Everyday political talk with strangers: The missing link in the deliberative system.
Conference presentation, Annual Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, USA
</article> </div>The missing link in the deliberative system: Everyday political talk with strangers.
Conference presentation, Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Montréal, Canada
</article> </div>Perceptions of electoral integrity among political elites: A journey into uncharted territory
Conference presentation, Annual Electoral Integrity Project Conference on 'Challenges of Electoral Integrity Around the Globe', virtual
</article> </div>The winner-loser gap in perceptions of electoral integrity in Germany
Conference presentation, Annual Conference of the German Political Science Association’s Study Group on 'Elections and Political Attitudes', WZB, Berlin, Germany
Abstract: Do electoral losers evaluate the fairness and integrity of elections differently than electoral winners? In representative democracies, regular and competitive elections are the principal mechanism for ensuring citizen influence on government. Elections are the main vehicle for determining who gets to rule, and ultimately for deciding on ‘who gets what, when, and how.’ Given their competitive nature, democratic electoral contests unavoidably produce winners and losers within the electorate. While previous research shows that electoral losers are less trustful towards politics and less satisfied with how democracy works than electoral winners, only little is known about how being on the winning or losing side of electoral contests impacts on citizens’ confidence in the electoral process itself. Any signs of a winner-loser gap in electoral-integrity perceptions might indicate that losers’ consent – the tacit acknowledgement of the legitimacy of a system that has produced an undesirable outcome – is at stake, with possibly far-reaching implications for the acceptance of election outcomes and participation in future electoral contests. Against this backdrop, this study breaks new ground by investigating whether and how experiences of winning and losing at the ballot box shape voters’ views about the fairness and integrity of the electoral process. Relying on newly collected data from the pre- and post-election surveys of the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) 2021, the analysis provides evidence for a consistent winner-loser gap in voters’ electoral-integrity perceptions, with electoral losers reaching systematically more negative evaluations of the electoral process than electoral winners. In addition, the analysis shows that the winner-loser gap is particularly pronounced for voters who lost in two consecutive federal elections (‘repeated losers’) as well as for those who suffered electoral defeat with both their list and district votes (‘double losers’). These findings provide important insights on how voters in mixed-member proportional systems cope with winning and losing at the ballot box, highlighting that electoral losers place (part of) the blame for their electoral defeat on the electoral process and procedures as such.
</article> </div>The representativity of deliberative democracy (w/ Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck)
Guest lecture, Lecture series '40 Years German General Social Survey' (GESIS), virtual meeting
Abstract: In der Repräsentativitätsforschung werden die politischen Einstellungen von Entscheidungsträger:innen mit denen der Bürger:innen verglichen, um abzuschätzen, inwieweit erstere für letztere “repräsentativ” sind (im selben Sinne wie das in der Umfrageforschung verstanden wird). Ein ähnlicher Ansatz wurde von Verba et al. in der Partizipationsforschung entwickelt, um zu beurteilen, ob diejenigen Aktivbürger, die auf bestimmte Formen der politischen Partizipation zurückgreifen und dadurch mutmaßlich mehr Einfluss auf politische Entscheidungen ausüben als diejenigen, die passiv bleiben, in ihren sozialen und attitudinalen Charakteristika der Gesamtbevölkerung entsprechen oder von dieser abweichen. Bekanntlich ist letzteres tatsächlich der Fall, was impliziert, dass von Ausweitungen der Beteiligungsmöglichkeiten vor allem die Mittelschicht profitiert. Die deliberative Demokratie - das aktuell am intensivsten diskutierte normative Alternativmodell zur liberalen Repräsentativdemokratie - möchte Wahlen als deren zentrale Institution der Bürgerbeteiligung zwar nicht abschaffen, sieht aber in der politischen Diskussion der Bürger in der formalisierten Gestalt sogenannter deliberativer Mini-Publics, aber auch des informellen politischen Alltagsgesprächs den Königsweg zu besseren politischen Entscheidungen. Doch wie repräsentativ sind die politischen Diskussionen der Bürger*innen? Wir werden diese Frage auf Basis des ALLBUS 2018 mittels der in der Partizipationsforschung entwickelten Methoden untersuchen. Wir verwenden dazu in dieser Welle des ALLBUS enthaltene Instrumente, welche die Beteiligung an formellen und informellen politischen Diskussionen abbilden.
