In this article, we investigate the moderating role of political sophistication on the vote for populist parties in Belgium. Building on the literature about the diverse determinants of populist party support, we investigate whether issue considerations and populism-related motivations play a bigger role in the electoral calculus of politically sophisticated voters. |
Zoekresultaat: 15 artikelen
Article |
Political Sophistication and Populist Party SupportThe Case of PTB-PVDA and VB in the 2019 Belgian Elections |
Tijdschrift | Politics of the Low Countries, Aflevering 3 2020 |
Trefwoorden | populist voters, political sophistication, voting motivations, Belgium, elections |
Auteurs | Marta Gallina, Pierre Baudewyns en Jonas Lefevere |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Article |
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Tijdschrift | Politics of the Low Countries, Aflevering 3 2020 |
Trefwoorden | Belgian politics, democratic reforms, elections, populist voters, representative democracy |
Auteurs | Lisa van Dijk, Thomas Legein, Jean-Benoit Pilet e.a. |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Recently, studies have burgeoned on the link between populism and demands for democratic reforms. In particular, scholars have been debating the link between populist citizens or voters and support for referendums. In this article, we examine voters of populist parties (Vlaams Belang (VB) and Parti du Travail de Belgique-Partij van de Arbeid (PTB-PVDA)) in Belgium in 2019 and we look at their attitudes towards various types of democratic reforms. We find that voters of populist parties differ from the non-populist electorate in their support for different kinds of reforms of representative democracy. Voters of VB and PTB-PVDA have in common stronger demands for limiting politicians’ prerogatives, for introducing binding referendums and for participatory budgeting. While Vlaams Belang voters are not significantly different from the non-populist electorate on advisory referendums, citizens’ forums or technocratic reform, PVDA-PTB voters seem more enthusiastic. |
Editorial |
Explaining Vote Choice in the 2019 Belgian ElectionsDemocratic, Populist and Emotional Drivers |
Tijdschrift | Politics of the Low Countries, Aflevering 3 2020 |
Auteurs | Patrick van Erkel, Anna Kern en Guillaume Petit |
Auteursinformatie |
Literature Review |
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Tijdschrift | Politics of the Low Countries, Aflevering 1 2020 |
Trefwoorden | elections, electoral systems, preference voting, candidates, personalization |
Auteurs | Bram Wauters, Peter Thijssen en Patrick Van Erkel |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Preference votes constitute one of the key features of (open and flexible) PR-list electoral systems. In this article, we give an extensive overview of studies conducted on preference voting in Belgium and the Netherlands. After elaborating on the definition and delineation of preference voting, we scrutinize studies about which voters cast preference votes (demand side) and about which candidates obtain preference votes (supply side). For each of these aspects, both theoretical approaches and empirical results are discussed and compared. At the same time, we also pay attention to methodological issues in these kinds of studies. As such, this research overview reads as an ideal introduction to this topic which has repercussions on many other subfields of political science. |
Article |
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Tijdschrift | Politics of the Low Countries, Aflevering 3 2019 |
Trefwoorden | voting, elections, blank vote, invalid vote, abstention |
Auteurs | Jean-Benoit Pilet, Maria Jimena Sanhuza, David Talukder e.a. |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In this article, we propose an in-depth exploration of blank and null ballots in the recent 2018 local elections in Wallonia (Belgium). In the official results, both blank and null ballots are merged together and are classified as invalid votes. After obtaining the authorization to access genuine electoral ballots, we study the votes which were not considered for the composition of local councils in detail. The dataset is a representative sample of 13,243 invalidated ballots from 49 Walloon municipalities. We first describe how many of these invalidated ballots are blank and how many are null votes, as well as the nature of the nulled votes (unintended errors or intentionally spoiled ballots). Second, we dig deeper into the differences between ballots that have been intentionally invalidated by voters (blank votes and intentional null votes) and ballots non-intentionally invalidated. Our results show that most of the ballots (two-thirds) are null ballots and that among them, half are unintentional null ballots. Finally, we show that contextual (socio-demographic and political) factors explain the variations in intentional and unintentional null votes across municipalities. |
Article |
How to Improve Local TurnoutThe Effect of Municipal Efforts to Improve Turnout in Dutch Local Elections |
Tijdschrift | Politics of the Low Countries, Aflevering 3 2019 |
