Representatives Of Parties Research Articles

Back to the future? An analysis of party influence on electricity grid remunicipalisation in Germany

ABSTRACT The literature on privatisation and nationalisation has presented conflicting results on partisan theory, echoed in studies on local public service ownership. Moreover, there is a notable quantitative research gap on Germany’s energy market, the sector most strongly affected by remunicipalisation. This study addresses this gap by investigating whether party strength impacts the remunicipalisation of local electricity grids in Germany. Using logistic regression on a novel dataset covering approximately 1,800 municipalities in the 2010s, the findings reveal that stronger left-wing or green party representation do not increase remunicipalisation likelihood. Instead, factors such as population size, the local political systems, and municipal finances play substantial roles. In doing so, it adds valuable insights on a hitherto understudied case and examines the role of partisan theory, whose application has yielded conflicting results. Electricity grids are critical infrastructure for the energy transition, with many contracts in Germany up for renewal in the early 2030s.

What makes political parties to elect more women? a cross-country comparison

ABSTRACT While women are gaining ground in national parliaments worldwide, the number of female representatives varies greatly between political parties. Since parties themselves can reflect gender biases, they play a key role in shaping women’s representation. Building on the existing literature, this research note examines the interplay between electoral systems, national institutions, and party characteristics to understand these disparities. By analysing data from over 200 parties across 42 legislatures in 24 countries, our results shed light on factors influencing female representation in parliamentary parties and offer valuable insights for promoting gender parity in parliaments.

The Film Ivan by Oleksandr Dovzhenko in the Light of the Soviet Intelligence Services

A set of archival documents of the Soviet secret services (agent messages, reports, summaries, etc.) related to Dovzhenko’s work on the film Ivan in 1931–1932 is analyzed in the article. Ivan is just the film that has the largest number of documents of this kind among the works. The agents have informed the secret services about the work on the script, its passage through the censorship authorities, and the filming period in their reports. The criticism of the author has started in Ukraine after the completion of the film. During this period the agents have recorded the artist’s difficult moral and psychological state, his negative statements against the Ukrainian party leadership and representatives of the literary and artistic intelligentsia, and the measures taken by the leaders of the Ukrainian and Soviet cinematographers to level the negative assessment of the film in the press. Relevant experts have been engaged to write reviews to obtain more complete information about the film. The director has been forced to move to Moscow because of the considerable pressure and negative attitude in Ukraine. He is introduced to Joseph Stalin there. The dictator has liked the movie. Following Stalin, official criticism also has changed its mind about Ivan, and the film was allowed to be shown. Dovzhenko was saved from seemingly certain death. The director has soon started work on his next film, called Aerograd. But the Soviet secret services did not let the artist out of their sight in Moscow. In general, the surveillance of O. Dovzhenko during his work on the film Ivan was part of a much wider range of operational activities of the special services to obtain compromising materials about the artist’s “anti-Soviet” activities and continued until his death.

Political elite social listening: How Portuguese MPs perceive their own motivations to join and use Twitter/X

Most studies on political actors’ use of Twitter focus on content and social network analysis, but not on their motivations and passive usage. We applied a questionnaire to a significant sample of 94 Members of Parliament (MPs), with a quota sample sized by political party representation in Parliament, to survey their motivations to have or not a Twitter account and their uses. We concluded that MPs see Twitter mostly as a political tool unlike other social media platforms. The most common motivation to join and use Twitter is to read other politicians’ opinions which helps explain why the small Twitter adoption in Portugal does not deter its use as their peers and political elite is on the platform. That twitter elite can even be a motivator to join as their peer social capital is key to re-election in closed list-elections countries such as Portugal.

Policy implementation and strategic effects: Assessing the impact of parliamentary thresholds on Indonesia’s political system and governance

