Sylvia Kritzinger

How has Radical Right Support Transformed Established Political Conflicts? The Case of Austria

In many European party systems, the radical right has challenged established patterns of political competition. This article studies the consequences of this by using the case of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and data from Austria’s first national election study (AUTNES). It is found that the FPÖ has weakened Austria’s previously highly stable system of socio-structural and ideological divisions as expressed by the two mainstream parties, the People’s Party and the Social Democrats. In socio-structural terms, the FPÖ has undermined the Social Democrats’ support base. In ideological terms, FPÖ voters have distinct views on newer issues such as immigration, European integration and dissatisfaction with the political system, but its supporters’ views on Austria’s traditional conflicts surrounding the economy and social and religious values cannot explain the party’s success. These findings further our understanding of the transformation of political conflicts not just in Austria, but in Western Europe in general.

Knowing More from Less: How the Information Environment Increases Knowledge of Party Positions

Access to information is a hallmark of democracy, and democracy demands an informed citizenry. Knowledge of party positions is necessary for voters so that electoral choices reflect preferences, allowing voters to hold elected officials accountable for policy performance. Whereas most vote choice models assume that parties perfectly transmit positions, citizens in fact obtain political information via the news media, and this news coverage can be biased in terms of salience – which leads to asymmetric information. This study examines how information asymmetries in news coverage of parties influence knowledge about political party positions. It finds that the availability of information in the news media about a party increases knowledge about its position, and that party information in non-quality news reduces the knowledge gap more than information in quality news.

Retrospective voting and party support at elections: credit and blame for government and opposition

ABSTRACT Retrospective voting is arguably one of the most important mechanisms of representative democracy, and whether or not the public holds the government accountable for its policy performance has been extensively studied. In this paper, we test whether retrospective voting extends to parties in the opposition, that is whether and how parties’ past performance evaluations affect their vote, regardless of whether they were in government or in opposition. Taking advantage of a rich set of questions embedded in a representative German national elections panel, we update our knowledge on the retrospective voting mechanism by modeling retrospective voting at the party level. The findings indicate that the incumbent status is not the only criterion for retrospective voting, ultimately suggesting that both government and opposition parties can expect credit and blame for their conduct and this should provide some impetus for responsive performance of all parties.

Intra-Campaign Changes in Voting Preferences: The Impact of Media and Party Communication

An increasing number of citizens change and adapt their party preferences during the electoral campaign. We analyze which short-term factors explain intra-campaign changes in voting preferences, focusing on the visibility and tone of news media reporting and party canvassing. Our analyses rely on an integrative data approach, linking data from media content analysis to public opinion data. This enables us to investigate the relative impact of news media reporting as well as party communication. Inherently, we overcome previously identified methodological problems in the study of communication effects on voting behavior. Our findings reveal that campaigns matter: Especially interpersonal party canvassing increases voters’ likelihood to change their voting preferences in favor of the respective party, whereas media effects are limited to quality news outlets and depend on individual voters’ party ambivalence.

This time it’s different? Effects of the Eurovision Debate on young citizens and its consequence for EU democracy – evidence from a quasi-experiment in 24 countries

ABSTRACT For the very first time in EU history, the 2014 EP elections provided citizens with the opportunity to influence the nomination of the Commission President by casting a vote for the main Europarties’ ‘lead candidates’. By subjecting the position of the Commission President to an open political contest, many experts have formulated the expectation that heightened political competition would strengthen the weak electoral connection between EU citizens and EU legislators, which some consider a root cause for the EU’s lack of public support. In particular, this contest was on display in the so-called ‘Eurovision Debate’, a televised debate between the main contenders for the Commission President broadcasted live across Europe. Drawing on a quasi-experimental study conducted in 24 EU countries, we find that debate exposure led to increased cognitive and political involvement and EU support among young citizens. Unfortunately, the debate has only reached a very small audience.

Governance Modes and Interests: Higher Education and Innovation Policy in Austria

Governance has become one of the central concepts in political science, but what is absent is the question: Which modes of governance produce which policy output? This paper develops a classification scheme for modes of governance in all dimensions of public policy and then applies it empirically in four Austrian case studies concerning higher education and innovation. We extend the scholarly discussion on governance to the factor interests and argue that this analytical factor needs to be taken into account in future research in order to understand the modes of governance in policy processes.

Methodologische Triangulation in der europäischen Policy-Forschung

Im Mittelpunkt der Policy-Forschung steht die Analyse des Zustandekommens politischer Inhalte — insbesondere im Rahmen des Policy-Zyklus von Politikformulierung, - implementation,-beendigung und -wirkung. Die Generierung empirischer Daten ist dabei ein zentraler Bestandteil des Policy-Forschungsprozesses.

Wählen mit 16 – Chance oder Risiko?

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Erfahrung in Osterreich, dem einzigen Land der EU, in welchem das Wahlen mit 16 seit dem Jahr 2007 bei allen Wahlen erlaubt ist. Die empirischen Ergebnisse von 2013 zeigen, dass die Einbettungen der ErstwahlerInnen in das Elternhaus und in den schulischen Kontext gute Moglichkeiten darstellen, um junge Menschen auf ihre erste Wahl vorzubereiten. Unterschiede zwischen sozialen Gruppen lassen darauf schliesen, dass zur Erreichung bestimmter Gruppen (Lehrlinge und junge Frauen) besondere Anstrengungen unternommen werden mussen. Grundsatzlich uberwiegen die positiven Erfahrungen des Wahlens mit 16. Die zukunftigen Wahlen in Osterreich werden zeigen, ob dabei auch langfristige Auswirkungen (z. B. Erhohung der Wahlteilnahme durch fruhzeitige Entwicklung eines Wahlhabitus) zutage treten werden.

News media’s position-taking regarding the European Union: the synchronization of mass media’s reporting and commentating in the 2014 European Parliament elections

ABSTRACT We analyse whether a newspaper’s editorial position regarding the European Union is related to its selection decisions in the news section. We ask whether such a synchronization between news and editorials exists, whether it is conditioned by the type of media system and under which conditions it also affects the selection of transnational voices. Our study is based on a quantitative content analysis of the quality press in seven European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom) in the run-up to the 2014 European Parliament elections. Our results support a synchronization between editorials and news, specifically with regard to the selection of national speakers. With regard to transnational speakers, they are selectively chosen by a medium if its editorial position is not supported at the national level. Furthermore, they are used to put forward a portrayal of a political community in accordance with the editorial line.

Viel hilft viel: Medieneffekte auf die Einschätzbarkeit von Parteipositionen zur Europäischen Integration

In unserem Beitrag untersuchen wir, inwieweit die in den Medien vorhandenen Informationen uber eine Partei die Effekte der Charakteristika der Individuen auf Einschatzungen von Parteipositionen beeinflussen. Konkret prufen wir, inwiefern Zeitungs- und Fernsehberichte uber europaische Themen Individuen unter Berucksichtigung ihrer Charakteristika helfen, Einschatzungen uber die Positionen der Parteien zur Europaischen Integration zu entwickeln. Die Datengrundlage der komparativen Analyse bildet dabei die Europaische Wahlstudie 2009 (PIREDEU). Medieninformationen spielen tatsachlich eine wichtige Rolle. Sie tragen dazu bei, eine der Grundbedingungen der reprasentativen Demokratie herzustellen, namlich die Kenntnis uber Parteipositionen, um in der Folge sinnvolle Wahlentscheidungen zu ermoglichen.