njen potencijalni novi smjer prikazan je kroz primjere Turske i Katalonije. Jednakim demokratskim mehanizmom, a s potpuno različitim interesima i Turska i Katalonija udaljile su se od zamišljenog demokratskog ideala te su na taj način poslužile kao koristan primjer za potkrjepljivanje iznesenih tvrdnji u cijelom radu. Ovi primjeri ukazuju i na krizu demokracije, ali i na njen novi smjer u suvremenim političkim sustavima. Demokracija možda u svojoj suštini i nije toliko loša već je problematična njena primjena u stvarnim uvjetima koji stalno zahtijevaju prilagodbu postojećem stanju, rješavanje novih prepreka i problema. ; Democracy as a broad term is usually understood as an organised form of governance characterised by the rule of people. The majority of the citizens believes in democracy to be the best possible and the most desirable form of governance. On the other hand, discontent and disappointment in the democratic institutions as well as distrust in the elected officials has been more and more prominent. The bigger picture of this problem is described throughout this thesis. The main goal was to highlight the problems with the theoretical idea of democracy but also the problems within actual democratic systems in the modern era. Theoretical foundations of this thesis are based on the works of authors like Robert Dahl, David Held and Joseph Schumpeter. Using the examples of recent political events in Turkey and ...
Iako je važnost izbora za demokraciju neupitna, savršen izborni sustav ne postoji. Različite vrste izbornih sustava pokušavaju preslikati sliku društva u zakonodavna i izvršna tijela no, istovremeno, njihovi su politički učinci jednako različiti te, vrlo često, na meti kritika. Tako je temeljni cilj rada istražiti političke učinke elementa izbornog sustava Hrvatske u vezi kojeg se nezadovoljstvo iskazuje nakon svake izborne godine, a najvećim se krivcem redovito smatra Victor D'Hondt, tj. njegova metoda pretvaranja glasova u mandate. Na temeljno istraživačko pitanje rada (Koliko je Victor d'Hondt zapravo kriv? - kriv u smislu odnošenja prema razini razmjernosti) odgovor je ponuđen u obliku simulacijske analize parlamentarnih izbora u Hrvatskoj od 2000. do 2016. godine gdje se, pomoću stvarno izraženih glasova birača, uspoređuju izborni rezultati dobiveni D'Hondtovom metodom pretvaranja glasova u mandate te izborni rezultati dobiveni korištenjem Sainte-Laguëove i modificirane Sainte-Laguëove metode (metode smatranima najrazmjernijima). Također, pomoću stvarno izraženih glasova birača na parlamentarnim izborima od 2000. do 2016. godine ponuđena je simulacijska analiza izbora prema modelu cijela zemlja jedna izborna jedinica (at-large sustav). Nakon prikaza simulacijskih analiza te sagledavanja Gallagherovog indeksa nerazmjernosti, zaključuje se kako ne postoji dovoljno snažna potreba za promjenom postojeće metode pretvaranja glasova u mandate (iako razina razmjernosti bila minimalno povećana), te se upućuje na promašenost zahtijeva za organizacijom cjelokupnog područja Hrvatske u jednu, objedinjenu izbornu jedinicu. Na kraju, ponuđene su smjernice za potencijalne promjene izbornog sustava koje su vezane uz ostale elemente izbornog zakonodavstva Hrvatske – ponajviše uz cjelokupnu izmjenu izbornih jedinica te dodatnog unaprjeđenja preferencijskoga glasovanja. ; Even though the importance of elections for a democracy is unquestionable, a perfect electoral system does not exist. Diverse types of electoral systems try ...
Each election year in Croatia is an occasion for comparing the social guidelines & the practice. To what extent is the policy of gender equality applied to the participation of women in political decision-making at the parliamentary level in Croatia? Modest results are not an exception: almost in all countries there is the gap between the two. Nevertheless, the extent of the participation in older democratic countries is on the average somewhat higher, which can be attributed to the influence of the egalitarian concept of gender roles & the proportional electoral system. In younger democratic countries, including Croatia, the average is somewhat lower due to the significance of socio-economic factors. In some countries a higher level of participation can for the time being be achieved only via the mechanisms of affirmative action i.e. quotas. Therefore, for Croatia it is essential to achieve the "critical mass" of women in its parliament, which can be brought about by introducing quotas at the party level, by democratic selective procedures of nominating candidates, & by putting up candidates of both genders on the party lists, which means that the highest percentages of women in the parliament can be expected from modern parties promoting the deliberate regulation of the above processes. References. Adapted from the source document.
