Elections In Austria Research Articles

Urban communist politics of the everyday in Graz, Austria

The everyday communist politics of local politicians in Graz offers a potential way forward for the left more broadly In September 2021, the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) won the municipal elections in Austria’s second-largest city, Graz, and Elke Kahr became the city’s mayor. Kahr has governed in a coalition with the Green Party and the Social Democrats, replacing the former conservative and far-right coalition that had lasted for eighteen years. A different kind of local politics has since then proved possible, even in conservative Austria. Graz local communists practise a politics that is sensitive to class injustice and engaged in the local community. Its slogan for the last thirty years has been ‘A party for everyday life’. The party’s success is based on its focus on everyday concerns such as housing, tenants’ rights, public health, education and mobility issues, as well as its battles against austerity and neoliberal privatisation. Its community-oriented approach, strongly committed to social infrastructure at the scale of people’s everyday experiences is explicitly critical of top-down state solutions ‐ and thus stands in stark contrast both to the previous neoliberal and profit-oriented policies in Graz, and to the centralist ways of governing of the socialist states. KPÖ politicians voluntarily cap their salaries at the level of the average worker, with the surplus going into a social fund for emergency help for those on low incomes. This has been criticised by some as a charity commitment rather structural change, but it can also be read as an attempt at lived solidarity. Drawing from local media coverage as well as interviews with politicians and local residents, the article discusses the everyday politics of Graz communists through the lens of relational care ethics, and discusses the potential international movements that could be built on this approach to communist municipal politics. The focus is on alternative social norms in urban cultures of care: solidarity among all members of society, and a recognition of people’s everyday practices and needs.

Downsian closeness hypothesis under investigation: a study on austrian direct mayoral elections

Does the expectation of a close race drive more people to vote? Despite increasingly intensified electoral competition and hardened fronts at all political levels over the last decades, a decline in turnout rates can be observed representing a puzzling development. Though there are anomalies, previous studies show a clear trend towards a positive association between a close race and an increase in turnout. Based on the idea of the “rational choice” theory, the prospect of a close or undecided race increases the subjective weight of the individual vote, which drives more voters to the ballot box. In fact, ‘expected Closeness’ is one of the most frequently tested independent variables in voter turnout research. However, the factor is only measured ex-post in most cases. Such measurements use the results of the actual election to infer the ‘Closeness’ of the race. However, these measurement methods are less valid because they do not measure ‘Closeness’ in the decisive period before the election takes place. We want to contribute a test of the effect by analysing all runoff elections in Austrian direct mayoral elections since 1991 as they allow for ex-ante measurement. The first ballots and the runoffs are temporally close. Thus, the first vote results serve as a direct indicator of the ‘expected Closeness’ in the second round of voting. The electorate changes, if at all, only insignificantly between the ballots. In addition, socio-economic factors influencing voter turnout can be kept constant, increasing the validity of the test. The results of this study underline the positive and independent effect of ‘Closeness’ on the turnout of the election. The closer a mayoral race in Austria is in the first round, the higher is the turnout in the following runoff elections. The study also presents the independent and strong effects of socioeconomic factors on turnout. Our research not only provides a valid test of the effect of ‘expected Closeness’ on voter turnout, it also constitutes pioneering work in complete data collection on all direct mayoral elections in Austria.

Mehr Demokratie wagen! Eine politikwissenschaftliche Replik auf die juristische Einschätzung zur Absenkung der Altersgrenze für das aktive Wahlrecht zum Deutschen Bundestag

This article examines the debate surrounding the proposed lowering of the voting age from eighteen to sixteen for German Bundestag elections, from a political science perspective . The author carefully considers and counters the arguments raised by Lukas Sairinger in ZParl 2/2022, specifically with regards to concerns about the dignity of the elected institution and the political maturity of younger voters . By presenting empirical evidence from subnational elections in Germany and national elections in Austria and Scotland, the article provides a compelling case for the potential positive impact that a lower voting age could have on youth political engagement and the democratic process . However, problems arising from the current federal heterogeneity also become apparent, which is why there is a call for standardization . Finally, lowering the voting age should be accompanied by programs in the field of political education to counter socio-economic differences in political participation .