This study examines the impact of parliamentary thresholds on the Indonesian political system through the lens of the Routine Policy Implementation Model and the Strategic Policy Implementation Model. The main objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of parliamentary thresholds in managing political fragmentation, assess their impact on stability and representation in the legislative system, and understand their implementation’s technical and strategic implications. Using a qualitative approach supported by interview studies and field observations, this research combines analysis of election data in the 2009, 2014, and 2019 elections with a qualitative assessment of policy changes and political dynamics. The Routine Policy Implementation Model focuses on the technical aspects of threshold implementation, including vote counting procedures and seat allocation efficiency. Meanwhile, the Strategic Policy Implementation Model examines the broader implications of these thresholds for political consolidation, government effectiveness, and the representation of minor parties. The results show that the parliamentary threshold has significantly reduced political fragmentation by consolidating the number of parties in Parliament, resulting in a legislative system that is cleaner and easier to administer. However, this consolidation has also marginalized small parties and limited political diversity. The novelty of this study lies in its comprehensive analysis of how parliamentary thresholds affect administrative efficiency and strategic political stability in Indonesia, compared to democratic countries in transition, such as Slovenia and Montenegro. In conclusion, although parliamentary thresholds have increased political stability and government effectiveness, they have also raised concerns about the reduced representation of small and regional parties. The study recommends maintaining balanced thresholds that ensure stability and diversity, implementing mechanisms to review thresholds periodically, and involving diverse stakeholders in adjusting policies to reflect evolving political dynamics. This approach will help balance the need for a stable legislative environment with broad representation.

On the Road to Electoral Democracy? Erosion of the Free and Fair Elections Standard in the Era of the Polish Constitutional Crisis after 2015

This article attempts to diagnose the state of democracy in Poland, remaining in the era of constitutional crisis and following the erosion of the free and fair elections standard, which determines the criteria for distinguishing an electoral democracy from a liberal democracy. For this purpose, the individual elements constituting this concept are analyzed, both having a procedural dimension and referring to the course of the three phases of the electoral process itself (the period before election day, on election day and after election day), as well as referring to the standards of honesty, reliability, the real possibility of alternative power or equal opportunities. The conclusions drawn at individual stages of the deliberations, including an indication of the destabilisation of electoral law, the erosion of guarantees regarding the reliability of elections, disproportion in the access of political party representatives to public media, lead to a thesis on the formation of electoral democracy in Poland, which can be described as a democratic system devoid of liberal values. It is characterised by restrictions on freedom of association, freedom of speech and academic freedom, electoral distortions, unequal access of representative political parties to the public media and judicial guarantees related to the electoral process.

Populist Party Responsiveness and Populist Party Voter Satisfaction With Democracy in Europe

<p>Voters of populist parties tend to be dissatisfied with democracy. Some scholars attribute this dissatisfaction with how our democracies function to poor representation by mainstream parties and a feeling of not being heard. We should see this representation improve with the success of populist parties. This improved representation should, in turn, have a positive impact on populist party voters’ satisfaction with democracy (SWD). Existing case studies have only looked at the link between formal populist party representation in parliament or government, and populist party voters’ SWD, with mixed findings, the most puzzling of which is that populist party voters may even become less satisfied with growing formal representation. There is no comparative study on populist parties’ actual responsiveness to populist party voters and the connection to their SWD. Thus, we ask: How well do populist parties represent populist party voters, and how does this populist party responsiveness influence populist party voters’ satisfaction with democracy? We define populist party responsiveness as issue-based agenda-responsiveness between populist party voters and populist parties and investigate the link to SWD using data on 21 countries from the 2019 European Election Studies. We find that populist parties in Europe are not generally more responsive to populist party voters than mainstream parties. Populist parties’ agenda-responsiveness has a positive effect on populist voters’ SWD while being in government does not increase the positive effect of populist party responsiveness on their voters’ SWD. They may be disenchanted by how well their parties can eventually “walk the talk.”</p>

Ethnopolitics in a Mining Enterprise in Crisis: Revisiting the Albanian Miners’ Protests in Late Socialist Kosovo

Abstract This article presents a novel approach to explain ethnopolitical mobilization among Kosovo Albanian miners during the winter of 1988–1989. Based on a close reading of the mining enterprise’s journal, it identifies three factors accounting for the rising politicization of ethnicity in microlevel dynamics within the Trepça mining enterprise. First, the article points at ethnic grievances in intra-elite managerial tensions and miners’ unrest. It relates these to structural conditions generated by the shifting cultural divisions of labor in Kosovo mining. Second, the article looks at counter-mobilizational dynamics among Kosovo Albanian miners, which were directly provoked by Serbian ethnopolitical mobilization during Slobodan Milošević’s rise to power. In a final step, the article reconstructs socio-occupational realignments taking shape in the particular decision-making structures of the mining enterprise. Against a background of internal power struggles and reorganizations, the executive management and the miners found themselves on the defensive against party representatives and managerial competitors. Making use of the enterprise’s institutional setup, they established a strong ethnopolitical alliance, which culminated in the underground strike of February 1989. The article suggests that this approach can be valuable to study other cases of intersecting social and ethnopolitical mobilization.

