Essay 1: (with Henrik Jordahl and Panu Poutvaara) We present and test a theory of prospective and retrospective pocketbook voting. Focusing on two large reforms in Sweden, we establish a causal chain from policies to sizeable individual gains and losses and then to voting. The Social Democrats proposed budget cuts affecting parents with young children before the 1994 election, but made generous promises to the same group before the 1998 election. Since parents with older children were largely unaffected we use a difference-in-differences strategy for identification. We find clear evidence of prospective pocketbook voting. Voters respond to campaign promises but not to the later implementation of the reforms. / Essay 2: This essay presents a detailed analysis of voters' response to municipality and regional level unemployment and economic growth, in Swedish general elections from 1985 to 2002, using data on 284 municipalities and 9 regions. The preferred specification suggests that an increase in regional growth or a reduction in regional unemployment by one percentage point is associated with an increase in the support for the national government by about 0.6 and 1.0 percentage points. Changes in unemployment and growth at the municipality level seem to have muchsmaller effects on government support. / Essay 3: One prediction from cognitive dissonance theory is that the act of voting makes people more positive toward the party or candidate they have voted for. Following Mullainathan and Washington (2008), I test this prediction by using exogenous variation in turnout provided by the voting age restriction. I improve on previous studies by investigating political attitudes, measured just before elections, when they are highly predictive of voting. In contrast to earlier studies I find no effect of voting on political attitudes. This result holds for a variety of political attitudes and data from both Sweden and the United States. / Essay4: (with Niclas Berggren and Henrik Jordahl) We conduct an extensive robustness analysis of the relationship between trust and growth by investigating a later time period and a bigger sample than in previous studies. In addition to robustness tests that focus on model uncertainty, we systematize the investigation of outlier influence on the results by using the robust estimation technique Least Trimmed Squares. We find that when outliers (especially China) are removed, the trust-growth relationship is no longer robust. On average, the trust coefficient is half as large as in previous findings.

A democratic workplace is one where workers as a body have the right to determine the internal organization and future direction of the firm. Worker co-operatives are a type of democratic firm. In a worker co-operative employees are joint-owners of the firm and participate democratically in workplace governance. Much has been written about the supposed benefits of worker co-operatives for workers and for society. One thread of this research, originating with Carole Pateman’s theoretical work (Pateman 1970), argues that worker co-operatives act as sites of political learning for workers. By participating democratically in workplace decisions, individuals are thought to learn the skills and psychological dispositions needed to participate in political democracy. A second thread argues that co-operatives will improve worker well-being. Democratic governance will give workers control over work organization, increasing autonomy in their daily lives, and leading to an increase in non-material work rewards such as job satisfaction. Worker ownership will equalize the material rewards from work and improve job security. These arguments are premised on the idea that democratic governance structures and worker ownership will lead to widespread, effective worker participation in decision-making and the equalization of power at work. However, insufficient attention is given to the contextual factors beyond formal governance and ownership structures that shape the internal dynamics of workplace democracy. I conduct an in-depth, mixed-methods case study of a worker co-operative with 158 employees in the UK cycling retail industry. Using survey research, social network analysis, in-depth interviews and direct observation, I show how individual differences, firm-level contextual factors such as the social composition of the organization, and macro-level factors such as economic and cultural context, lead to unequal participation opportunities and different outcomes for different groups of workers within the firm. My research leads to three conclusions. First, the outcomes of workplace democracy for workers are highly context-dependent. They will differ across groups of workers within co-operatives, across different democratic firms, and across cultures. Second, the relationship between workplace democracy and political participation is more complex than the Pateman thesis suggests. It is contingent on the political identities of workers, which are themselves shaped by wider political economic context. Political identity affects both participation behaviour at work, and how workplace experience shapes political views. Third, the subjective well-being outcomes of workplace democracy depend on workers’ expectations about work. Expectations are shaped by the same forces that mould political identity. Workplace democracy raises expectations for certain groups of workers, leading to well-being harms when expectations are not met. Overall, the benefits of workplace democracy for workers and for society are overstated. In the UK context, co-ops are unlikely to realize the benefits attributed to them without large-scale public policy interventions.

