Category Archives: Blog

Does Democratic Consolidation Lead to a Decline in Voter Turnout? Global Evidence Since 1939

By ericguntermann | Published: September 27, 2017

  By Filip Kostelka, Institutions and Political Economy Research Group (IPERG), University of Barcelona & Centre d’études européennes, Sciences Po, Paris   Voting rates in new democracies often decline dramatically. For instance, in less than twenty years after democratization, voter turnout fell by 17.5 percentage points (pp) in Portugal (which has held democratic elections since […]

Posted in Blog | Comments closed

What’s Happening in Catalonia? The Crackdown May Increase Support for an Unpopular Plan

By ericguntermann | Published: September 22, 2017

By Eric Guntermann, Université de Montréal People all over the world this week read about Spanish police arresting Catalan government officials and confiscating ballots for an independence referendum. Rather than harming the Catalan government, however, I argue that the crackdown may help it raise support for its unpopular roadmap towards independence. In the last regional […]

Posted in Blog | Comments closed

Was my decision to vote (or abstain) the right one?

By ericguntermann | Published: September 8, 2017

By André Blais, Fernando Feitosa and Semra Sevi, Université de Montréal  How do individuals, after the election, evaluate their decision to vote or abstain? This is the question our study examines in our recent publication in Party Politics.   Respondents were asked, right after the election, how satisfied they are with their decision to vote […]

Posted in Blog | Comments closed

MEDW Survey Data Now Available in Open Access!

By Filip Kostelka | Published: August 28, 2017

By André Blais (University of Montreal), Laura B. Stephenson (University of Western Ontario), Damien Bol (King’s College London), and Filip Kostelka (University of Montreal) on behalf of the MEDW Team   The MEDW team is proud to announce that all survey data from the Making Electoral Democracy Work project are now available in open access […]

Posted in Blog | Comments closed

Duty to vote and political support in Asia

By Filip Kostelka | Published: August 1, 2017

By Carol Galais, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya & André Blais, Université de Montréal  What is the story Although sense of civic duty is a well-known predictor of voting behavior, we do not know much about its foundations.  Hence the question: what are the psychological orientations that predispose citizens to believe that they do (or do […]

Posted in Blog | Comments closed

What do voters do when they like a local candidate from another party?

By Filip Kostelka | Published: July 26, 2017

By André Blais, University of Montreal & Jean-François Daoust, University of Montreal  What is the story? In politics, what happens at the district level is still understudied compared to the national level. Paying attention to MPs and constituency politics seems to be in conflict with the traditional understanding of political representation. We focus on the […]

Posted in Blog | Comments closed

Les législatives françaises de 2017 : Pourquoi la participation était-elle si faible et comment peut-on y remédier?

By Filip Kostelka | Published: June 15, 2017

Par Filip Kostelka (cordinateur du projet Making Electoral Democracy Work) Note: Version en anglais se trouve ici. / English version is here.  Ce texte est une tribune publiée sur le site du journal Le Monde.    Le fort taux d’abstention constitue le résultat le plus frappant du premier tour des élections législatives de dimanche dernier. La participation […]

Posted in Blog | Comments closed

The 2017 French Legislative Election: Why Was Voter Turnout So Low and What Can Be Done About It?

By Filip Kostelka | Published: June 12, 2017

by Filip Kostelka, University of Montreal and Sciences Po, Paris Note: French version is here. / Version en français se trouve ici. /  This text was published in French as an op-ed  in the journal Le Monde.    The most striking outcome of the first round of the 2017 election to the French National Assembly is that less […]

Posted in Blog | Comments closed

What is more important: winning or winning in a fair election?

By Filip Kostelka | Published: June 5, 2017

By Jessica Fortin-Rittberger, Philipp Harfst, and Sarah C. Dingler (University of Salzburg) What is the story? Perceptions of electoral fairness have an impact on voters’ attitudes and behaviour. Consequently, we believe that electoral malpractice will negatively affect citizens’ satisfaction with democracy. In a recently published article in the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties […]

Posted in Blog | Comments closed

Voter Turnout and Social Fractionalization

By Filip Kostelka | Published: May 8, 2017

By Ignacio Lago (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Sandra Bermúdez (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Marc Guinjoan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), and Pablo Simón (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid). Research question Social fractionalisation has been omitted in most influential cross-sectional studies on turnout, and when it has been included, evidence is, at best, mixed, The purpose of this article is […]

Posted in Blog | Comments closed