Party Choice Research Articles

Beyond coalition and opposition? The effect of councilwide agreements on legislative voting behaviour in Dutch municipalities

AbstractA well‐established finding in the field of legislative behaviour is that parliamentary voting behaviour is nearly always strongly structured by the coalition‐opposition dynamic, even beyond the issues agreed on in the coalition agreement. Can parties break the mould of this coalition‐opposition division? Several Dutch municipal councils work with a councilwide agreement (raadsakkoord) with the specific goal that there is no demarcated coalition and opposition. This could open the political process up for more issue‐driven voting. We test whether council agreements change voting behaviour in the local council. By comparing voting in these municipalities before and after implementing councilwide agreements, we show that these agreements lower the extent to which voting is structured by the coalition‐opposition division. Coalition parties are less likely to vote the same when a councilwide agreement is present. The strength of the coalition‐opposition division depends upon the choices of political parties.

Turn-Taking in Political Interviews and Its Impact on Building Government Credibility

Television political inquiry is conducted through question-and-answer exchanges with host and government officials on prominent livelihood issues, which helps to improve the efficiency of government governance. Interview participants’ identity, communicative intention, power, and contextual factors have a significant impact on the discourse choices of both parties. This research clarifies the mechanism by which communicators mobilize appropriate discourse strategies to promote the solution of social problems. It adopts qualitative research method and conversation analysis to interpret interview participants’ talk-in-interaction and discourse strategies in “Ask Government Affairs of Shandong”. Research finds that adjacency pairs in political interview perform social behaviors such as greetings, requests, suggestions, apologies, acknowledgement. Interview participants’ turn-taking is divided into claiming for the turn, holding the turn, and giving up the turn. Discourse strategies such as insertion, interruption, and repetition are adopted to claim for the turn. Discourse markers and conversation repair are applied in communicators’ turn-holding stage. Communicators adopt explicit nominations, vague job designations, and silence strategies to give up the turn. Clear, accurate, and highly relevant official responses are conducive to projecting a responsible government image and improving government credibility. The phenomenon of avoidance, hesitation, and pause in official response is likely to cause the masses to question government officials’ work capability, which is not conducive to establishing a positive and trustworthy government image. Suggestions for optimizing the process setting of political interview and official responses are provided to enhance the effect of political enquiry.

Optimization strategies for green power and certificate trading in China considering seasonality: An evolutionary game-based system dynamics

China has adopted renewable portfolio standards and tradable green certificates (including hydropower) to increase the proportion of green power used and reduce carbon emissions. However, hydropower generation is affected by seasonal factors, making it difficult to increase green power consumption in water-scarce areas. Trading electricity and green certificates in regions with different resource endowments can effectively solve this problem. Therefore, this study uses evolutionary game theory to explore the impact of the change in the policy of issuing green certificates for hydropower on the strategic choices of the trading parties. Based on the evolutionary game model, a system dynamics model is established to explore the optimization strategies of green power and certificate trading under the influence of seasonal factors. The results of the case study show that (1) the price of green certificates varies with seasonal changes. (2) Sellers with abundant hydropower resources should increase the amount of hydropower connected to the grid during the water-abundant period to help deficit areas achieve their consumption targets (3) Expanding the scope of green certificates can gradually eliminate government subsidies and incentives and reduce the government's financial pressure.

Influence of social cleavage and media usage on political behavior: a case of Pakistan

Increasingly media provides ample opportunities for the audiences to make media choices and form different levels of exposure along political lines. Predominately, Pakistan’s media is recognized as an irreplaceable tool in sparking change in the political landscape, forgoing national-regional identities, and bridging social gaps. Due to recent technological advancements citizens’ media usage brought changes in the political behavior of citizens regarding party choices and voting behavior. Such changes in the political behavior of citizens affect decision making which is influenced by social cleavage of education, gender, and age. However, contrary to similar historical changes, these advances have widened rather than narrowed societal cleavages. The objective of the paper is to explore the influence of social cleavage and media usage on political behavior of students and faculty in Pakistan specifically NUML university, Islamabad. This research explores how social cleavage and recent advances in digital media access changed the political behavior of faculty and students of NUML university. The paper employed survey-based research with a sample of 250 faculty members and students of NUML, Islamabad. According to results, it is concluded that social cleavage of education, age, and gender plays a vital role in transforming the political behavior of both faculty members and students. Likewise, persistent use of social media portrays positive political participation along with accountable voting behavior, whereby males are more active in participating in political activities as compared to females. The paper has policy implications for a one-dimensional media approach for ignoring solutions to political problems and understanding citizenship rights. Focused and well-defined policies are required to bring youth back to broadcasting media.