Cette thèse interroge les dynamiques de construction du rapport à la politique (intérêt, critique, indifférence, engagement etc.) des descendants d’immigrés nés en France – ou y ayant grandi – et résidant dans un quartier d'habitat social dans lequel est mise en oeuvre la politique de la ville. L'originalité de ce travail vient du fait que différents rapports à la politique sont étudiés et que les familles rencontrées sont originaires de différents pays (Sénégal, Algérie, Maroc, Vietnam, Laos, Comores etc.). L'analyse développée à partir d’entretiens biographiques souligne l’influence des différents parcours migratoires des parents et des expériences communes des enfants sur la construction de leurs attitudes politiques ; elle questionne leur éventuelle spécificité. Elle accorde une attention particulière à la mémoire familiale et aux dynamiques des transmissions intergénérationnelles, aux trajectoires socioprofessionnelles des descendants d’immigrés et de leurs parents ainsi qu’au contexte local de vie. / This PhD questions the dynamics of political attitudes (interest, criticism, indifference, involvement etc.) of French youths from non-European immigrant background born or raised in France in deprived areas where a specific policy is implemented. The originality of this study is that it includes different attitudes towards politics and different countries of origin. The interlocutors interviewed are from Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Vietnam, Laos, Comoros etc. The analysis developed from biographical interviews underlines the influence of the different migration paths of the parents, and the common experiences of their children on the construction of their political attitudes; it questions their possible specificity. This analysis pays particular attention to the family memory and the dynamics of intergenerational transmission, to the socio-professional trajectories of immigrants’ descendants and those of their parents as well as their local context of residence.

Cette thèse par article tente de comprendre comment la musique, ce loisir présent dans la vie de tous les jours, peut influencer les attitudes politiques des individus. Cette question est examinée à travers quatre articles analysant les données recueillies d’une expérience, d’une enquête en ligne, d’une base de données et d’entretiens. Le premier article observe lors d’une expérience que l’utilisation de la musique dans les publicités politiques augmente positivement l’évaluation des politiciens présents dans ces publicités. Sur le court terme, la musique aurait une influence sur les attitudes politiques dans ce contexte précis. Le deuxième article suggère à travers un sondage en ligne administré auprès d’un échantillon québécois qu’un lien existe entre préférences musicales et attitudes politiques lorsque les préférences musicales portent sur des genres de musique politisés (rock, hip-hop, métal, folk). Le troisième article examine à l’aide d’entretiens réalisés avec des fans de métal, le lien entre l’identification à une sous-culture musicale et les attitudes politiques. Les résultats suggèrent qu’une identification forte à une sous-culture musicale politisée peut être associée aux attitudes politiques. Le dernier article s’intéresse aux choix des morceaux utilisés par les partis démocrates et républicains lors des conventions nationales. Les analyses révèlent que les démocrates diffusent plus de funk et d’artistes féminins ou issus de la diversité ethnique que les républicains, qui eux diffusent surtout de la musique country et des artistes d’origine caucasienne. / The purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to explore and understand how music, a hobby present in everyday life, can influence the political attitudes of individuals. This question is studied through four articles which analyze data gathered from an experiment, an online survey, a database and interviews. The first article observes during an experiment that music in political ads increases positively the evaluation of politicians in these ads. In the short term, music would have an influence on political attitudes in this specific context. The second article suggests through an online survey that a faint link exists between political attitudes and musical preferences when the musical preferences relate to politicized genres of music (rock, hip-hop, metal, folk). The third article explores, through interviews with metal fans, the link between self-identification to a musical subculture and political attitudes. The analysis reveals that the self-identification of an individual to a musical genre characterized by strong political elements and a specific subculture may be associated with political attitudes. The last article examines the choice of songs used by the Democratic and Republican parties at national conventions. The analysis reveals that Democrats broadcast more funk and ethnically diverse artists than Republicans, who mostly broadcast country music and Caucasian artists.