Sceptics, Enthusiasts, or Architects? The British Labour Group, the European Parliament and Workers’ Rights, 1979–1989

The European Parliament influenced policy, and was a forum for the airing and sharing of a wide array of views and approaches to forms of European integration. Often conflicted and divided, members of the British Labour Group, comprising of the elected Labour Party representatives to the European Parliament, viewed the European Economic Community as a key platform and means through which workers’ rights could be supported. And many Labour Party Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), including sceptics, enthusiasts and those whose views changed, played a part in shaping the European Economic Community. This was particularly so with workers’ rights, an area which was central to the Labour Party, the European Parliament and the European Economic Community in the 1980s. The European Parliament was an instrumental institution in terms of building ties across borders and shaping and changing perspectives on key policy areas.

Why do people like technocrats?

AbstractMany voters support the inclusion of technocrats in government. Yet we know very little about why technocrats are considered more appealing than traditional party representatives. In particular, it is unclear which advantages and disadvantages voters attach to the defining traits of technocratic ministers: party independence and expertise. We engage with this question drawing on a pre‐registered survey experiment in Austria. We examine how manipulating ministers' party affiliation and expertise affects voters' perceptions of their issue competence and bargaining competence. Findings indicate that voters ascribe lower levels of issue competence to partisan ministers than to non‐partisan ministers, notwithstanding their actual expertise, and that ministers' partisanship shrinks the positive effect of expertise on perceived issue competence. However, this ‘partisanship penalty’ disappears for supporters of the minister's party. Moreover, voters perceive partisanship as an advantageous trait with regard to a minister's bargaining competence. While voters like technocrats for their expertise and independence from party politics, our findings reveal nuanced perceptions, with voters still recognizing distinct advantages in being represented by party politicians.

The media coverage of the European Union and the extreme right. A comparative study between Spain, France, and Italy

The parliamentary representation of far-right political parties is growing in several European Union countries, particularly after the Great Recession. This has increased the media attention they receive. These parties share eurosceptic positions or question the idea of European integration, but does their rise alter public discussion on the European Union? Using a quantitative content analysis (N=974) conducted in 6 media outlets: El País and El Mundo (Spain), Le Monde and Le Figaro (France), and Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica (Italy), the research describes and compares media coverage on issues related to the European Union before and after the Great Recession and how the rise of the far-right has affected the European public sphere. The results indicate that public discussion about the European Union is in decline and that national and top-down Europeanisation approaches are on the rise, coinciding with increased coverage of the far-right.

Персуазивная роль этнонимов в испанском электоральном дискурсе

The article examines the persuasive impact of ethnonyms and ethnic categories on the voters in Spanish electoral discourse. In the modern world, the mechanisms of political communication are generating a growing interest. It is explained by the influence of political processes on all spheres of society, the fate of peoples and entire states, and the interests of every citizen. Therefore, political problems remain relevant at all times. The important role of electoral discourse, which has a pronounced persuasive effect on the voters, should be highlighted. When struggling for power, leaders and representatives of Spanish political parties, naturally, strive to establish trust, exert a certain emotional impact on potential voters and induce them to make the “correct” electoral decision, i.e. to vote for their party. It should be noted that persuasiveness has not only an argumentative, but also a manipulative component, forcing an addressee to act in the interests of the sender of the message. One of the persuasive speech mechanisms of Spanish electoral discourse is the use of ethnonyms in the election programmes of political parties. Ethnonyms contain valuable historical, ethnographic, cultural and linguistic information and, accordingly, cover the religious, cultural and historical spheres, as well as play an important role in intercultural communication. Ethnic identity includes the desire of peoples to preserve their identity, the uniqueness of their culture, language and worldview. Ethnonyms allow native speakers to identify their own traits and stereotypes. The essence of cultural, spiritual and political life is revealed through language. Thus, the study of ethnonyms and ethnic categories, as well as their functions in political discourse, is an urgent task of modern linguistics.