The Personalization of Electoral Participation? The Relationship Between Trait Evaluations of Presidential Candidates and Turnout Decisions in American Presidential Elections 1980–2020

AbstractThe personalization thesis claims that leaders’ influence over voters has increased. While research consistently shows that candidates influence party choice, we know little about their effects on the prior decision to turn out in elections. This article represents the first study to examine the relationship between candidate trait evaluations and turnout decisions in the American context and the first longitudinal study of the phenomenon. The study utilizes ANES data to test three hypotheses drawn from theories on electoral participation and personalized politics in U.S. presidential elections between 1980 and 2020. The results show that while trait evaluations of Republican candidates consistently affect turnout, perceptions of Democratic candidates’ competence mobilize voters in specific elections. Moreover, individual polarization promotes turnout, particularly among partisan dealigned voters with different perceptions of the candidates’ competence. The results indicate a personalization of electoral participation that can benefit civic engagement and democratic quality.

Reducing betrayal behavior in green building construction: A quantum game approach

The issue of energy consumption in buildings is becoming increasingly pertinent. Society highly values energy conservation and environmental protection, viewing the adoption of green buildings as an inevitable trajectory in the evolution of the construction sector. However, a challenge emerges during the progression of green building construction concerning betrayal within the supply chain. This paper employs a quantum game approach to tackle the issue of green building betrayal within a two-tier green building supply chain comprising developers and contractors. Initially, a non-zero-sum classical game model is formulated based on the green-building construction process between developers and contractors Subsequently, the classical strategy space is extended to the quantum strategy space. The findings indicate that in classical games, and without considering quantum entanglement, even if both parties adopt comprehensive strategies, the party exerting complete effort still faces the risk of betrayal. Conversely, in scenarios of maximum quantum entanglement, the loss incurred by the party not exerting complete effort does not affect the party making a complete effort. Consequently, when accounting for quantum entanglement, both parties tend to opt for complete effort. Lastly, an entanglement treaty is proposed to constrain the strategic choices of both parties and ensure that neither has an incentive to betray. The findings of this study provide good suggestions for green building project managers to improve the effort degree of the developer and general construction contractor in green buildings to promote the development of green buildings.

A Tripartite Game Strategy to Promote the Commercialization of Research Results: A Synergistic Development Path Between Universities, Government, and Enterprises

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the tripartite relationship between the government, universities, and enterprises in the process of improving China’s innovation index. We hope to gain an in-depth understanding of the dynamic game process among these three, and how various factors affect the way they cooperate in this process. Design/Methodology/Approach – Based on evolutionary game theory as a research tool, we constructed a tripartite evolutionary game model of universities, government, and commercial institutions, and analyzed the stability of each party's strategic choices and the relationship between the influence of each element. Findings – By simulating strategy combinations and the evolution process in different contexts, we derived the conditions for the occurrence of stable strategy combinations among universities, governments, and business organizations. Through the above study, we found that stable strategy combinations among government, universities, and enterprises are crucial in promoting the development of China’s innovation index. Research Implications – This study has important theoretical significance for understanding the dynamic relationship among government, universities, and firms, and also provides practical guidance for policy makers. Through this study, policy makers can have a clearer understanding of the needs and interests of each party, so that they can formulate more effective policies to promote the development of innovation activities.

Voices unheard: How feelings of inefficacy fuel populism

How do populist voters differ from other voters and among themselves? I argue that the commonality of populist voters is a perceived sense of political inefficacy. The feelings of inefficacy interact with grievances, which determine the party choice. Using the European Social Survey data, I show that when grievances are cultural, voters are more likely to vote for a right-wing populist party. In the same manner, economic grievances make left-wing populist voting more likely. Furthermore, I show that negative effect of political efficacy on populist voting declines as grievances become more severe. Thus, while grievances determine the type of populism, political efficacy determines the vote choice between populist parties and their alternatives.

Research on the development strategy selection of the new energy vehicle industry from the perspective of green credit-Based on the foursquare evolutionary game analysis.

Developing new energy vehicles is vital to promote green development and the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature. It is also the only way to help China move from a significant automobile country to a powerful automobile country. Based on the background of the "recession" of government subsidies and considering the importance of green credit in promoting green and low-carbon transformation, this paper constructs a four-party evolutionary game model that includes government, automotive companies, banks, and consumers to analyze the stability of the strategic choices of various parties in the development process of the new energy vehicle industry. It uses MATLAB simulation tools to analyze the impact of relevant factors on system stability. The research shows that: (1) The government's subsidy mechanism significantly promotes the development of the new energy vehicle industry. Still, there is a subsidy threshold, beyond which the effect will weaken and quickly bring financial pressure. (2) With the gradual decline of government subsidies, the bank's green credit policy has a specific policy complementary effect on the decline of government subsidies. (3) Considering that costs and benefits are the main influencing factors for automotive companies and consumers' strategic choices, the impact of factors such as the punishment of violations, adjustment of subsidy policies, and consumers' environmental awareness must also be paid attention to.