Großstädte in Deutschland und Europa befinden sich im Zuge des Strukturwandels von der Industriegesellschaft zur Dienstleistungsgesellschaft in einem tiefgreifenden ökonomischen, sozialen und politischen Wandlungsprozess, der zu einer schärferen Segregation der Städte führt. Die sozialräumliche Konzentration von Arbeitslosigkeit, Armut und sozialer Ausgrenzung in benachteiligten Großstadtgebieten entfernt solche Stadtgebiete in ihren sozialen Standards und Lebenschancen immer weiter vom urbanen Leben der Mehrheit. Dies wirft die Frage nach der sozialen und politischen Integration der Städte auf. Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich einem Teilaspekt der Frage nach der Integration in den Städten und fokussiert die Wahrnehmungen und Einstellungen ihrer Bürgerinnen und Bürger. Anlass dazu geben rückläufige Wahlbeteiligungen und eine zunehmende „Politikverdrossenheit“ in benachteiligten Stadträumen, die die Enttäuschung und Resignation benachteiligter Gruppen gegenüber der Politik signalisieren, sowie Entsolidarisierungstendenzen in privilegierten Gebieten. Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den lokalen politischen Einstellungen und vergleicht diese in sozialstrukturell benachteiligten und privilegierten Stadtquartieren in vier Großstädten: Berlin, Köln, Leipzig und Mannheim. Unter politischen Einstellungen werden das lokale politische Vertrauen, die Wahrnehmung der lokalen Politik und die politische Partizipation sowie die Solidaritätsbereitschaft, das soziale Vertrauen und das bürgerschaftliche Engagement verstanden. Insgesamt wurden 3200, d.h. in jedem untersuchten Stadtgebiet 400 standardisierte Telefoninterviews durchgeführt und statistisch ausgewertet. / In the course of structural change from an industrial society to a service society large cities in Germany and Europe undergo a profound economic, social and political process of change, which leads to a sharper segregation in the cities. The social spatial concentration of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion in underprivileged city areas removes such areas in their social standards and life chances far from the urban life of the majority. This raises the question of urban social and political integration. The doctoral thesis is dedicated to one aspect of the question regarding integration of cities. It focuses on the political perceptions and attitudes of their citizens. A noticeable declining of turnouts of voters and an increasing “disenchantment with politics”, which signal the disappointment and resignation of disadvantaged groups toward policy, and a tendency towards desolidarization in privileged areas give reason to analyze political attitudes in cities. Therefore, the doctoral thesis deals with local political attitudes in privileged and underprivileged city areas in four cities: Berlin, Cologne, Leipzig and Mannheim. Political attitudes are operationalized as political trust, the perception of responsivity of local policy, political participation as well as solidarity, social confidence and social commitment. A telephone poll was carried out with 400 standardized interviews in each of four privileged and four underprivileged quarters. In total, 3200 interviews were conducted and included in the statistical analysis.

No description available.