The Mobilizing Power of Influencers for Pro-Environmental Behavior Intentions and Political Participation

ABSTRACT So-called “influencers” increasingly use their popularity on social media to raise their voice to promote political topics such as climate change, human rights, or party politics. As digital opinion leaders they may exert a powerful influence on their followers’ attitudes and behavior, motivating them to protect the environment or to engage in political participation online. Based on the Gateway Hypothesis, we argue that these online activities may translate into offline participation over time. To test these assumptions, we conducted a two-wave panel study during the national parliamentary elections in Austria with a national quota sample (N T2 = 564). Findings reveal that following political influencers who post about elections or party politics increases online participation, which predicts higher offline participation over time. Moreover, following environmental influencers who promote content revolving around sustainability and climate change strengthens pro-environmental behavior intentions over time, which is also related to increased offline participation.

Spatial variation in populist right voting in Austria, 2013–2017

The recent wave of populism sweeping Europe and the Americas generated considerable interest among political scientists, economists, sociologists and to some extent, geographers. The vast majority of these studies focuses on individual voter decisions or national comparisons over time but neglects the within-country spatial variation of the populist vote. This paper addresses this shortcoming and applies spatial econometric techniques to explore possible explanations for spatial variation in the increase of the populist right vote between the 2013 and 2017 national elections in Austria for 2118 municipalities. Spatial variation in voting shares can result from (1) compositional effects, regional differences in the composition of voters with different characteristics, (2) broad spatial, historically evolved institutional differences, such as membership to one of the nine states, (3) unequal integration of different types of regions into the global economy, such as peripheral regions, central urban regions, old industrial regions or tourist areas, (4) spatial vote spillovers due to localized social networks, and (5) unobserved spatial processes. We find that the populist right vote gains in Austrian municipalities are affected by all processes, but that the type of regions becomes insignificant once we correct for unobservable spatial structures in the regression framework. The increase in the share of foreigners, the share of foreigners, income and inequality levels, educational differences, selected state membership, as well as spatial spillovers of populist right voting are all important to explain spatial variation in the rise of the populist right vote.

Are microtargeted campaign messages more negative and diverse? An analysis of Facebook Ads in European election campaigns

Concerns about the use of online political microtargeting (OPM) by campaigners have arisen since the Cambridge Analytica scandal hit the international political arena. In addition to providing conceptual clarity on OPM and explore the use of such techniques in Europe, this paper seeks to empirically disentangle the differing behaviours of campaigners when they message citizens through microtargeted rather than non-targeted campaigning. More precisely, I hypothesise that campaigners use negative campaigning and are more diverse in terms of topics when they use OPM. To investigate whether these expectations hold true, I use text-as-data techniques to analyse an original dataset of 4,091 political Facebook Ads during the last national elections in Austria, Italy, Germany and Sweden. Results show that while microtargeted ads might indeed be more thematically diverse, there does not seem to be a significant difference to non-microtargeted ads in terms of negativity. In conclusion, I discuss the implications of these findings for microtargeted campaigns and how future research could be conducted.

European Parliament elections in Austria: Signal of other triumph of People´s party

Volby do Evropského parlamentu v Rakousku: Ve znamení dalšího triumfu lidovců (European Parliament elections in Austria: Signal of other triumph of People´s party) Journal Politické vedy has been released since 1998. The aim of the academically reviewed journal is to publish original articles of Slovak and foreign authors, concerning different fields of social science

The Differentiated Effects of Direct Mobilisation on Turnout: Evidence from the 2013 Austrian Parliamentary Election

