Vincenzo Memoli

Satisfaction with Democracy and the Winner/Loser Debate: The Role of Policy Preferences and Past Experience

Previous authors have found greater political support among electoral winners than losers, but they define winners and losers at a single time point, and employ a dichotomous categorization that neglects possible variations within each group. This study considers both the past history of winning or losing and the impact of ideological distance from the government on a political support indicator – satisfaction with democracy. Using a multilevel model covering thirty-one countries, the authors show that the relationship between winner/loser status and satisfaction with democracy has a marginal dynamic nature and a policy content. Among present losers, previous experience of victory assuaged dissatisfaction, while among those presenting a consolidated ‘winning’ record, only high ideological proximity to the current government boosted political support.

The Emergence of a New Party in the Italian Party System: Rise and Fortunes of the Five Star Movement

This article examines the fortunes of the recently created Five Star Movement, a party that at its first general election in February 2013 became the most voted for party in Italy. It explains the success of this new party through citizens’ demands, patterns of party competition and institutional rules. Building on the interplay between popular demands and party supply, the study examines the overall political stance of this party and how it fits the policy priorities of citizens. By comparing it with other parties, the article investigates how the Five Star Movement distinguished itself from its competitors. Finally, the article examines how the electoral system has limited its emergence.

How moderates and extremists find happiness: Ideological orientation, citizen–government proximity, and life satisfaction

While the topic of life satisfaction and its determinants has drawn increasing attention among political scientists, most studies have focused mainly on macro-level variables, and often overlooked the role of individuals’ attitudes vis-à-vis their governments. The present article attempts to fill this gap by examining whether citizens’ left–right self-placement and ideological distance from their governments exert an independent effect on life satisfaction. Utilizing a dataset spanning a quarter century and containing nearly 70,000 respondents, we demonstrate a curvilinear relationship between ideological orientations and happiness, with self-identified radicals on both ends of the spectrum happier than moderate citizens. Moreover, we show that while propinquity between self-position and government position contributes to happiness, this effect is highly mediated by individual locations along the left–right spectrum: centrists report higher levels of happiness the closer they are to their government, while the opposite is true for radicals. The normative implication of our findings is that moderate governments may present a comparative advantage in enhancing the overall level of happiness of their citizens.

Unfolding the growing confidence in Latin American unions: a longitudinal analysis

The relevance of unions in labour dynamics has been widely explored. However, little attention has been given to the relationship between society, broadly considered, and unions. Drawing on this perspective, this paper offers a longitudinal analysis (2004-2009) of the social confidence in unions in 17 Latin American (LA) countries. Despite the different union specificities in these countries, we focus on the most important common aspects of these unions, through a historical lens. This analysis allows us to develop some hypotheses about the tenets of the growing level of confidence in unions. We test them through a double-level empirical regression model based on Latin Barometer surveys and national economic indicators. The economic perception and the political and trustful orientations of the citizens play an important role in their confidence orientation towards unions.

Confidence in Brazilian Unions A Longitudinal Analysis

Although unions in Brazil are marginally effective in defining the employer-employee relationship, confidence in unions is high and exhibits a positive trend over time. A logistic regression model based on the Latinobarometer data series (1996–2009) empirically verifies that unions’ state embeddedness really does matter in explaining confidence in unions in Brazil (i.e., confidence in government, especially during the Lula presidency, has a significant positive effect). Moreover, people who have a negative perception of their personal economic situations and are less trustful of others are more inclined to have confidence in unions. Não obstante o efeito bem limitado e marginal dos sindicatos na determinação das relações entre o patrão e o empregado, se mantem alto a confiança nos sindiatos e essa confiança mostra uma tendência positiva no decorrer do tempo. Um modelo de regressão logística baseado no série de dados Latinobarómetro (1996–2009) verifica empiricalmente que a integração dos sindicatos no Estado importa para explicar essa confiança neles, dado que a confiança no governo, sobretudo durante a presidência do Lula, tem tido um efeito positivo. Além disso, as pessoas cuja percepção da sua situação econômica pessoal seja negativa e que tenha menos confiança nos outros inclinam mais para confiar nos sindicatos.

Corruption and satisfaction with democracy: the conditional role of electoral disproportionality and ballot control

Existing literature has analysed the relationship between electoral systems and either corruption or satisfaction with democracy (SWD) focussing on the traditional distinction between majoritarian and proportional systems. This paper, instead, investigates if and how specific aspects of electoral systems moderate the negative effects of corruption perceptions on SWD. We argue that two mechanisms act simultaneously but at different levels. The first mechanism is the relationship between voters and the national government, while the second links single representatives to their constituents. We advance conditional hypotheses that postulate an attenuating effect of disproportionality and a reinforcing impact of personal vote. Empirical results from 35 elections in 33 democracies, using both individual and aggregate-level data, confirm the research hypotheses. More disproportional electoral systems weaken the impact of citizens’ perceived corruption on their democratic satisfaction, while this is strengthened by systems in which the ballot control is mostly in the hand of the voters.

How the Media Make European Citizens More Eurosceptical

In this chapter, we analyse how much media use influences Euroscepticism among citizens. Our analysis covers all EU member states and controls for use of traditional and new media. We show that the media matter for the EU process, as citizens are influenced by their use when they cultivate their attitudes towards the EU. Those who are most exposed to traditional media are also more benevolent to the EU process. On the contrary, the citizens of the net tend to be more pessimistic about the EU process, particularly about its institutions and current political trajectory.

Beyond Euroscepticism. A Multidimensional Perspective

This chapter focuses on the definition of attitudes toward Europe, showing the limits of the concept of Euroscepticism. This concept was recently challenged by theoretical approaches, showing that attitudes toward the EU have multiple dimensions. By providing theoretical arguments and reviewing empirical tests, the authors claim that: (1) people distinguish between diffuse support and specific support; (2) European identity could be considered empirically a different dimension of support for Europe; (3) European citizens distinguish between support (diffuse and specific) for the EU and for the process of European integration. The authors conclude that Easton’s concept of support is a better descriptor for attitudes toward Europe than Euroscepticism, both in theoretical and empirical terms.

Citizens’ Attitudes Towards the EU, Use of the Media

This chapter discusses the relationship between citizens’ attitudes towards the EU and their use of the media in the context of the economic crisis. It presents the methodology adopted in the volume and the first results of some descriptive analyses on citizens’ attitudes and their use of the media.

The Impact of “External” Shocks on Attitudes Toward Europe: The Current Economic Crisis

The recent financial and economic crisis provides a perfect context for testing how the growth of a political issue affects attitudes toward European institutions. Saliency of an issue is positively related to concern toward the same issue. This last concept proves to have a stronger effect on support for Europe. Concern for the economic situation is negatively related to both specific and diffuse support for the EU. The growth of a political problem influences attitudes toward both policy choices (specific support) and the political regime as a whole (diffuse support). Concern also has an effect on votes for Eurosceptic parties, but this is strongly mediated by governmental approval. The analyses show that when moving from an attitudinal sphere to electoral participation, the nature of “second order election” still emerges.