Parliament and Revolution: Poland, Finland, and the End of Empire in the Early Twentieth Century

AbstractThis article explores the political trajectories of the early twentieth-century Grand Duchy of Finland and the Kingdom of Poland in the context of the “global parliamentary moment,” when the constitutional script of revolution competed with the more daring script of social revolution. We scrutinize contrastive political choices of socialist parties in these two western borderlands of the Russian Empire. Finland and Poland emerged as independent parliamentary states in 1917–1918 but under manifestly different circumstances. The Finnish socialist party had enjoyed a stable foothold in the formally democratic but practically impotent national parliament since 1907, whereas the Polish socialists boycotted the Russian Duma and envisioned a democratic legislature as a guaranty of a Poland with true people’s power. The Finnish socialists later abandoned parliamentarism in favor of an armed revolution, in 1918, whereas most of their Polish counterparts used the parliamentary ideal of popular sovereignty to restrain the revolutionary upsurge. We argue that the socialist understandings of parliamentarism and revolution were of crucial importance at this juncture. We draw from a broad corpora of political press reports, handwritten newspapers, and leaflets to show how the diachronic sequence of events and synchronic power relations inside the Russian Empire made certain stances toward parliamentarism and revolution more likely at different points in time.

Age and Party Choice: Generational Shift in India

India is in the throes of a massive demographic turn. People born and brought up after 1986 constitute the bulk of the population. Studies elsewhere show that generational replacement transforms societies and can play a key role in changing the political attitudes and behaviour of the electorate. Over the last few general elections the Indian National Congress has witnessed a steady decline in support, while the Bharatiya Janata Party has seen a surge in support. This article examines whether the decline of the Congress party is linked to a demographic shift that is taking place. The study demonstrates that generations as socio-historical space helps us nuance party-choice explanations.

Mapping Class and Electoral Participation in India from 1996 to 2019

This article studies the relation between class and electoral participation. While the relation between political participation and many demographic variables such as caste, gender, age and location has been well researched in India, the same is not the case for the relation between class and electoral participation. Multiple measures of class (income, asset-wealth, occupation and education) are explored and conceptualized in this article, following which these measures of class are operationalized using the National Election Study datasets covering a twenty-three-year period (1996–2019). Each of these measures is used to trace the relation of class with two outcomes of electoral participation (turnout and party vote share) over time. Disaggregation by gender, locality and caste is provided. Finally, regression analysis to study the impact of these variables on turnout and vote share reveals the complexity of class. We find a complex picture of turnout and party choice with variation across different class measures. More significantly, variations in results raise questions about the usefulness of existing class indices. Further, we find that the type of measure being used affects different outcomes differently. For turnout, income and wealth seem to be better predictors, and for party vote share, subjective class is a better fit, whereas asset-wealth displays opposite patterns to income and subjective class in some instances.

Electoral competition with costly policy changes: A dynamic perspective

We analyze two-party electoral competition with a one-dimensional policy space, costly policy changes, and random negative shocks to a party's viability over an infinite horizon. We show the existence and uniqueness of stationary Markov perfect equilibria in which parties use so-called simple strategies. Regardless of the initial policy, party choices converge in the long run to a stochastic alternation between two policies, with transitions occurring if and only if parties suffer a negative shock to their viability. Although costs of change have a moderating effect on policies, full convergence to the median voter position does not take place when parties are polarized.

Contextual factors, transnationalism attitudes, and support for GAL-TAN parties within European metropolises: Insights from London

European democracies are moulded by a ‘transnational cleavage’ between green-alternative-libertarian and traditionalist-authoritarian-nationalist parties and attitudes. The territorial reverberations of this new cleavage are still scarcely analysed. Therefore, this article aims to explore how the transnational cleavage relates to political opinions and choices at the local level, by uncovering connections between such cleavage and the characteristics of metropolitan places. What are the implications of living in different metropolitan contexts on citizens’ positions on the transnational cleavage? I answer this question by investigating how metropolitan contextual factors shape transnationalism attitudes and support for green-alternative-libertarian and traditionalist-authoritarian-nationalist parties within London. Findings highlight that transnationalism attitudes and support for green-alternative-libertarian/traditionalist-authoritarian-nationalist parties are statistically significantly related to contextual factors; among the latter, the boroughs’ housing conditions and ethnic structures are the best predictors of transnationalism attitudes and party choices; residents of disadvantaged metropolitan contexts exhibit lower support for transnationalism and green-alternative-libertarian parties.

Moving beyond the second-order election model?