Trefwoorden | turnout, local elections, get out the vote, campaign, the Netherlands |
Auteurs | Julien van Ostaaijen, Sabine van Zuydam en Martijn Epskamp |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Even though many municipalities use a variety of means to improve turnout in local elections, citizen participation in local elections is a point of concern in many Western countries, including the Netherlands. Our research question is therefore: How effective are municipal efforts to improve turnout in (Dutch) local elections? To this end, we collected data from three sources: (1) a survey sent to the municipal clerks of 389 Dutch municipalities to learn what they do to improve turnout; (2) data from Statistics Netherlands on municipalities’ socio-demographic characteristics; and (3) data on the turnout in local elections from the Dutch Electoral Council database. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, we found that the direct impact of local governments’ efforts to improve turnout is low. Nevertheless, some measures seem to be able to make a difference. The relative number of polling stations was especially found to impact turnout. |
Boekbespreking |
Political Attitudes in a Rapidly Changing European Landscape: Methodological and Substantive Insights from the ESS-Netherlands Panel Component |
Tijdschrift | Bestuurskunde, Aflevering 2 2018 |
Auteurs | Sedef Turper |
Artikel |
Percepties van verantwoordelijkheid in de multilevel democratie |
Tijdschrift | Bestuurs­wetenschappen, Aflevering 3 2017 |
Auteurs | Lisanne de Blok MSc en Prof. dr. Wouter van der Brug |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The increased complexity of multilevel democracies makes the evaluation of the performances of the government an increasingly difficult task for citizens. Multilevel governance involves information costs, which makes it more difficult for citizens to give clear responsibility for government tasks to the correct level of government. This article contains the first study that is focussing on the responsibility perceptions in the Netherlands. The authors do not just look at who citizens hold responsible for certain government tasks, but they also look at the consequences of these perceptions for the mechanism of accountability. The satisfaction of citizens are with the policy in a particular area should only influence the political support for the level of government they hold responsible. Results of the research are that in line with this perspective a strong correlation exists between satisfaction with the pursued policy and trust of the citizens in this government, in proportion as they hold a level of government more responsible. On the other hand there are large differences between citizens, that correlate with their level of education. So there are also large groups of citizens for whom it is not possible to keep governments responsible for the policy pursued, because they simply do not know which government is responsible. |
Article |
Het geslacht van de kandidaat als heuristisch stemmotiefEen onderzoek naar het effect van politieke sofisticatie en electorale context op gender-based stemgedrag |
Tijdschrift | Res Publica, Aflevering 2 2017 |
Auteurs | Sjifra de Leeuw |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In this paper, I study gender-based voting behavior in the Belgian proportional electoral system. In particular, I investigate two possible causes for why voters experience the need to simplify their voting decision by using a gender-cue. First, in line with the findings of previous studies, I find that voters with lower levels of political sophistication who are less able to collect and process political information, are consequently more likely to use the sex of a candidate as a shortcut. However, the effect of political sophistication on gender-based voting behavior is limited. Second, based on the literature, I expect that the low information context of the second-order European elections would cause both high and low information voters to become more reliant on gendercues to simplify their voting decision and by extent would cause the effect of political sophistication on gender-based voting to diminish. Against theoretical expectations, I find that the effect of the electoral context is negligible. |
Artikel |
GedragsbestuurskundeCombineren van inzichten uit de bestuurskunde en de psychologie |
Tijdschrift | Bestuurskunde, Aflevering 3 2016 |
Trefwoorden | public administration, psychology, interdisciplinary |
Auteurs | Dr. Sebastian Jilke, Dr. Asmus Leth Olsen, Dr. Lars Tummers e.a. |
Samenvatting |
