<p>This study aims at describing if discrepancies can be found between the rhetoric in Swedish political parties’ electoral campaigns to the European Parliament elections in 2004 and their representatives’ actual behavior in the European Parliament and to develop plausible explanations to these possible discrepancies. The research method that is being used is content analysis, aiming to answer four research questions regarding the electoral campaigns to the European Parliament elections in 2004 and the behavior by the parties’ representatives during the following term of office. The main findings are that some discrepancies can be found regarding which questions are raised most frequently in the electoral campaigns and in the European Parliament, but that no discrepancies can be found regarding the positions taken in questions in the electoral campaigns and in the European Parliament. The plausible explanations that are presented are that the parties raise certain questions in the campaigns with the purpose of maximizing the number of votes and then raise other questions in the European Parliament, that size of the party group matters and that the individuals representing the parties might effect the coherence between rhetoric and actual behavior.</p>

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 102 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Crime and violence are regularly seen as being ripe for politicians to turn into campaign issues and win votes. This study argues, in contrast, that success on public security is not so automatic: human rights values constrain the use of security and the winning of votes on it. Even in Latin American countries, where voters' concerns about rampant crime and violence are among the highest in the world, considerations of human rights combine with low trust in security forces to restrict the viability of the issue in key ways. Examination of presidential campaigns in Colombia in 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2010 supports this claim. Success on security is a two-step process: invoking the issue and then gaining voter support on the topic. Usability depends on the absence of recent repression and the degree of organization of security threats. Then, winning votes on it depends on having a civilian background, a campaign that balances security with other issues, and messages of careful enforcement. These messages of careful enforcement promise targeted, deliberate use of security forces' enforcement activities in a way that pays attention to human rights, rather than promising unbridled enforcement, increased punishment, or programs of long-term prevention. This study therefore shows how candidates are forced to walk a fine line between promising to establish order and promising to protect basic rights and liberties. These findings are powerful, providing an understanding of public security in electoral campaigns that maintains a much closer fit with empirical reality than existing research. The results also provide a critique of the sociological school of vote choice and points to ways in which ownership of the issue of security may be leased away. Furthermore, because the results are driven by the spread of human rights values, the results demonstrate the importance of quick shifts in political culture as a factor that explains changes in political patterns. / text

The three branches of American government---judicial, legislative, and executive---serve important governmental roles, and present their own interesting political questions. We answer three here. First, what are the differences between judges and politicians, and how does this inform the formers' selection? Second, how do senators behave to satisfy their political preferences and the electorate's? Third, what is the optimal strategy for a candidate in the Electoral College? American states select judges in various ways. In Chapter 1, we analyze "merit selection." Typically, a nonpartisan commission culls applicants for judgeships, and an appointee is selected by the governor. Then, periodically, this judge undergoes a retention election: an up-or-down vote by the state's electorate. We contribute a microeconomic model to analyze these elections. We compare this institution, in welfare terms, to others used to appoint and retain judges. Finally, we analyze a recent and ongoing phenomenon: these elections are transforming from historically rubber stamp formalities into contested, politicized contests. The politicization of issues brought before courts increases the likelihood of judges being ousted. In Chapter 2, we explore the behavior of legislators in the U.S. Senate, and of the voters who elect them. We examine shifts in incumbent senators' espoused political positions over time, as the reelection campaign approaches. We introduce novel game theoretic models of incumbent-challenger interaction. We find, through empirical analysis of senators' roll call votes, that senators moderate their positions over time, as potential reelection approaches. Moreover, this moderation accelerates. This is explained by the behavior of voters: the moderation is mirrored by the attention paid by voters. Also, the identity of an incumbent's challenger plays an important role in the amount of moderation exhibited by the incumbent. In Chapter 3, we consider a highly adaptable game theoretic model of competition in the Electoral College. It takes the form of a repeated game. Candidates make allocation decisions to persuade voters. Candidates get utility from winning office, and disutility from expending resources. We characterize optimal campaign strategy, and present comparative statics. We show, inter alia, that a candidate with an inherent advantage may prefer a longer campaign. / text