A learning-based granular variable neighborhood search for a multi-period election logistics problem with time-dependent profits

Planning the election campaign for leaders of a political party is a complex problem. The party representatives, running mates, and campaign managers have to design an efficient routing and scheduling plan to visit multiple locations while respecting time and budget constraints. Given the limited time of election campaigns in most countries, every minute should be used effectively, and there is very little room for error. In this paper, we formalize this problem as the multiple Roaming Salesman Problem (mRSP), a new variant of the recently introduced Roaming Salesman Problem (RSP), where a predefined number of political representatives visit a set of cities during a planning horizon to maximize collected rewards, subject to budget and time constraints. Cities can be visited more than once and associated rewards are time-dependent (increasing over time) according to the day of the visit and the recency of previous visits. We develop a compact Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation complemented with effective valid inequalities. Since commercial solvers can obtain optimal solutions only for small-sized instances, we develop a Learning-based Granular Variable Neighborhood Search and demonstrate its capability of providing high-quality solutions in short CPU times on real-world instances. The adaptive nature of our algorithm refers to its ability to dynamically adjust the neighborhood structure based on the progress of the search. Our algorithm generates the best-known results for many instances.

Districting in the 2023 Sejm Elections and the Principle of Equality of Representation — Selected Aspects

Abstract This scientific article examines the system of electoral districting in the 2023 Sejm elections and its impact on the principle of equality of representation. The main objectives of the study are to analyse the relationship between the principle of equality of representation and electoral districting in Sejm elections, evaluate the compliance of current constituency boundaries with this principle, and assess the potential consequences of any changes in districting in the 2023 Sejm elections in terms of electoral representation. The research questions guiding this study are as follows: (1) How should constituencies be determined for the 2023 Sejm elections and what legal criteria should be applied in electoral districting? (2) Does the current districting system align with the principle of equality of representation? (3) Are there disparities in the size or demographics of constituencies that could result in unequal representation in the Sejm? (4) What are the potential implications of the current districting system for the representation of different political parties? (5) How do alternative scenarios of districting affect the principle of equality of representation in the context of the 2023 Sejm elections? The research employs an institutional-legal analysis, along with statistical data analysis and simulations, to model alternative districting scenario and evaluate their effects on the principle of equality of representation. The findings of this study contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the implications of districting on the principle of equality of representation in the 2023 Sejm elections. The research emphasises the significance of fair districting for ensuring equal representation and provides valuable recommendations for policymakers.

Adverse Contagion? Populist Radical Right Parties and Norms on Gender Balance in Political Institutions

How do male-dominated populist radical right (PRR) parties relate to and influence norms around women’s political inclusion and leadership in mainstream political parties? While research has focused on describing the male dominance of PRR parties or its influence on mainstream political parties’ policies, particularly immigration, we know less about how PRR parties relate to norms on women’s inclusion or gender-balanced representation in mainstream parties. In a theory-building effort, we posit that PRR parties may seek to (a) adapt to mainstream parties’ norms and include more women in leading positions (positive contagion) or (b) negatively affect or even challenge norms around women’s inclusion in mainstream parties (adverse contagion). Seeking to theorize this relationship further, we explore leadership selection in the Swedish Parliament, where gender balance constitutes a strong norm. Yet, following the 2022 elections, the proportion of women parliamentary leaders dipped below 30% for the first time in decades. At the same time, the Sweden Democrats, a male-dominated PRR party, emerged as the second-largest party in Parliament. Drawing on interviews with nomination committees, party documents, and data on leadership, we empirically investigate continuity and change in committee leadership appointments in the Swedish Parliament and the role of the radical right in this process. We do not find signs of adverse contagion in the short run: as of 2023, norms promoting gender balance appear to remain robust and enjoy widespread support among mainstream parties. Yet, neither do we find signs of positive contagion where the radical right adapts to mainstream norms around gender balance.

Efficiency of Digital Communication Technologies for Integrating the LPR and DPR Residents into the Sociocultural Expanse of Russia

This paper evaluates the use of digital communications and discusses the integration of residents from the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR, DPR) into modern Russia’s sociocultural expanse. The study uses cyber-metric analysis, as well as the method of constructing and analyzing social graphs. The research concludes that strategies for using digital communications in new regions are heterogeneous. Also, the authors highlight two issues. First, there is a low representation of political parties, public associations, and projects in the regional digital communications system. Second, the digital infrastructure of new regions is currently being set up.