Populistische Ideen haben in den letzten 20 Jahren in westlichen Demokratien immer mehr Unterstützer:innen gefunden. Doch wieso ist populistische Politik gerade jetzt so erfolgreich? Grundsätzlich verstärken Populist:innen negativ geprägte Wahrnehmungen der politischen, ökonomischen und kulturellen Verhältnisse im Kontext gesellschaftlicher Liberalisierungsschübe. Um Legitimitätsprobleme repräsentativer Demokratien zu heilen und verwandte gesellschaftliche Krisen zu überwinden, fordern sie mehr direkte Beteiligung nach dem Majoritätsprinzip. In diesem Kontext liefern soziale Medien eine ideale Plattform, um populistische Unzufriedenheiten zu artikulieren und (neue) Wähler:innen zu mobilisieren. Vor diesem Hintergrund fragt diese Arbeit wie populistischen Mobilisierungsprozesse funktionieren. Zwei Papiere untersuchen, wie sich unterschiedliche Spielarten populistischer Unzufriedenheit auf politische Beteiligung und die populistische Parteiwahl auswirken. Das dritte Papier analysiert, wie politische Parteien populistische und krisenhafte Kommunikation in sozialen Medien nutzen. Der vierte Beitrag vergleicht den Einfluss von Parteikommunikation und politischen Einstellungen auf das politische Engagement. Für die empirischen Analysen wurden drei eigene Datenerhebungen durchgeführt (zwei Online-Umfragen der deutschen Wahlbevölkerung [N= 2.038; N= 2.024] und eine manuelle Inhaltsanalyse der Facebook-Kommunikation deutscher Parteien [N= 3.500]). Insgesamt erweitert diese Dissertation den Forschungsstand auf mehrfache Weise: Erstens bietet sie ein dynamisches Modell, dass die Determinanten populistischer Mobilisierung aus Angebots- und Nachfrageseite miteinander verknüpft. Zweitens klärt sie das Verhältnis von Populismus und krisenhafter Unzufriedenheit. Drittens widerspricht sie der Annahme, dass populistische Aktivierung die Probleme politischer Beteiligung heilt. Stattdessen wirkt Populismus primär als Entscheidungshilfe zugunsten populistischer Parteien bei Wahlen. / In the past 20 years, populist ideas fell on fertile ground in many Western democracies. But why is populist politics so successful right now? Basically, populists reinforce negative perceptions of political, economic and cultural conditions in the context of societal liberalization. To cure legitimacy problems of representative democracies and overcome related societal crises, they demand more direct participation according to the principle of majority rule. In this context, social media provide an ideal outlet for articulating populist dissatisfaction and mobilizing (new) voters. Against this background, this dissertation asks how populist mobilization processes work: The first two papers examine how different varieties of populist dissatisfaction among voters affect different modes of political engagement and populist voting. The third paper analyzes how political parties use populist and crisis-related communication in social media. Finally, the fourth article applies an experimental design to compare the effect of parties’ online communication and political attitudes on political engagement. For the empirical analyses, I conducted three self-collected datasets. I exploited data from two online surveys (paper I and paper II: N= 2,038; paper IV: N= 2,024) among the German electorate. For the third contribution, I conducted a manual content analysis (N= 3,500) of the Facebook communication of German political parties. This dissertation extends the body of research threefold: First, it provides a dynamic model linking various determinants of populist mobilization from the supply- and demand-side of the electoral market. Second, it updates state-of-the-art literature by disentangling the relationship between populism and crisis-related discontent. Third, it contradicts the idea that populist activation necessarily cures problems of political participation. Instead, populism primarily serves as a decision-making tool in favor of populist parties in elections.

This thesis addresses the question as to why multilevel politics is becoming an integral part of politics in Europe. Multilevel politics is conceptualized as a system which functions through a complex web of political relations within and across levels of decision making. The thesis argues that the rise of multilevel politics can be explained by its institutionalization in terms of the emergence, the evolution and especially the effects of relevant institutions. Based on a mixed-method research project, the influence of European institutions on subnational actors and the alignment of actor motives with institutional characteristics are empirically shown. The first chapter of the dissertation establishes the centrality of institutions for political transformation, examines the role of transnational and domestic institutions for multilevel politics, and contextualizes the research question in terms of institution-actor relations. The second chapter develops a new-institutionalist theoretical framework that explains the emergence, the evolution and the effects of the institutions, and formulates a series of hypotheses with regard to freestanding institutional influence, power distribution, material benefits and political identification. The third chapter outlines the mixed-method research design which addresses individual-level and institutional-level variations through a Europe-wide survey and a comparative case study. The fourth chapter on survey results shows generally favourable views on multilevel politics, and strong associations of these views with the independent variables under scrutiny. The fifth chapter specifies a multivariate model which includes all posited variables and confirms the majority of the hypotheses. Therefore, the new-institutionalist argument is broadly confirmed, while there is relatively weak evidence to sustain sociological explanations. The final chapter compares the Committee of the Regions and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, and examines the institutional characteristics which correspond to the hypothesized variables. It is then concluded that the two institutions share several overarching similarities, and display complementarity in other aspects.

