Search

Populist parties are often argued to be very skilled in using digital media to attract supporters and strengthen linkages with their followers. However, only rarely has research shown this linkage empirically. This study explores whether arguments about the relation between digital platforms and populist voting can be substantiated using comparative survey data in France, Germany and Italy. Digital media include a variety of online platforms that can affect populist vote in different ways. This article addresses the relation between the political use of digital platforms and the populist vote. First, it looks at how the use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) and Mobile Instant Messaging Services (MIMS) is related to voting for populist parties. Second, it assesses whether the role of digital platforms is different for supporting digital 'immigrant' and digital 'native' populist parties. Third, it explores country differences in the relation between SNS and MIMS' use and the populist vote. Using original online surveys, the article shows that political activities on SNS and MIMS platforms (sending messages or posting, discussing or convincing others to vote for a candidate) increase the probability of voting for populist parties. However, it also finds that the political use of digital media is associated with the populist vote under certain (and limited) circumstances, that is only for a subset of populist parties. Finally, it identifies important differences in how SNS and MIMS are linked to the populist vote in countries presenting diverse institutional features, web regulations and constellations of media systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores changes in the relationship between attitudinal and participatory dimensions of politics, and age in Southern European countries. We look at how attitudes towards the political system and institutions combine with engagement in politics to define the ways in which citizens relate to the political sphere and the impact of the economic crisis on this relationship, in particular among the young. Using all available rounds of the European Social Survey for Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain between 2002 and 2019, this article develops a typology of citizens and analyses heterogeneities based on age, time and countries to find whether the relationship between citizens and politics has changed over time among the four states, in particular among young citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the link between time effects and dealignment in Southern European countries, which allows us to assess the relative importance of short- and long-term factors on the political instability of the region during the Eurocrisis. First, we analyse life cycle, cohort and period effects on partisan identities across countries. Second, we investigate to what extent time-related factors have been responsible for the erosion of the vote in mainstream parties, especially during the crisis period, thus isolating the impact of time on general patterns of party system change. Our results show that electoral and partisan dealignment is fostered in particular by period effects, whereas age and cohort differences play a more limited role. In addition, there are also important differences across countries in terms of both evolution and intensity of time effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the relationship between democratic satisfaction and micro and macroeconomic factors in Africa. Studies have shown that economic factors represent a cornerstone of the democratic process. However, research has rarely accounted for the effect of economic freedom on satisfaction with democracy, and its conditional role on the effect of citizens' economic evaluations, particularly in the context of Africa where democracy is still developing. Using various rounds of the Afrobarometer, the article analyses the link between citizens' evaluations of the economy and economic freedom with their satisfaction with democracy in 32 African countries between 2002 and 2013. First, the findings show that the openness of the economic context and positive economic evaluations are associated with an increase in democratic satisfaction. Second, economic freedom and economic evaluations appear to have a conditional association with democratic satisfaction. In fact, positive economic evaluations are a less important factor for democratic satisfaction in contexts that have a freer economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years ‘movement parties’ such as Syriza in Greece, the Movimento 5 Stelle in Italy, Podemos in Spain and—to a lesser extent—Bloco de Esquerda in Portugal shook national party systems, breaking the consolidated dynamics of political competition. Despite growing interest in movement parties, there has been scant attention to the role of citizens adopting unconventional forms of action and using digital media in accounting for their electoral performance. To fill this gap, four original internet-based post-electoral surveys are employed showing that protesters and digital media users are more likely to vote for these parties, despite important country differences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the course of a three-year research project comparing social media and political participation across the European Union, we collected data on representative samples of internet users from Germany, Italy and the UK. Online users were surveyed just after the May 2014 European elections. The three countries have been selected as they differ not only in terms of institutional features but also in terms of the character of their media systems: ‘liberal’ in the UK, ‘democratic-corporatist’ in Germany and ‘polarized pluralist’ in Italy. Although previous studies have not put into direct relationship media systems with participatory patterns, we hypothesized that different types of media ecologies may generate peculiar incentives for non-institutional participation. Taking such differences into account, our paper sheds light on the linkage between digital media and unconventional participation across the three countries. Our hypothesis is that distinct news diets and different social media platforms may influence non-institutional participation in specific ways that reflect varying contextual characteristics. We assess the role of different news diets on unconventional participation, distinguishing our respondents according to their main sources of information (occasional, traditional univores, digital univores and omnivores). We then consider the association between the use of different social media (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) and non-institutional participation. Finally, we take into account the indirect effect of national contexts by running interaction models. Our findings show that news diets and social media use matter in the three countries, but that substantial differences are hard to find across them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyses the long-term dissatisfaction of citizens with democracy in Italy in light of the economic and institutional transformations that have occurred over the last four decades. Using multilevel analysis, the results challenge previous research showing how poor economic performance in the form of unemployment and inflation has increased dissatisfaction. Most importantly, the article demonstrates that the widespread political dissatisfaction can be connected to fragmentation of the party system. In this regard, the impact of the electoral reforms that have been introduced are assessed. These favoured a recovery of satisfaction between the ‘First’ and the ‘Second’ Republic due to the emergence of bi-polar political competition. However, the effect has been contained by an inability to substantially reduce the number of parties. By drawing on compelling data, this study provides systematic evidence of the macro-foundations of Italian political discontent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Political participation is deemed to be a fundamental component of democratic regimes. The literature on political participation has shown that some social groups of citizens tend to be less involved in politics than other social groups, and the consequence is that the interests of these specific groups of less involved citizens are underrepresented in the political process. Given the increasing popularity of non-violent protest in contemporary democracies, it is important to understand whether political inequalities are present in this form of political engagement. In this article, we argue that non-violent protest may present inequalities, that examining the consequences of public social spending can help in understanding the cross-national differences in the levels of non-violent political protest, and that political inequalities in non-violent protest may vary according to public social spending. We test our argument using sources that include the European Values Study (1980–2009), multilevel models, and contextual data provided by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article starts from the remarks by Peter Mair on the growing gap between responsiveness and responsibility – or middle-run responsiveness – and the declining capacity of parties to bridge that gap. It focuses on the empirical analysis of the association between economic and substantive democratic dimensions and responsiveness, which are highly relevant to the way in which parties compete and govern within contemporary democracies. Following an introduction of the topic, the second section puts forward key concepts and hypotheses; the third presents the operationalisation of the variables and the applied method; the fourth and primary empirical section of the article analyses the non-procedural determinants of political and economic responsiveness, including freedom and equality as well as several key economic structural factors. The concluding remarks recapitulate the main empirical findings and submit a number of aspects that party leaders ought to take into account when addressing the thorny issue of responsiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Authors claim that political protest is ‘normal’ in contemporary democracies, which are, therefore, ‘social movement societies’. This article analyses the Italian case, showing that there has been an expansion and a gradual institutionalisation of political protest, but it also tests whether there has been a ‘normalisation’ of the protester. It is argued that in a ‘social movement society’ protesters are more heterogeneous than in the past. Using survey data spanning over 30 years we find that the association between several individual characteristics and participation in political protest weakens or disappears. However, complete normalisation of the protester has yet to be completed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]