Stefan Müller
Several studies have suggested that 'irrelevant events' outside politicians’ control, like sports results or lotteries, affect voting behaviour. Such findings raise worrying questions for democracy. Yet, write Stefan Müller and Liam Kneafsey, these concerns may be overstated. In Ireland, a country with a strong sporting tradition, match outcomes do not influence citizens’ assessments of government performance, or voting behaviour Read more
Resul Umit
There is lively debate about the effect of casualties in armed conflicts on public opinion. Do voters rally behind their governments, or punish them for failing to prevent casualties? Resul Umit observes both scenarios at the same time in Turkey, as the public reacts differently to initial and subsequent casualties Read more
Lea Portmann
In Switzerland, poor political representation of people with a migrant background is not simply the result of prejudice and deliberate penalising by voters. Lea Portmann and Nenad Stojanović show that it is also caused by voters systematically favouring native ingroup candidates Read more
Ekaterina Rashkova
Millions of people no longer live in their countries of birth, and this can distort political representation, argues Ekaterina Rashkova-Gerbrands. If expats had been eligible to vote in recent Dutch parliamentary elections, we would have seen more support for innovative parties such as the D66 and Groen Links Read more
Laura Dean
Candidate lists in Latvia contain only 38.6% women. Latvia is unlikely to improve women’s representation in its municipal elections unless Latvian voters adopt preference voting, and 'plus' their women candidates, writes Laura Dean Read more
Daphne Halikiopoulou
Economic insecurity creates favourable conditions for far-right parties, who turn discontent into political advantage. Welfare state policies, argue Daphne Halikiopoulou and Tim Vlandas, must therefore focus on moderating these risks, and reducing the likelihood of insecure people voting far right Read more
Matt Polacko
The rich are more likely to vote than the poor. This, along with income inequality, are increasing phenomena across the West. Matt Polacko introduces supply-side logic to reveal that higher levels of income inequality are indeed associated with reduced voting rates, and a wider income gap in turnout. However, it is possible to mitigate both […] Read more
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