Autor razmatra politički profil Alternative za Njemačku kako bi pridonio razumijevanju njezine pojave u političkom životu Njemačke. Analizom izbornih programa provjerava njezin položaj na osi lijevo-desno te stavove o europskim integracijama, nacionalizmu i multikulturalizmu, te o ekonomskoj politici i demokraciji. Multivarijantnom regresijskom analizom ispituje prediktivnu snagu konfesionalnih, dobnih, obrazovnih, migracijskih i ekonomskih obilježja izbornih okruga u objašnjenju varijacije u postotku glasova. Istraživanjem biografskih obilježja članova vodstva stranke testira se pretpostavljena zajednička demografska i ideološka pozadina stranačke elite. Pokazalo se da Alternativa za Njemačku odudara od stavova drugih stranaka u gledanjima na Europsku uniju, nacionalizam, multikulturalizam i ekonomsku politiku, ali ne odskače značajno na osi lijevo-desno, kao ni prema stavovima o demokraciji. Za predikciju glasovanja za tu stranku najvažnijima su se pokazala regionalna (rascjep istok-zapad), dobna i ekonomska obilježja izbornih okruga. Biografska analiza stranačke elita otkriva visok postotak bivših članova njemačkih demokršćanskih stranaka, te prevlast starijih visokoobrazovanih muškaraca u njoj. ; This paper analyzes the political profile of the Alternative for Germany to contribute to the understanding of its emergence in the German political life. An analysis of electoral manifestos tests the party's left-right position, stances on European integration, nationalism, and multiculturalism as well as on economic policy and democracy. A multiple regression analysis examines the predictive power of religion, age, education, migration, and economic status as characteristics of electoral districts explaining the variation in the party's vote percentage. An assessment of biographies of the party's leadership tests the presumed common demographic and ideologic background of the party elite. The article shows that new party differs from other German parties regarding the EU, nationalism, and multiculturalism, and economic policy, yet does not represent an outlier on the left-right scale, nor in its stance on democracy. The study of predictors of the vote for the Alternative for Germany has shown that regional (East/West cleavage), age and economic characteristics of electoral districts hold most importance. The biographic analysis of the party elite reveals a high percentage of previous CDU/CSU members and a dominance of elderly, well-educated men.
This article analyses the representation and main characteristics of comparative politics articles published in the journal Politicka misao. Starting from the assumption that the political and academic fields are engaged in a process of 'reciprocal legitimation', we divided the period of analysis into two phases and research subsamples. The first encompasses articles published in the period 1964-1989, while the second covers articles published in the period 1990-2013. Content analysis reveals that during the first phase comparative politics articles were weakly represented in the journal. The few articles that belong to the field were mostly written from a Marxist perspective, and occasionally from the perspective of old normative institutionalism. Overall they were methodologically unreflective, descriptive and configurative. The most frequent topics were self-managing democracy, communist and revolutionary parties, anti-imperial movements and conflicts in Third World countries. The time period after 1990 is characterised by a strengthening of the field of comparative politics. First of all, there is a notable increase in the number of articles dedicated to elections, electoral systems, political parties and party systems, legislatures and governments, constitutionalism and the judiciary, political culture, nationalism, as well as European institutions and processes. Secondly, theoretical approaches are more diversified, ranging from new institutionalism, behavioralism and pluralism to rational choice theory and cultural theory. Though case studies and focused studies with a small-N are the most frequent empirical strategies, overall methodology remains the weakest element of domestic academic production in comparative politics, while explicitly methodological discussions remain extremely rare. Adapted from the source document.
