CSES Blog

Party-switching Between Elections is Influenced by Polarization,           not the Number of Parties Yves Dejaeghere and Ruth Dassonneville In 1979 Mogens Pedersen published a seminal paper in which he analyzed the impact of party-system variables on inter-electoral volatility. By means of an analysis of aggregate data from over 100 elections, he concluded that the number of parties increases volatility. Although Pedersen tested his hypothesis with the best data available at the time, they were actually not ideal to do so, as he indicated himself that his hypotheses implied ‘a test on the basis of individual level data’ (Pedersen, …

Postcard from the Field Post-election Survey 2016 in Slovakia: Manifolds Challenges to Voters’ Memory Olga Gyarfasova This is the first of our Postcards from the Field series. CSES collaborators provide an update and commentary on election studies recently in the field. In general, election results are getting more and more unexpected. It is due to growing voters’ volatility, increasing portion of late-deciders, or changes on the political scene (e.g. due to the formation of new parties). High electoral volatility is further catalyzed by social media channels that have proven to be extremely effective in generating quick though often short-lived voter …

The Tough Decision to Remove Political Knowledge from the CSES Module 5 By Elisabeth Gidengil and Elizabeth Zechmeister Political information questions will be absent from the CSES core module for the first time with the 5th installment of the CSES module. The CSES Planning Committee’s Political Knowledge Subcommittee[1] reached this decision despite shared agreement that political knowledge is a venerated workhorse in the field of voter choice. Differences exist among those high and low in political knowledge in numerous domains, such as economic voting behavior and the use of heuristic aids in voting decisions (though exceptions exist). Given the significance of this …

Does Space Matter? Explaining Abstention because of Indifference and Alienation Toni Rodon ICYMI (In Case You Missed It), the following work was presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA). The presentation, “Does Space Matter? Explaining Abstention because of Indifference and Alienation”, was part of a session dedicated to research using Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) data. The session, “Comparative Perspectives on Political Behaviour: Novel insights using the CSES”, was on September 4, 2016. The concept of the ‘centre’ is overwhelmingly present in current political discourse. Labelling a candidate or party as left, right …

Announcing CSES Module 5: Democracy Divided? People, Politicians and the Politics of Populism Post prepared by John Aldrich, David Howell, and Stephen Quinlan The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) project is delighted to announce the launch of its fifth module, designed on the theme of Democracy Divided? People, Politicians and the Politics of Populism.  The CSES Module 5 questionnaire will be included in national post-election surveys around the world during the years 2016 through 2021. CSES Module 5 was discussed, revised, and approved during a Plenary Session of CSES collaborators which was held in August 2016 in Philadelphia, United States, just before …

The 2016 GESIS Klingemann Prize for the Best Scholarship using CSES data was awarded to Kimuli Kasara of Columbia University and Pavithra Suryanarayan of Johns Hopkins University for their paper “When do the rich vote less than the poor and why? Explaining turnout inequality across the world” that was published in the American Journal of Political Science in 2015. The authors received the prize and presented their work during a reception at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in Philadelphia, USA on September 2, 2016.  They kindly contributed the following synopsis of their work.   When do the Rich Vote Less than the Poor and Why? Explaining …

This is the first of our Collaborator Introduction series, where CSES collaborators discuss their research agenda and how they became involved with CSES. Lithuania is Joining the CSES Project Ainė Ramonaitė Lithuania is joining the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) collaborative program of research by integrating the CSES Module 5 in their 2016 post-election survey.  Lithuania has not been represented in the CSES project since Module 1.  Lithuania was invited to join the CSES for Module 5 after a successful collaboration with CSES members in the True European Voter COST Action. The first Lithuanian National Election Study was carried out in 2012 …

Are you attending the 2016 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in Philadelphia during September 1-4?  If so, you may be interested to attend one or more of the below presentations and panels which make use of CSES data. If you are making a presentation which makes use of CSES data and it does not appear here, please let us know via email to: cses@umich.edu THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 Panel: Get it Right the First Time: Preferences for Leader Responsiveness and Reform Thursday September 1st, 8:00 to 9:30am, Marriott, Salon I Presentation: The Impact of Electoral- & Party-systems …

Do citizens value fairness in the electoral competition? Benjamin Ferland Do citizens value fairness in the electoral competition? This is a central question that has interested scholars over the last decade. As we know, proportional electoral (PR) systems favour a more accurate translation of votes into seats while majoritarian systems have the tendency to “waste” the votes of many citizens. Inter alia, therefore, proportional representation electoral systems have the benefit of representing the voice of more citizens in legislatures and in the policy-making process. Scholars have thus assumed that citizens also share and even support this view of inclusiveness in …

CSES: a short history and new challenges Jacques Thomassen   The launch of the new Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) blog is a perfect occasion to reflect upon CSES’ 22 years history and its future challenges. CSES was a joint initiative of the established election studies in a number of European countries, since 1989 joined in ICORE, and the American National Election Studies. It was kicked off in a memorable conference in Berlin in 1994. The pièce de résistance at this meeting was a stimulus paper written by representatives from the established election studies in Western Europe and the …

Welcome to the new blog of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) project! Through the blog, we are excited to provide a different glimpse into the work of the CSES project and its many associated scholars and broad user community. Through the blog you’ll be able to discover research that uses CSES data, learn about our election study collaborators that are located around the world,  get updates on data collection from the field, read about and discuss national elections, and receive updates about CSES and the world of comparative academic social science research more generally. We hope you enjoy the blog! …