ABSTRACT In this introduction to the sixth annual review of regional elections we identify three generations of regional election studies that have applied the second-order election (SOE) model. First-generation literature finds that regional authority, territorial cleavages, and election (non-)simultaneity explain territorial heterogeneity in SOE-effects because they affect ‘what is at stake’ in a regional election. A ‘stake-based’ approach also underlies a second-generation literature that finds that voters with strong regional identities and who find regional government important are more likely to make distinct party choices in the regional electoral arena. Third-generation research adopts a multilevel electoral system perspective and considers the impact of political-institutional variables on the extent of horizontal and vertical top-down and bottom-up spill-over between regional and national electoral arenas. Four election articles and four election reports make important contributions to the three generations of literature and thereby reveal that these generations of regional election scholarship remain highly relevant.

Intra-Party Struggles and the Making of the Cypriot Left

ABSTRACT Unlike other countries where the Left remained electorally marginal and marked by introversion and fragmentation, the Cypriot communist party AKEL consistently dominated the Cypriot Left bloc. AKEL is here placed in context by looking the way it developed its arguably peculiar (communist) organizational and ideological identity through an inward looking emphasizing three important intra-party crises in a period extending from the early 1920s until the end of the Cold War. Notwithstanding (external) environmental influences, this article focuses on the intra-party level and the struggle amongst competing intra-party groups, identifying the main issues of controversy, the opposing actors and the outcome of each crisis. It is hereby argued that party choices were at least equally informed by the outcome of intra-party tensions.

Creating nonlocality using geometric phases between partially distinguishable photons

The geometric (Berry-Pancharatnam) phase originates from the intrinsic geometry of the space of quantum states and can be observed in different situations, such as a cyclic evolution of a quantum system. Here, we utilize the geometric phase to obtain a surprising insight: It is possible to create nonlocal correlations in a fixed interferometer with independent photon inputs by varying the photons' internal states. In particular, we consider a cyclic interferometer that is fixed, i.e., that has no variable internal phase shifts or subsequent measurement settings. Instead, the measurement choices of the different parties correspond to the internal states of the input photons which influence the observed correlations via a collective $N$-photon geometric phase, constituting a different approach for the generation of nonlocality with respect to the usual paradigm. We observe a trade-off between the geometric phases and the visibility of the many-photon interference, impeding the generation of nonlocality. However, by making use of the dynamical quantum Zeno effect, we show that nonlocality can be created in the fixed cyclic interferometer using 12 (or more) independent photons.

Subjective losers of globalization

AbstractRecent political changes in established democracies have led to a new cleavage, often described as a juxtaposition of ‘winners’ and ‘losers of globalization’. Despite a growing interest in subjective group membership and identity, previous research has not studied whether individuals actually categorize themselves as globalization winners or losers and what effect this has. Based on survey data from Germany, we report evidence of a division between self‐categorized globalization winners and losers that is partially but not completely rooted in social structure and associated with attitudes towards globalization‐related issues and party choices. We thereby confirm many of the assumptions from prior research – such as that (self‐categorized) losers of globalization tend to hold lower levels of education and lean towards the radical right. At the same time, the self‐categorizations are not merely transmission belts of socio‐structural effects but seem to be politically consequential in their own right. We conclude that the categories of globalization winners and losers have the potential to form part of the identity component of the globalization cleavage and are important for understanding how political entrepreneurs appeal to voters on their side of the new divide.

Latinx Pre-Immigration Ideological Preferences and Party Identification in the United States

Much political behavior research highlights the role of post-immigration experiences in framing Latinx immigrants’ preferences in the United States. We contend that immigrants’ pre-migration political socialization also shapes their current views, political engagement, and ideological orientations. Findings from a unique set of 146 interviews on political party choice before and after migration suggest that Latinx immigrants exhibit consistency of political orientations for party choice across borders. In other words, home-country political and ideological orientations help guide choice of U.S. political party. Pre-immigration variables are thus crucial for a more comprehensive assessment of Latinx immigrant political psychology and behavior.

Political Parties Abroad. A New Arena for Electoral Politics

ABSTRACT This Special Issue contributes to the growing literature on parties abroad. Expansive citizenship has transformed and reinforced the civic and political links between emigrants and their home country. Political parties face the dilemma of engaging or not in this new arena for electoral politics and must consider how. However, until recently the literature on transnationalism and on party politics has surprisingly largely overlooked this issue. This introduction identifies the existing gaps in the literature, and stresses two main questions that remains largely unanswered, namely (1) why and how parties decide to campaign abroad, and (2) how voters abroad are receptive to these campaigns and operate their party choice in this specific context. The five articles offer a mix of case studies and comparative perspective, and quantitative and qualitative analyses. This case selection allows to explore the diversity of strategies adopted by political parties abroad in different settings, with different tools. The results illustrate the impact of local party branches and entrepreneurs’ outreach and local campaigns on mobilisation, turnout, and the result of elections, but also show that emigrants’ vote choice is influenced both by the context of their country of origin and of their country of residence.