</article> </div>Institutional performance, political trust, and the moderating role of political allegiances and political sophistication (w/ Sebastian A. Popa)
Conference presentation, 26th World Congress of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), virtual meeting
Abstract: While the relationship between the objective performance of political systems and citizens’ political trust belongs to one of the most analyzed phenomena in research on political support, we still lack a clear understanding of the cognitive and affective foundations of this relationship. In this paper, we argue that the impact of objective institutional performance on political trust should be stronger for citizens with higher levels of political sophistication, as they have a more elaborated set of skills and knowledge regarding the political world and thus should be better able to assess and evaluate the performance of the political system – both positively and negatively. We test this general argument concerning a moderating role of political sophistication for the relationship between objective institutional performance and political trust using comparative survey data from the European Election Studies (EES) 2014 and the European Social Survey (ESS) 2002-2018. In doing so, our empirical assessment not only provides valuable insights into the underlying nature of the relationship between institutional performance and political trust, but also offers much needed empirical evidence on the question of whether feelings of disenchantment and distrust are grounded in more rational and cognitive considerations of the politically sophisticated or rather establish a more affective attribute of the less politically sophisticated citizenry.
</article> </div>Revisiting norms of citizenship in times of democratic change (w/ Jan W. van Deth, Carolin Zorell, and Yannis Theocharis)
Conference presentation, Annual Conference of the German Political Science Association's Study Group on 'Elections and political attitudes' (AK Wahlen und politische Einstellungen), virtual meeting
Abstract: Over the last two decades, scholars have investigated norms of citizenship by focusing primarily on “dutiful” and “engaged” norms. In the meantime, contemporary democracies have witnessed growing demands for more sustainable styles of living and increasing public support for authoritarian and populist ideas. These developments point to both a change and an expansion of conventional understandings and conceptions of what a ‘good citizen’ in a democratic polity ought to do. Specifically, they raise questions about whether demands for more sustainability and increasing support for populist ideas establish new facets of democratic citizenship, and if so, how they can be meaningfully incorporated into existing images of citizenship. This study provides a reconceptualization of citizenship norms and empirically tests a new measurement instrument using original data collected in Germany in 2019. The empirical application of an expanded set of items demonstrates the existence of more variegated facets of norms of citizenship, including norms to safeguard a sustainable future and distinct populist facets emphasizing the relevance of trust in authorities and experts as well as reliance on feelings and emotions. Contemporary conceptions of citizenship thus go beyond conventional distinctions between dutiful and engaged norms of citizenship.
</article> </div>Immigration as ‘flash issue’: How the refugee crisis has altered electoral behavior in Europe (w/ Christian Stecker)
Conference presentation, 9th Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association (EPSA), Belfast, UK
Abstract: The European refugee crisis has put immigration and integration on top of citizen issue priorities. Both issues touch upon emotionally charged questions of identity and cultural belongings and have, hence, the potential to transform the political landscape. In fact, the increased salience of immigration and integration has not only altered the way many Europeans think about these issues, it has also strongly affected their electoral behavior as evidenced by the recent electoral successes of populist radical right-wing parties (PRRP) in many European countries such as Austria, Germany, Italy, or Hungary. In a longitudinal analysis using ESS data, we show that in the wake of the refugee crisis anti-immigrant sentiments and the rejection of multiculturalism translate much more often into the election of PRRP. Put differently, the refugee crisis has mobilized previously dormant attitudes and channeled them into electoral politics. This general effect is, however, moderated by different factors at the individual and country level. At the individual level, feelings of distrust as well as a perceived lack of political efficacy can be expected to strengthen the effect of anti-immigrant sentiments on the vote for PRRP. At the country-level, the programmatic offers by established parties influence support for PRRP. While support for PRRP is generally stronger among immigration sceptics across all countries, it is particularly pronounced in countries where established parties have opened a representation gap by converging on moderately pro-immigration positions. Our paper thus illustrates how immigration and integration as ‘flash issues’ disrupt existing party loyalties and transform political competition in Europe.
</article> </div>Citizen-elite congruence, political allegiances and political support in Europe (w/ Caroline Hahn)
Conference presentation, 4th International ESS Conference ´Turbulent times in Europe: Instability, insecurity and inequality´, Mannheim, Germany
Abstract: The long-term functioning and viability of democratic systems depend on the ability of political parties and governments to adequately represent citizens’ interests and to be responsive to their policy demands. As previous research has repeatedly highlighted, citizen-elite congruence on various policy issues and dimensions is of crucial importance when it comes to citizens’ political support and satisfaction with the way democracy works. If political parties and governments fail to respond to citizens’ policy demands, the resulting representation gap between the governing elite and citizens will be reflected in lower levels of political support and an increased dissatisfaction on the side of the citizenry. In this paper, we argue that the impact of citizen-elite policy congruence on political support varies across different segments of the population as well as different types of electoral systems. More specifically, at the individual-level we contend that the detrimental effect of a widening representation gap on political support is attenuated for citizens with pre-existing political allegiances to governing parties. At the country-level, we maintain that the impact of citizen-elite congruence on citizens’ political support is stronger in majoritarian than proportional electoral systems. We test these general arguments about a moderating role of political allegiances and type of electoral system with the help of hierarchical regression models using individual-level data from several waves of the ESS and elite-level data from the CHES. In doing so, our paper sheds light on the conditional relevance of citizen-elite policy congruence for citizens’ political support in modern European democracies.