In recent years several European countries have experienced a significant decrease in turnout, even as the level of campaign professionalisation has been increasing. Since scholars have recognised mobilisation as a key aspect in determining turnout, this article aims to disentangle the effects of mobilisation on electoral participation. It will do this by focussing on the 2013 Parliamentary Election in Austria, which saw the lowest turnout rate ever recorded in that country. The data used are taken from the Austrian National Election Study Rolling Cross-Section Panel 2013. This data source allows for the dynamic analysis of campaign effects through LOWESS estimations of the daily means of the measures of interest. Moreover, its panel structure permits us to take under control the individual likelihood to turn out before the elections whilst studying the effects of various forms of party contact on self-reported turnout. The findings show that only personal forms of party contact significantly increase electoral participation. Furthermore, these forms are more effective in increasing the turnout among low-propensity voters. Overall, one of the main contributions of the work is to provide differentiated estimations of the effects of various forms of party contact on turnout, computed on the same sample and concerning the same electoral context.

Pro-Еuropean elected representative in the presidential elections in Austria (2016)

The article deals with the next presidential election in the Republic of Austria, which took place on December 4, 2016, and ended with the victory of the famous leader of the Green Party Alexander Van der Bellen, who takes a clear pro-European stance and adheres to a liberal position on migration and refugee rights. The main results, conclusions of outstanding political scientists, experts who were engaged in research of presidential elections in Austria are in details analyzed. The main powers, functions of the federal president are analyzed. Specific features of the presidential election 2016, which occurred during the global upheavals, pro-European, pro-Russian and Euroskeptic sentiments of the Austrian population are in details characterized.
 Keywords: presidential elections, political system, political party, euroscepticism, migration.

Closer to the people: A comparative content analysis of populist communication on social networking sites in pre- and post-Election periods

ABSTRACT A comparative content analysis explores stylistic and contextual factors that resonate with populist communication on social networking sites (SNSs). Advancing the field, we investigate differences in politicians’ use of populist communication in pre- and post-election periods by analyzing a comprehensive sample of Facebook posts and tweets (N = 1,010) of the leading candidates in the 2017 national parliamentary elections in Austria and the Netherlands. We identify important stylistic elements that resonate with populist political communication such as negative emotions or an us-versus-them rhetoric. Our findings further suggest that although populist communication is more prevalent in the SNS communication of right-wing and left-wing populist parties, political actors across all parties are more likely to use populist communication before than after elections. In line with recent conceptualizations, we argue that populism can be understood as a framework of communication with measurable sub frames, which can be expressed by different political actors with different goals. Understanding populism as a discursive framework of communication can ultimately help to reconcile existing divergent conceptualizations of populism.

Rakouské parlamentní volby 2017: Začátek éry Sebastiana Kurze

The article deals with the early parliamentary elections in Austria, which resulted from conflicts inside the government. The situation provides a negative example of a long rule of grand coalition. Most Austrians had lost the trust in abilities of the cabinet made up by social democrats (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) to deal with problems of the day. The public demanded an end to controversies and change of political style. In the stalemate situation it was ÖVP which initiated irregular elections into National Council. It succeeded in connecting the dynamic and perspective personality of the leader Sebastian Kurz with the image of a new and open movement. During the campaign, it emphasized themes which the Austrian public considered important (migration and asylum policy, better security, reduction of taxes) in combination with professional political marketing. After the elections, negotiations revealed programmatic overlap between ÖVP and Freedom Party of Austria, which placed third, in a number of important areas. The new government worked out an ambitious reform program, for which it secured enough majority support in the National Council; also the favourable economic conditions helped. The article provides analysis of electoral programs and the respective stages of the electoral campaign, making use of extensive electoral materials, including unarchived ones. Besides filling a major descriptive-analytic gap in the Czech scholarly reflection of Austrian politics, the article probes into actual trends of Austrian electoral marketing and electoral behaviour.

