Bart Maddens

Politicians in the News: Media or Party Logic? Media Attention and Electoral Success in the Belgian Election Campaign of 2003

This study departs from the finding that media attention contributed to the electoral success of candidates in the Belgian election campaign of 2003. While the authors do find an impact of media attention on the number of preferential votes for each candidate, in this study they take a closer look at the elements that determine this media attention. Do the media autonomously decide which candidate gets more attention than others or do they follow the hierarchy determined by the parties? In other words: is the medias interest in a politician a consequence of a media logic or of a party logic? As the studys multivariate analysis clearly indicates, both logics are relevant, with the party logic outweighing the media logic. However, the question remains to what extent the parties have already incorporated a media logic in the selection of their political personnel.

How Statewide Parties Cope with the Regionalist Issue: The Case of Spain; A Directional Approach

In Chapter 8, Pieter van Houten considers a ‘principal-agent’ framework to assess the relationship between the statewide party and its regional branches, with regard to electoral campaigning, candidate selection and policy-making. Van Houten’s framework demonstrates how statewide parties vary their territorial strategies in terms of how they organize themselves, campaign and make policy. In this chapter, we will discuss the strategic positioning of statewide parties by focusing exclusively on their campaign content. To this end we have analysed electoral programmes (‘party manifestos’) for statewide and regional elections in Spain, held between 2000 and 2003. Spain is an ideal case study since the regional assemblies are elected in separate elections and regional party systems have developed which often contain one or more relevant regionalist parties (Pallares et al., 1997).

Career Patterns in Multilevel States: An Analysis of the Belgian Regions

Vanlangenakker I., Maddens B. and Put G.-J. Career patterns in multilevel states: an analysis of the Belgian regions, Regional Studies. An analysis of transfers of members of parliament (MPs) between national and regional parliaments in Belgium confirms that career patterns in multilevel political systems do not conform to a rigid hierarchical model. These patterns are instead highly diverse and fit the integrated model best. The regional parliament exerts the stronger magnetic pull on the politicians. The hypothesis that the transfers to the regional parliament would increase with regional competences was partially confirmed. Furthermore, transfers to regional parliaments are not higher in regions with a strong regionalist current. A comparison with Scotland (UK) and Catalonia (Spain) suggests that the development of a separate career circuit depends mostly on institutional factors. Vanlangenakker I., Maddens B. and Put G.-J. 多层级国家中的职涯模式：比利时的区域分析，区域研究。在比利时的国家与区域层级议会之间调任的议会成员分析，确认了多层级政治系统中的职涯模式并不依循僵固的阶层性模型。反之，这些模式高度分歧，并且最符合整合性的模型。区域议会对政治家发挥较强的磁吸效应。转任区域议会的情形随着区域竞争力而增加的假说部分被证实。此外，转任区域议会的情形在区域主义盛行的区域中并不会更高。苏格兰和加泰隆尼亚（西班牙）的比较研究指出，分离的职业回路发展主要取决于制度因素。 职涯模式u2003议会成员（MPs）u2003级别跳跃u2003议会 Vanlangenakker I., Maddens B. et Put G.-J. Les profils de carrière dans les états à plusieurs niveaux: une analyse des régions belges, Regional Studies. Une analyse des transferts des députés entre le parlement national et les parlements régionaux en Belgique confirme que les profils de carrière dans les sytèmes politiques à plusieurs niveaux ne correspondent pas à un seul modèle hiérarchique. En revanche, ces profils sont extrêmement variés et correspondent le mieux au modèle intégré. Le parlement régional peut déclencher une attraction magnétique plus forte sur les hommes politiques. Lhypothèse selon laquelle les transferts aux parlements régionaux augmentent au fur et à mesure des compétences regionales est partiellement confirmée. Qui plus est, les transferts aux parlements régionaux ne sont pas plus importants dans les régions dont la tendance au régionalisme est plus forte. Un comparaison avec lÉcosse et la Catalonie (en Espagne) laisse supposer que le développement dun parcours professionnel séparé dépend dans une large mesure des facteurs institutionnels. Profils de carrièreu2003Députésu2003Changement de niveauu2003Parlement Vanlangenakker I., Maddens B. und Put G.-J. Karrieremuster in Mehrebenenstaaten: eine Analyse der belgischen Regionen, Regional Studies. Durch eine Analyse der Versetzungen von Abgeordneten zwischen nationalen und regionalen Parlamenten in Belgien bestätigt sich die Annahme, dass die Karrieremuster in politischen Mehrebenensystemen keinem starren hierarchischen Modell folgen. Stattdessen fallen diese Muster hochgradig unterschiedlich aus und passen am besten zum integrierten Modell. Das regionale Parlament übt auf die Politiker die stärkere magnetische Anziehungskraft aus. Die Hypothese, dass die Anzahl der Versetzungen in Regionalparlamente bei wachsenden regionalen Kompetenzen zunimmt, wurde teilweise bestätigt. Darüber hinaus fallen die Versetzungen in die Regionalparlamente von Regionen mit starker regionalistischer Strömung nicht zahlreicher aus. Aus einem Vergleich mit Schottland und Katalonien (Spanien) geht hervor, dass die Entwicklung eines separaten Karrierewegs vor allem von institutionellen Faktoren abhängt. Karrieremusteru2003Parlamentsmitgliederu2003Ebenenwechselu2003Parlament Vanlangenakker I., Maddens B. y Put G.-J. Modelos de carreras profesionales en estados con varios niveles: un análisis en las regiones belgas, Regional Studies. Mediante un análisis de las transferencias de miembros del parlamento entre parlamentos nacionales y regionales en Bélgica se confirma que los modelos de carreras profesionales en sistemas políticos de varios niveles no siguen una estructura jerárquica rígida. Más bien estos modelos son muy diversos y encajan mejor con la estructura integrada. El parlamento regional ejerce una mayor atracción magnética en los políticos. Se confirmó parcialmente la hipótesis de que las transferencias al parlamento regional aumentan con las competencias regionales. Además, no hay más transferencias a parlamentos regionales en regiones con una fuerte corriente regionalista. Comparando con los casos de Escocia y Cataluña observamos que el desarrollo de una carrera profesional por separado depende en gran medida de factores institucionales. Modelos profesionalesu2003Miembros del parlamentou2003Salto de nivelu2003Parlamento

Party competition in regional elections The strategies of state-wide parties in Spain and the United Kingdom

This article focuses on the electoral strategies of state-wide parties (SWPs) with regard to centre–periphery issues in regional elections. It applies Meguid’s Position–Salience–Ownership (PSO) theory to regional electoral competition in Spain and the United Kingdom. We anticipate that SWPs will seek to vary their strategies, especially in regional elections where they face fierce competition from regionalist parties. We also expect their strategies to be influenced by the SWPs strategy in state-wide elections. The analysis reveals that the key assumptions of the PSO stack up quite well when applied to regional elections. It also reveals the influence of the multi-layered institutional context in which SWPs compete: at the regional level, said parties do not necessarily adopt the most logical strategy according to the PSO theory if this runs counter to the prevailing SWP strategy at the state-wide level.

Pushed Toward the Exit? How Female MPs Leave Parliament

Worldwide, politicians devote increasing attention to the sociodemographic representativeness of political institutions. The underrepresentation of specific groups (and of women in particular) in political institutions is a democratic problem (Phillips 1995). To counter the lack of representativeness of political institutions, measures have been adopted to increase the influx of female politicians in parliaments and governments. Among others, quota regulations have been implemented in several countries in recent years (Dahlerup 2007; Krook 2007).