</article> </div>Immigration and integration as ‘flash issues’: How the refugee crisis has altered electoral behavior in Europe (w/ Christian Stecker)
Conference presentation, 4th International ESS Conference ´Turbulent times in Europe: Instability, insecurity and inequality´, Mannheim, Germany
Abstract: The European refugee crisis has put immigration and integration on top of citizen issue priorities. Both issues touch upon emotionally charged questions of identity and cultural belongings and have, hence, the potential to transform the political landscape. In fact, the increased salience of immigration and integration has not only altered the way many Europeans think about these issues, it has also strongly affected their electoral behavior as evidenced by the recent electoral successes of populist radical right-wing parties (PRRP) in many European countries such as Austria, Germany, Italy, or Hungary. In a longitudinal analysis using ESS data, we show that in the wake of the refugee crisis anti-immigrant sentiments and the rejection of multiculturalism translate much more often into the election of PRRP. Put differently, the refugee crisis has mobilized previously dormant attitudes and channeled them into electoral politics. This general effect is, however, moderated by different factors at the individual and country level. At the individual level, feelings of distrust as well as a perceived lack of political efficacy can be expected to strengthen the effect of anti-immigrant sentiments on the vote for PRRP. At the country-level, the programmatic offers by established parties influence support for PRRP. While support for PRRP is generally stronger among immigration sceptics across all countries, it is particularly pronounced in countries where established parties have opened a representation gap by converging on moderately pro-immigration positions. Our paper thus illustrates how immigration and integration as ‘flash issues’ disrupt existing party loyalties and transform political competition in Europe.
</article> </div>A matter of political sophistication? The relationship between institutional performance and political trust reconsidered (w/ Sebastian A. Popa)
Conference presentation, 12th General Conference of the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR), Hamburg, Germany
Abstract: While the relationship between the objective performance of political systems and citizens’ political trust belongs to one of the most analyzed phenomena in research on political support, we still lack a clear understanding of the cognitive and affective foundations of this relationship. In this paper, we argue that the impact of objective institutional performance on political trust should be stronger for citizens with higher levels of political sophistication, as they have a more elaborated set of skills and knowledge regarding the political world and thus should be better able to assess and evaluate the performance of the political system – both positively and negatively. We test this general argument concerning a moderating role of political sophistication for the relationship between objective institutional performance and political trust using comparative survey data from the European Election Studies (EES) 2014 and the European Social Survey (ESS) 2002-2016. In doing so, our empirical assessment not only provides valuable insights into the underlying nature of the relationship between institutional performance and political trust, but also offers much needed empirical evidence on the question of whether feelings of disenchantment and distrust are grounded in more rational and cognitive considerations of the politically sophisticated or rather establish a more affective attribute of the less politically sophisticated citizenry.
</article> </div>Engaged and duty-based citizenship in a comparative perspective: Good citizens, bad researchers, dubious scales?
Conference presentation, 8th Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association (EPSA), Vienna, Austria
Abstract: When studying the normative foundations of citizenship, researchers relying on survey data commonly investigate individuals’ support for so called ‘norms of citizenship’, i.e. they ask individuals how important they consider certain characteristics and behaviors of a ‘good citizen’ in a democratic polity. In this connection, several studies make use of a two-dimensional distinction between engaged vs. duty-based citizenship. While this distinction has been regularly applied in empirical studies, its usage appears to be questionable for at least three reasons: the distinction is (1) theoretically hard to maintain, (2) empirically hard to demonstrate, and (3) not applicable in the same way across different countries and contexts. Based on these shortcomings, the paper proposes an alternative way of conceptualizing and measuring support for norms of citizenship by means of a one-dimensional, cumulative scale. Applying Mokken Scale Analysis and relying on different comparative data sources (ESS, ISSP, CID), the paper shows the empirical (and cross-national) adequacy of the one-dimensional, cumulative scale and thus provides valuable insights for future research on the connection between norms of citizenship and the viability of modern democracies.
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