European Elections Domestic Politics

Written by a leading team of internationally-distinguished political communication scholars, this book offers the most comprehensive account on comparative political communication research in the context of European Parliamentary elections currently available.

Economic conditions are said to affect election outcomes, but past research has produced unstable and contradictory findings. This book argues that these problems are caused by the failure to take account of electoral competition between parties. A research strategy to correct this problem is designed and applied to investigate effects of economic conditions on (individual) voter choices and (aggregate) election outcomes over 42 elections in 15 countries. It shows that economic conditions exert small effects on individual party preferences, which can have large consequences for election outcomes. In countries where responsibility for economic policy is clear, voters vote retrospectively and reward or punish incumbent parties - although in coalition systems smaller government parties often gain at the expense of the largest party when economic conditions deteriorate. Where clarity of responsibility for economic policy is less clear, voters vote more prospectively on the basis of expected party policies.

Globalisation and Domestic Politics addresses how a widely acknowledged and pervasive economic and social process and globalization affect democratic politics among both masses and elites. It inquires into the extent to which, and how, globalization affects the political attitudes and behaviour of ordinary citizens and the policies of political parties. Chapters discuss to what extent globalization affects the salience of left-right politics, the content of party programmes and promises, leadership evaluations, economic voting, electoral accountability, the influence of religion in politics, electoral turnout, political efficacy, satisfaction with democracy, and the quality of democracy. It primarily draws on data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES), made up of three modules of election surveys from 44 countries and 107 elections. The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) is a collaborative program of research among election study teams from around the world. Participating countries include a common module of survey questions in their post-election studies. The resulting data are deposited along with voting, demographic, district, and macro variables. The studies are then merged into a single, free, public dataset for use in comparative study and cross-level analysis. The set of volumes in this series is based on these CSES modules, and the volumes address the key theoretical issues and empirical debates in the study of elections and representative democracy. Some of the volumes will be organized around the theoretical issues raised by a particular module, while others will be thematic in their focus. Taken together, these volumes will provide a rigorous and ongoing contribution to understanding the expansion and consolidation of democracy in the twenty-first century. Series editors: Hans-Dieter Klingemann and Ian McAllister.

The book compares EU coverage in main online news forums during the 2009 European Parliamentary campaigns.

This comparative examination of the impact of European integration on the politics and government of EU member states covers the parties, the legal system, voters and public administration.

This book analyzes how the behavior of voters, parties, and the mass media in European Parliament elections affects domestic politics and how, in turn, domestic politics affects those behaviors. The contributors discuss election turnout and party choice, the contract between the European Parliament and national elections, the importance of citizens' attitudes toward European integration, the relationship between political parties' domestic policies and their stances on European integration, and the ways in which the mass media and election campaigns affect electoral outcomes. On the basis of this information, the authors present possible scenarios for future European elections and their relationship to the domestic politics of the EU member-states. The product of superb empirical research, European Elections and Domestic Politics is based on a unique combination of data from voter surveys, party manifestos, and mass media reports across all members of the European Union. This book will be essential for anyone interested in the future of the EU. "The definitive analysis of elections to the European Parliament, by a first-rate line-up of scholars, this study provides a masterclass on understanding the way that European elections, national politics, and the process of EU integration interact in complex and unexpected ways. An invaluable study for those interested in elections and voting behavior, European democracy, comparative politics, political communications, and political parties." --Pippa Norris, Director, Democratic Governance Group, United Nations Development Program and John f. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University "This book represents the best of the intersection on EU studies and the study of comparative European politics. This sort of scholarship is the cornerstone of those interested in the domestic politics of European integration ... a work of the first order of quality." --Paul Taggart, University of Sussex "This is the most comprehensive book ever written on European Parliament elections. For the first time, the latest research on voter turnout, voting behavior, party manifestos, election outcomes, the effect of the elections on national politics, and media coverage of European Parliament elections has been brought together in a single volume." --Simon Hix, London School of Economics

The Routledge Handbook of Local Elections and Voting in Europe represents the standard reference text and practical resource for everybody who analyzes issues such as local electoral systems, voting behavior, or political representation in Europe. It provides comprehensive and expert coverage of 40 European countries – organized along the respective local state traditions – and in addressing a wide range of important questions related to local elections and voting, it broadens the scope of existing analyses quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Finally, it affords a more theoretically grounded typology of local elections and voting. Each country chapter is written by a leading expert and follows a rigorous conceptual framework for cross-national comparisons, providing an overview of the local government system, details on the place of local elections within the multilevel political system, specific features of the electoral system, analysis of the main electoral outcomes in recent decades, and, finally, reflective discussion. Representative democracy is as widespread at the local as at the national level, and as the significance of local authorities in Europe has increased in recent decades, local elections represent a crucial area of study. The Routledge Handbook of Local Elections and Voting in Europe is an authoritative and essential reference text for scholars and students interested in local electoral politics and, more broadly, European studies, public administration, and political science.

This edited volume revolves around two sets of questions. First, what do the 2019 European elections suggest about the extent to which the mainstream parties of the left are attempting to deal with their decline through an increased, common, emphasis on their project for a more integrated, 'social Europe' as opposed to an emphasis on the more 'traditional', domestically-focussed, issues? Given the heightened profile of Europe in domestic politics; given the polarisation around Europe; given the way in which (especially in the countries of the Eurozone) media discussion of the domestic implications of EU decision-making can influence the climate of opinion regardless of the actions of domestic party actors themselves, we would expect the social democrats among them to seek to reassert control over the conditions of opinion formation through a renewed emphasis on integration (as well as its benefits and its potential as a source of identities to rival national, exclusionary identities) in opposition to their populist and Eurosceptical adversaries. To what extent do the campaigns waged by these parties bear out this expectation? Second, how well are the parties coping with the internal and external, institutional and political obstacles in the way of pursuit of this agenda?