“Gender wars” and populist politics in South Korea

The 2022 South Korean presidential election campaign saw populist politicians, especially conservative parties, leverage gender conflicts and misogyny to attract young male swing voters. But there has been limited scholarly attention to the connection between gender and populist politics, particularly in South Korea, with research primarily focused on women's voting patterns, their political party representation, and on populist politics in the US, Europe, and Latin America. Existing research identifies that common strategies employed by populist politicians include anti-feminist discourses, reference to crises in masculinity, and appeals to emotion and affect. This paper examines how South Korean populist politics has utilized gender conflicts since democratization, considering the evolution of ‘gender wars’ in the South Korean context. It specifically delves into the strategies employed by conservative populist politicians from the People Power Party (PPP) during the 2022 election campaigns. These strategies, although similar to those of right-wing populists in Europe and the US, emphasized three key issues unique to South Korea: compulsory military service, low fertility rates, and the dismantling of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. This South Korean case contributes significantly to academic discussions about populist politics and gender, contextualized within the local political, social, and cultural context.

PROSPECTS FOR USING BIG DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS IN THE METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY

The work presents the Big Data technology bases. Thanks to Big Data Analytics, you can quickly and efficiently interpret various information, find patterns and make forecasts. Today, Big Data helps solve various problems in many areas, including: retail, medicine, finance, industry, energy, tourism, ecology, entertainment. Thanks to the processing and analysis of a large array of data, representatives of government, business, science, developers and other interested parties improve the quality of goods and services and develop business. Big Data technologies make it possible to efficiently and quickly benefit from this array of information. With their help, government agencies and business representatives optimize various processes, and end consumers receive better services. The prospects for using systems for processing extensive data in the metallurgical industry are considered.

Out-Of-State Donors and Legislative Surrogacy in the U.S. Senate

Studies show that the extraordinary growth in campaign expenditures is fueled by a small, elite subset of the donor population that gives generously to candidates across the country. It is often assumed that the wealthy influence policy outcomes through such gifts to politicians; however, the representational benefits of giving to politicians out-of-state are unclear. What do donors gain legislatively when they give to legislators living out-of-state? I study the campaign financing of US senators over three decades (1989–2018) and find that senators receive the most money from out-of-state donors when they face reelection and risk losing. In this context, donors invest in the collective benefits of party representation when they give money to out-of-state senators. However, when giving to senators “off cycle,” out-of-state donors behave as “consumers” who reward senators for the positions they have taken. Each bill sponsored by a senator when they are not up for reelection leads to a corresponding increase of about 1% in receipts from out-of-state donors. These results offer a more complete view of the legislative surrogacy that the wealthy receive when they give to politicians out-of-state and suggest possible links between campaign contributions and public policy outcomes.

Українсько- польські взаємини у завершальний період Української національної революції 1917-1921 рр. у візії Андрія Лівицького

The purpose of the research is to shed light on the Ukrainian-Polish relations during the Ukrainian National Revolution of 1919-1920 in the vision of Andrii Livytskyi. The research methodology is based on general scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, and systematicity, which, when applying a concrete-historical approach, allows to significantly deepen the knowledge about the foreign policy and diplomacy of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, in particular, regarding the regulation of relations with the restored Polish state. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that, based on the work of domestic historians, the published documents, and the involvement of new archival sources, an attempt was made to comprehensively investigate the process of implementing the state course of the Ukrainian authorities on the settlement of relations with the Second Polish Republic. Conclusions. The Ukrainian People’s Republic authorities were clearly aware of the need to establish relations with Poland, without which it would not be possible to win Ukrainian statehood. Therefore, one of the directions of the foreign policy of the power structures was the building of relations with the restored Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the origins of this process stood Chief Ataman S. Petliura, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People’s Ministers and head of the diplomatic mission of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in Poland A. Livytskyi, Chief Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Ukrainian People’s Republic I. Ohienko, as well as authoritative public figures and representatives of various Ukrainian political parties. Despite all the difficulties of a military, political, and socio-economic nature, the state leadership tried to comply with the established terms of the agreement to the extent of their limited capabilities. A. Livytskyi’s visions give us the opportunity to reveal the content of the negotiations with the Polish state in 1919-1920 and to trace Ukrainian-Polish relations during the period of the Ukrainian National Revolution of 1917-1921. In many of his letters, A. Livytskyi emphasized that on the political horizon of Europe, large and important events in which Ukrainians should take an active part and as a result of which major changes should take place in Ukraine. These visions of Livytskyi help us to better understand his views on Ukrainian-Polish relations and the role of Ukraine in the international arena during the revolution of 1917-1921.