In this article we show that theories and methods from psychology are valuable for public administration scholars and practitioners. We advocate the development of an interdisciplinary approach entitled ‘Behavioral Public Administration’. It is not the intention that Behavioral Public Administration replaces traditional public administration research. It is an addition. We start with an analysis of the background of Behavioral Public Administration research via a historical overview of the work of Herbert Simon among others. After that, we demonstrate that Behavioral Public Administration can be valuable (a) to test public administration theories and refine these; (b) to encourage methodological sophistication of public administration research; and (c) to improve the interaction between science and practice. We hope that this article contributes to a fruitful conversation that leads to a scientific and practical research area where public administration scholars and psychologists work together and learn from each other. |
Article |
Het effect van politieke sofisticatie op de (intentie tot) opkomst bij eerste- en tweederangsverkiezingen in België en Nederland |
Tijdschrift | Res Publica, Aflevering 1 2016 |
Trefwoorden | political sophistication, first- and second-order elections, turnout |
Auteurs | Dieter Stiers |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In this paper we investigate the effect of political sophistication on turnout and whether this effect differs in second-order national elections. Political sophistication is thought to influence turnout because the more sophisticated voters have access to more information about the electoral and the party system. In this paper, we start from the expectation that these effects should be even stronger in the context of secondorder national elections, where information about the stakes of the election is not readily available. We analyse citizens’ willingness to turn out to vote at different levels of government in Belgium and the Netherlands. The results show that a higher degree of political sophistication increases the probability to turn out at the national as well as the European level. Our expectation that this effect would be larger at the European level, however, is not supported by these results. |
Research Note |
De ideologische afstand tussen partijenEen vergelijkende studie naar de overbrugde afstand bij partijwissels |
Tijdschrift | Res Publica, Aflevering 3 2014 |
Auteurs | Ruth Dassonneville en Yves Dejaeghere |
Auteursinformatie |
Artikel |
Kieskeurige kiezersEen panelstudie naar de veranderlijkheid van partijvoorkeuren |
Tijdschrift | Beleid en Maatschappij, Aflevering 2 2012 |
Trefwoorden | electoral volatility, party preference, voters, party system, consistency |
Auteurs | Dr. Tom van der Meer, E.J. Erika van Elsas MA MSc, Rozemarijn Lubbe BA e.a. |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The Dutch electorate is the most volatile of Western Europe. At its height in 2002 more than 30 percent of the seats in the Dutch Lower House changed to another party. But what does the increased electoral volatility mean? Are volatile voters whimsical, behaving randomly like drift-sand? Or are volatile voters emancipated, no longer committed to a single political party but still loyal to their own preferences?We answer these questions by analysing the 1VOP panel data set, which covers 55.847 adult respondents who participated in at least 2 of the 58 waves between November 2006 and June 2010.First, we assess the presence, frequency, and direction of changes in voters’ party preferences. More than half of the respondents (52 percent) changed party preference at least once. However, they mostly stick to one of two ideologically coherent party blocks.Second, we explain why some voters are more likely to change party preference than others. Especially middle groups are volatile: people with modal income and average levels of education, and people who position themselves in the political center. However, the lower educated are more likely to switch between dissimilar parties. These findings support the view that increased volatility reflects voter emancipation. |
Research Note |
Hulp voor kiezers in referendumsIs de Informatie en Keuze Enquête een steun voor niet-geïnformeerde of juist voor geïnformeerde kiezers? |
Tijdschrift | Res Publica, Aflevering 1 2010 |
Auteurs | Peter Neijens en Claes de Vreese |
Auteursinformatie |
Article |
Op zoek naar een verklaring voor de persoonlijke score van de kandidaten bij lokale verkiezingen |
Tijdschrift | Res Publica, Aflevering 1 2007 |
Auteurs | Bart Maddens, Karolien Weekers, Stefaan Fiers e.a. |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The number of preference votes for the candidates running in the October 2006 local elections in the thirteen main cities of Flanders is largely determined by the position on the list and the previous political mandate. A multivariate analysis shows that an executive function on the local level yields a comparable electoral bonus as a national mandate. The campaign expenditures also have a significant effect. There is a spending limit, but the candidates on average spend only 22% of what they are allowed to. Christian-democratic candidates generally spend the most, with the liberals ranked second. The gender, age and professional status of the candidates have at most a very marginal effect on their electoral score, controlling for the other relevant variables. Candidates with a foreign name obtain a somewhat better result on average, but this is particularly the case with candidates running for the socialist party. |