A banana republic? The effects of inconsistencies in the counting of votes on voting behavior

We examine whether local inconsistencies in the counting of votes influence voting behavior. We exploit the case of the second ballot of the 2016 presidential election in Austria. The ballot needed to be repeated because postal votes were counted carelessly in individual electoral districts (“scandal districts”). We use a difference-in-differences approach comparing election outcomes from the regular and the repeated round. The results do not show that voter turnout and postal voting declined significantly in scandal districts. Quite the contrary, voter turnout and postal voting increased slightly by about 1 percentage point in scandal districts compared to non-scandal districts. Postal votes in scandal districts also were counted with some greater care in the repeated ballot. We employ micro-level survey data indicating that voters in scandal districts blamed the federal constitutional court for ordering a second election, but did not seem to blame local authorities.

The results of the Parliamentary elections in Austria

The results of the Parliamentary elections in Austria

A network perspective on mediated Europeanized public spheres: Assessing the degree of Europeanized media coverage in light of the 2014 European Parliament election

The European Union has become an active political player in the political realm, raising the question about the European Union’s linkages with all aspects of political life reflected in national Europeanized public spheres. This study offers empirical evidence on the extent to which mass media support, challenge or even ignore political representatives in European Union affairs, and thus legitimize, respectively delegitimize European Union governance. The analysis is based on large-scale content analyses of print, TV and online news gathered before and after the 2014 European Parliament election in Austria ( N = 6432). Semantic networks show that national media focus on the European Union’s legislative body, the implications of the European Union’s exclusive competences on the nation state and on well-established European Union member countries. In doing so, national Europeanized public spheres constituted by the media legitimize the European Union’s governance in these areas while other aspects of European integration are ignored.

Presidential Elections in Austria and Rise of the Far Right

Presidential Elections in Austria and Rise of the Far Right

Gaining voice in the mass media: The effect of parties’ strategies on party–issue linkages in election news coverage

The mass media are central in providing citizens with information on political parties and issues. This study deals with the question of how the mass media link issues to parties in their news coverage. Such party–issue linkages in the media are crucial if parties want to gain or maintain ownership of political issues. The study tests hypotheses according to which journalists use parties’ issue emphases and issue positions as a heuristic to decide which party to give voice to when debating certain issues. It combines and analyzes datasets based on electoral programs and election news coverage of national elections in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK between 1991 and 2007. It finds that journalists link issues with parties that emphasized these issues in the past or increased their emphasis at the current election. In contrast, issue positioning does not effect party–issue linkages. These findings contradict past research on the reflection of parties’ issue emphasis in media coverage, and have important implications for parties’ issue strategies, party competition, and the role of mass media in democracy.

Voting at National versus European Elections: An Individual Level Test of the Second Order Paradigm for the 2014 European Parliament Elections

The second-order paradigm is the dominant framework for research on electoral behavior in European Parliament (EP) elections. In this study, we assess to what degree voting patterns in the 2014 EP election were characterized by second-orderness. While most studies of second-order voting behavior rely on macro-level accounts or suffer from potentially conflated vote measures, this study relies on panel data from the 2013 national and the 2014 EP election in Austria. We study change patterns in electoral behavior and, more importantly, assess the motives behind differences in vote choices between first- and second-order elections. Overall, the findings point towards a persisting relevance of the second-order framework for explaining voting in the 2014 EP election.

A Banana Republic? Trust in Electoral Institutions in Western Democracies - Evidence from a Presidential Election in Austria

A Banana Republic? Trust in Electoral Institutions in Western Democracies - Evidence from a Presidential Election in Austria

Polls, coalitions and strategic voting under proportional representation

How do polls influence strategic voting under proportional representation? This paper derives a strategic calculus of voting for coalitions that generates testable predictions about the effects of polls on strategic voting in elections involving four or more parties. Incentives of leftist voters to vote for a centrist over a noncentrist party are shown to increase with the difference in expected seats between the prospective right-wing and left-wing coalitions (and vice versa for rightist voters). Centrist voters’ incentives to vote for a center-left vs a center-right party are also shown to depend on the relative strengths of the right-wing and left-wing coalitions. Importantly, the strategic voting incentives studied here do not depend on the presence of electoral thresholds or other features of the electoral system. The predictions are tested with survey data from parliamentary elections in Austria and Germany.

The snap election in Austria, September 2008

The snap election in Austria, September 2008