Tema rada je desni populizam, vrlo jak i raširen na cijeloj sjevernoj polutki; ovdje nas zanima naša zemlja i njoj najbliže. Najprije općenito karakteriziramo populizam, a onda razmatramo njegov odnos s najbližim mu pojavama, nacionalizmom i patriotizmom. Zanimljiv je fenomen u Hrvatskoj odsutnost snažnih jasno populističkih stranki usprkos snažnoj nacionalističkoj orijentaciji u izbornoj bazi; najjednostavnije je objašnjenje da je HDZ uspio preuzeti važne teme desnog populizma, a ipak sačuvati formu i ideologiju parlamentarne demokracije. Koliko je to rješenje stabilno vidjet će se u budućnosti. Uspon populizma promijenio je okvir političkih dilema kod nas i u svijetu; zastupnici suprotnih stajališta sada moraju ponovno promisliti pretpostavke na kojima djeluju i ponuditi nova rješenja. ; The topic of the paper is right-wing populism, strong and widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere; although the focus is on Croatia and its closest neighborhood. First, the author defines populism and then considers its relationship with its closest phenomena, nationalism, and patriotism. An interesting puzzle about Croatia is the absence of strong, clearly populist parties, despite a strong nationalist orientation in the electoral base; the simplest explanation is that the strongest party, HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) has managed to take on important topics of right-wing populism while still preserving the form and ideology of parliamentary democracy. How stable this solution is will be seen in the future. The rise of populism has changed the frame of political contestation in our country and in the world; proponents of opposing political standpoints must now rethink the assumptions of their political action and offer new solutions.
Ova doktorska disertacija bavi se glasovanjem, najočitijim oblikom političke participacije građana u modernom demokratskom poretku. Većina istraživanja biračkog ponašanja usmjerena je na proučavanje uzroka glasovanja te na procese oblikovanja stranačkih preferencija (Šiber, 1998b). Međutim, glasovanju možemo pristupiti kao političkoj odluci, a u tom slučaju se javlja pitanje kako tu odluku evaluirati. Potencijalni kriterij za evaluaciju možemo naći u konceptu točnog glasovanja (Lau i Redlawsk, 1997). Ukoliko građanin glasuje za onu stranku kojoj bi dao glas i kada bi bio suočen sa svim relevantnim političkim informacijama, možemo reći da je on točno glasovao. Koristeći kriterij točnog glasovanja možemo evaluirati građansko odlučivanje, ali i kvalitetu demokracije. Ovaj rad ima dva cilja. Kao prvo, zbog niza konceptualnih i operacionalnih nedostataka, on nudi rekonstrukciju koncepta točnog glasovanja. Kroz detaljno povezivanje spoznaja o biračkom ponašanju i pretpostavki modela predstavničke demokracije, uvodi se nova definicija točnog glasovanja, kao onog koji je dan stranci koja je u najvećoj mjeri bliska glasačevim preferencijama. Uz to, problematizira se korisnost ovog koncepta te njegov utjecaj na empirijska istraživanja građanskih kompetencija i na evaluaciju demokratskog poretka. Drugi cilj ovog rada je empirijski – provjeriti koje individualne i situacijske karakteristike doprinose točnom glasovanju. Očekivalo se kako će točnije glasovati sudionici s boljom političkom ekspertizom (visoka politička sofisticiranost i informiranost, visoka motivacija za politiku, više obrazovanje i niža dob), ali i oni koji donose odluke u jednostavnijem okruženju (niže kognitivno opterećenje i lakša politička pitanja). U tu svrhu provedeno je eksperimentalno istraživanje na 210 sudionika koji su sudjelovali u izmišljenoj političkoj kampanji. Tijekom kampanje su prikupljali podatke o strankama i na kraju su glasovali za jednu od njih. Rezultati su pokazali kako točnije glasuju sudionici s višom razinom političke informiranosti, zatim sudionici koji su koristili kompleksnije strategije odlučivanja i sudionici koji su suočeni s nižom razinom kognitivnog opterećenja. Neočekivano, dobiven je i efekt spola – žene točnije glasuju od muškaraca. U radu su ponuđena objašnjenja za nepotvrđene hipoteze i neočekivane rezultate, kao i potencijalna primjena dobivenih rezultata u javnom životu. ; Elections are the main characteristic of modern democracies; as of September 2016., 82 national elections took place this year and almost 650 million people voted. Adult citizens experience elections and participate in voting roughly once every four years. Ever since the empirical research in political science focused on voting behaviour the main focus of inquiry was the understanding of antecedents of vote choice as well as the long-term shaping of political preferences (Šiber, 1998). The vote itself can be conceptualized in many ways, such as a statement of group membership (e.g. Berelson, Lazarsfeld & McPhee, 1954), identification with the party (Campbell et al., 1964), as a choice between parties etc. If we approach the vote from a