Sofie Marien

Economic Crisis and Levels of Political Participation in Europe (2002–2010): The Role of Resources and Grievances

This article examines the effect of the recent economic crisis on political participation levels in Europe. As the civic voluntarism model and grievances theory predict different effects of economic downturn on political participation, the crisis provides a unique context to evaluate the explanatory power of these two theories. It is found that, when investigating a period of eight years (2002–2010), economic growth is positively associated with non-institutionalised political participation, which is in line with the civic voluntarism model. However, when focusing on the changes in political participation that occurred between 2008 and 2010 it is found that rising unemployment is associated with rising levels of non-institutionalised political participation, suggesting that grievance theory is especially useful in exceptionally negative conditions as suddenly imposed grievances can lead to various forms of protest behaviour. The article argues that these shock experiences can lead to momentary peak periods of mobilisation.

A comparative analysis of ‘good citizenship’: A latent class analysis of adolescents’ citizenship norms in 38 countries

Various authors have claimed that citizenship norms have changed dramatically in contemporary societies. Recent research has studied the implications of Russell Dalton’s argument that duty-based citizenship norms (emphasizing voting and obeying the law) are being replaced by engaged citizenship norms (emphasizing self-expressive and non-institutionalized forms of participation). In this article we use the 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education Survey (n=140,650) to ascertain the cross-national empirical validity of engaged and duty-based norms. By means of latent class analysis, we show that both of these citizenship norms are indeed adhered to by different groups of adolescents. We also show, however, that only half of the research population holds these two norms, while other more traditional norms are also identified. The findings confirm expectations that high-status respondents with low political trust are more likely to adhere to engaged norms, but the country-level findings contradict expectations: engaged norms are less prevalent in highly developed stable democracies, and this casts doubts on the hypothesis that new engaged citizenship norms are predominantly found in stable highly developed democracies.

How second order are local elections? Voting motives and party preferences in Belgian municipal elections

Abstract A defining characteristic of second-order elections is that voters base their decision on considerations that were developed for a different policy level. Therefore, this kind of elections does not contribute to the quality of democratic representation. Municipal elections are often considered as second-order elections. In this article, we use data from an exit poll (n = 4,591) held during the 2012 municipal elections in Belgium. Results suggest that although voters predominantly invoke local aspects as determining their vote choice, still three-quarters votes for the same party locally as for federal elections. Among voters who deviate from their federal party preference, knowing local candidates and concern about local policy issues are the main sources of deviation. The conclusion therefore is that local candidates do make a difference and contribute strongly to the salience of electoral decisions on the local level.

Voting for Women in Belgium's Flexible List System

Proportional electoral systems tend to be more beneficial for womens descriptive representation than majority systems. However, within proportional systems the gender equality of election outcomes differs, highlighting the importance of studying the actual use of electoral provisions in proportional representation (PR) systems. Therefore, we investigate the determinants of voting for female candidates in Belgiums local elections. This case is particularly interesting given the equal number of men and women on the candidate lists due to quota regulations, the possibility to cast multiple preference votes (lowering competition), and the high visibility of these local elections and its candidates. At the individual level, we find that women are more likely than men to vote for several women, yet same-sex voting is more common among men. Politically sophisticated respondents vote more often for candidates of both sexes. Against our expectations, a left-wing orientation does not increase the likelihood of voting for women. At the electoral district level, a larger supply of women at the top list position increases the chance to vote for this top woman, but there is no spillover effect to women lower on the list. District magnitude affects the number of preference votes but, against expectations, not the likelihood of voting for women.

Choice in Public Health Services A Multilevel Analysis of Perceived Primary Care Doctor Choice in 22 Countries

The introduction of choice in public services, and in health services more specifically, is part of a wider movement to introduce consumerism in health care. We analyze how citizens perceive the availability of choice of primary care doctors in 22 European countries and the factors that influence their opinions using multilevel analyses and data from the European Social Survey (Round 2, 2004; 22 countries, N = 33,375). We distinguish between individual factors and structural or country-level factors. We find that perceptions of having enough choice are not influenced by the opportunity to freely choose primary care doctors, the density of doctors in a country, or the level of health expenditure. Instead, these perceptions are influenced by individual attributes, such as personal health circumstances, age, sex, location of residence (rural or urban), and level of satisfaction with the health system.

WHY ONLY SOME LIFESTYLE ACTIVISTS AVOID STATE-ORIENTED POLITICS: A CASE STUDY IN THE BELGIAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT*

Lifestyle politics are often defined as a political strategy used to avoid state-oriented politics. However, recent studies indicate that in some cases, lifestyle activists engage in actions that target the state. This study investigates why some lifestyle activists combine these forms of engagement, while others do not. We explore whether such differences can be explained by variations in activists perceptions of the political opportunity structure. In particular, we consider whether perceptions of input structures and output structures offer relevant predictors for combining lifestyle politics with state-oriented actions. The article presents an in-depth case study of a Belgian environmental lifestyle movement organization, using a mixed methods approach including participant observation, qualitative interviewing, and surveys. The findings reveal that lifestyle activists perceptions of the openness of the system matter, but that beliefs in the states ability to act are more diverse and therefore have...

Gathering Counter-Factual Evidence: An Experimental Study on Voters‟ Responses to Pre-Electoral Coalitions

One of the main advantages of experimental research in the social sciences is that this method allows us to develop counter-factual evidence. While traditional research methods are dependent on real-life circumstances, experimental research in principle allows for a maximum of variance with regard to theoretically relevant variables. Research questions that normally cannot be addressed using traditional techniques can be handled in this manner. An obvious example might be the research of the consequences of pre-electoral coalitions (PECs) between two or more political parties. While this phenomenon is quite widespread (Golder, 2006), empirical research tends to be scarce. Most of the research is focused on coalition formation after the elections, and only few studies investigate coalition formation prior to elections. In particular, empirical research on voters’ reactions to such pre-electoral coalitions is lacking. One of the reasons for this lack of knowledge might be that these reactions are difficult to assess in a valid manner. Ideally, we would have to know how voters would vote if the parties entering the cartel were to run independently from one another. Obviously, this is impossible to realize in real-life conditions and therefore we have to resort to experimental research. In this chapter, we report on experimental research, trying to achieve a better understanding of the factors that determine the success or the failure of pre-electoral cartels.