Les résultats historiques des différents référendums et plébiscites tenus au Canada depuis la Confédération ont révélé de très grandes oppositions entre plusieurs provinces. Le Québec s’est particulièrement distingué du reste du pays lors de certains référendums. En effet, cette province francophone est la seule à s’être opposée majoritairement à la circonscription, à la prohibition, et à avoir voté à deux reprises pour se séparer du reste du Canada. Or, notre compréhension de l’origine des distinctions d’opinions entre les provinces canadiennes, et plus particulièrement celle du Québec, demeure encore floue aujourd’hui. Il est donc important de remonter dans le temps pour voir si celles-ci étaient présentes au début du 20e siècle, notamment en étudiant l’enjeu de santé publique lié à la prohibition. Ce mémoire s’intéresse donc à la relation entre plusieurs variables socio-démographiques et les résultats du vote lors de différents référendums. Des mouvements en faveur de la prohibition se sont formés au milieu du 19e siècle au Canada et aux États-Unis avec des succès inégaux. Le mouvement prohibitionniste canadien n’a jamais réussi à étendre son influence contrairement aux États-Unis, mais celui-ci a quand même réussi à s’introduire au niveau des municipalités à l’aide de la loi sur la tempérance (1878). Le référendum national (1898) fut révélateur d’une forte opposition à cette politique publique au Québec. Les origines de ces disparités régionales, entre le Québec et le reste du Canada, mais aussi au niveau des municipalités au Québec, demeurent inexpliquées aujourd’hui. Or, quels sont les facteurs qui expliquent ces différences ? La littérature sur la tempérance indique que la religion est le facteur explicatif principal de l’appui à la prohibition. D’autres facteurs existent comme l’origine ethnique, la proportion urbaine et rurale, la présence des groupes d’intérêt brassicoles ou le vote des femmes. Néanmoins, la littérature au Canada ne semble pas unanime sur le sujet. À partir d’une analyse de régressions linéaires des moindres carrés ordinaires (MCO) et de modèles linéaires généralisés (MLG) sur les données du recensement canadien (1901, 1921), les votes des référendums et du rapport annuel de la Commission des Liqueurs du Québec (1921-1922), il sera possible de déterminer les facteurs explicatifs de l’appui à la prohibition. Les attitudes des francophones et des catholiques en dehors du Québec seront analysées lors des référendums au Nouveau-Brunswick (1920) et en Nouvelle-Écosse (1920). Un lien avec les attitudes politiques sur la légalisation du cannabis nous pousse à croire que la distinction du Québec s’articule toujours dans sa vision de la santé publique. / The historical results of different referendums and plebiscites held in Canada since the Confederation revealed a high level of opposition between the provinces. Quebec particularly distinguishes itself from the rest of the country during these referendums. Indeed, this province was the only one to oppose conscription, the prohibition and to hold two referendums to secede from Canada. Our understanding of the origins of these differences in the Canadian provinces, and Quebec in particular, is still vague today. It is important to look back in time to see these distinctions at the beginning of the 20th century by studying the multiple issues linked to alcohol and prohibition. This thesis aims to explain the relationship between socio-demographic variables and prohibition plebiscite results. Temperance movements have been founded in the mid-19th centuries in Canada and the United States, with unequal success. Canadian temperance movements never really succeed to extend their influence nationwide, but it was successfully introduced in communities later by the Scott Act (1878). The national referendum of 1898 revealed a strong opposition to prohibition in Quebec. The origins of these regional disparities, between the province of Quebec and the rest of Canada, and at the community-based level in Quebec, has yet to be explained. Which factors account for these differences? In the following analysis, several different variables like ethnic origins, rural and urban proportion, and gender are used to explain the support or opposition toward prohibition. With the data analysis of the Canadian census (1901, 1921), the plebiscite results and the Quebec Liquor Commission annual report (1921-1922), ordinary least squares models (OLS) and generalized linear models (GLM) will be used to analyze multiple variables in support of prohibition. The attitudes of Catholics and French-speaking communities outside Quebec will be analyzed during the New Brunswick (1920) and Nova Scotia plebiscite (1920). A link with the actual political attitudes about the legalization of cannabis tends to show that these distinctions persist through time concerning public health issues in Quebec.

The central issue in this study is political socialisation and its implications within a rural setting in South Africa with a particular focus on Calais village in Limpopo Province. The aim of the study is to determine how adult residents of Calais village, are politically socialised; and furthermore to assess the impact of the socialisation process on the residents’ political behaviour within a democratic South Africa. In order to achieve the research purpose, face-to-face interviews were conducted with forty (40) adult residents in Calais village. The study revealed that the respondents were politically socialised by the media, immediate family, peers, extended family, political parties, local municipality, school, traditional leadership, ward committee and religious institutions. The media were the most important agent, while the religious institutions were the least. Furthermore, NGOs and trade unions were not socialisation agents in Calais village. The socialisation process had an impact on the respondents’ political behaviour in terms of political interest, party identification, political beliefs, efficacy, knowledge, awareness and participation. / Political Sciences / M.A. (Politics)