decision-making perspective, a question comes to mind – can we say what is the quality of that choice? In other words, can we evaluate the process and the outcome of the voting decision? This are rather hard questions which is not adequately addressed by researchers, both theoretically and empirically. In order to answer them, Lau and Redlawsk (1997) put forward the concept of correct voting – a vote that is the same as the one that would be given if a voter had all the relevant information. This doctoral thesis is concerned with that concept. It had two broad goals. First, a critique of the concept was put forward, as well as a conceptual reconstruction of correct voting. The new approach to the concept is more clear and better connected to both citizens' competences and democratic theory. The second goal was to study empirically the antecedents of correct voting. For this goal a laboratory experiment was conducted in which participants (N=210) participated in a mock electoral campaign at the end of which they had to vote. Participants differed in various socio-demographic and political characteristics and within the experiment cognitive load and type of political questions in the campaign were manipulated. Results showed that those participants that had better political knowledge, were exposed to lower cognitive load and used complex strategies of decision. Also, an unexpected result was found – women voted more correctly than men. In order to think about the criteria for evaluating the process of voting, one must first understand the relationship between voters and election within democracy. This requires that one chooses a model of democracy. There is an array of these models, and each one focuses on different aspects of the political regime. For the concept of correct voting the most adequate model is that of representative democracy. In this model, democracy is though about as a political system in which the citizens are sovereign, and a smaller group of representatives execute citizens' will. Representatives are chosen via regular competitive elections, and citizens should choose hose representatives that represent their interest in the best way. Other than choosing a model of democracy, we must choose a theoretical approach for political behaviour. We can identify five approaches (those based on personality, sociological model, socio-psychological model, economic-rational model and cognitive model), and within this research a cognitive approach is taken for studying political behaviour and decision-making. This model focuses on cognitive processes, such as evaluation of political candidates, mental strategies, biases, memory etc. The main idea of the cognitive approach is that all thinking is constrained by both biological aspects of the brain as well as the situational pressures (such as the amount of information). As a consequence, citizens will be prone to using mental shortcuts to simplify the political environment. Lau and Redlawsk's (1997) concept of correct voting could be used as a norm of political decision-making. It focuses on cognitive processes and offers an ideal outcome of political thinking which at the same time has implications for the functioning of representative democracy. If citizens choose their representatives correctly than democracy should function better than if that is not the case. However, there are several issues with this concept - there are two distinct conceptualizations and operationalisations of correct voting; authors focus more on the level of information than on the cognitive processes; their norm has within itself several descriptive aspects etc. This thesis puts forward a definition of correct voting – a correct vote is the one which is given to a representative whose political preferences are in the highest concordance with the voter's. Keeping the cognitive approach in mind, several individual and situational characteristics are identified as having a probable impact on the probability for voting correctly. It is expected that citizens who are more politically sophisticated, informed and motivated, as well as those who are better educated and younger should vote more correctly. Considering situational characteristics, higher cognitive load should lower the probability of voting correctly. Also the content, or type of political information, should have an impact on that probability. Political issues can be divided into easy/symbolic/moral and hard/instrumental/public policy. As the percentage of easy issues within a campaign increases so should the probability of casting a correct vote. In order to test these hypotheses an experiment was conducted in which participants participated in a mock election. They collected information about four parties and in the end voted for one of these. Last part of the thesis offers a discussion about the results, their political implications as well as guidelines for future research.