This dissertation explains how and under what conditions voters are affected by campaign advertising, taking particular account of the conditioning role played by political knowledge and ad tone. It builds on psychological research showing that people make regular mistakes in attribution, evaluation, and decision making; that they tend to give greater weight to negative than to equally credible positive information; that they better match their political choices with their interests and values when they are more politically knowledgeable; and that cognitive shortcuts cannot fully compensate for meager political knowledge. I introduce a psychological theory of how individuals react to campaign advertising in light of: (1) their political knowledge and (2) their natural impulse to give greater weight to negative information (i.e., negativity bias). Using data from an original laboratory experiment conducted in Mexico City in 2012 and from the 2006 Mexico Panel Study, I examine the effect of campaign advertising on the attribution of candidates' character traits, the evaluation of candidates' policy proposals, and vote intentions. I show that campaign advertising's effects on the attribution of candidates' character traits and the evaluation of their policy proposals are conditioned by the voter's degree of political knowledge and the ad's tone (negative or positive). I also show that campaign advertising has a significant, indirect effect on vote intentions through its effect on the attribution of candidates' character traits and the evaluation of their policy proposals. Finally, I explain why negative advertising has systematically bigger effects on voting behavior than equivalent positive advertising. I look at the case of Mexico to shed light on the effects of campaign advertising in developing democracies. Since most academic research has looked at the United States, this thesis intends to deepen our understanding of campaign advertising in comparative perspective, looking at a country where the thinness of party identification, the ambiguity of issue ownership, and the novelty of the party system renders voters more susceptible to information in campaign advertising. / text

This dissertation explores how institutional settings regulating the media and campaigns affect voter participation. The broader question is what types of political communication systems are likely to produce the most engaged and participatory citizens as well as equal participation. Assuming that political participation is affected by its underlying costs and benefits, I hypothesize that political communication systems that lower information costs for voters have higher turnout levels and reduce upper class bias. Political communication systems are measured by media systems, access to paid TV advertising, and campaign finance laws. In the country-level turnout models, investigating seventy-four electoral democracies, I find that public broadcasting systems increase voter turnout, while changing the effect of paid advertising. Public broadcasting systems that allow paid TV advertising have a higher turnout levels than those that ban paid advertising. Conversely, paid advertising in private broadcasting systems have a negative marginal effect on voter turnout. On the other hand, campaign finance laws that allow more money to enter election campaigns increase voter participation. So campaign contribution and spending limits depress turnout and public finance increases it. The hierarchical models in Chapter 6 show that political communication systems also change the relationship between individual socioeconomic status and voter participation. Generally political communication environment that lower information costs for voters reduces socioeconomic bias for voters. Public broadcasting systems, access to paid TV ads, and free TV time, thus, mitigate the effect of education on voting. Additional investigation also shows that the age gap between voters and nonvoters is conditioned by different types of political communication systems. Both partisan press and public direct funding promote younger citizens’ participation, thus decreasing the generation gap. In contrast, campaign contribution/expenditure limits enlarge such gap. Broadcasting systems also affect the effect of age on voting. Because older people spend more time watching television than younger ones, the type of broadcasting system has a disproportionately larger impact on older citizens. / text

This comparative research looks at intermedia agenda-setting effects between Internet bulletin boards and traditional news media, such as daily newspapers and broadcasting, in both the United States and Korea. By examining this intermedia relationship and the flow of influence by Internet bulletin boards on traditional media during presidential campaigns in the two countries, this dissertation study attempts to extend our knowledge of intermedia agenda-setting research. In addition, it also investigates, in reverse, the effects of daily newspapers and broadcasting on Internet bulletin boards. Finally, attention is given to different types of discussion cultures in the two countries. Results of this dissertation research indicated that there are intermedia relationships between Internet bulletin boards and traditional news media, such as newspapers and broadcasting, at the first and second levels of agenda setting using cross-lagged correlation comparisons. More specifically, at the first level of agenda setting in the United States, the results explained only the influence of newspapers on Netizen opinions posted on Internet bulletin boards. In summary, the results concerning issue agenda in the United States indicate that the U.S. Netizen concentrates more on the issue agenda of newspapers than of broadcasting. In the second level of agenda setting in the United States, cross-lagged correlation comparisons not only indicated the influence of both newspapers and broadcasting on opinions posted on Internet bulletin boards, but they also clarified it in this research. Formerly, there was no attempt to examine attributes of the intermedia agenda-setting functions of the U.S. media. This research now provides an explanation of the apparent relationship between traditional media and the Internet. At the first level of agenda setting in Korea, the result of the cross-lagged correlation suggested that Korean newspaper and broadcasting issue agenda influenced Netizen opinions on Internet bulletin boards. As the result of second-level agenda setting in Korea showed earlier, cross-lagged correlation comparisons presented intermedia agenda-setting functions between both newspapers and broadcasting, and Internet bulletin boards with each other. These findings contrast with results in the United States. / text

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If the battle of Bir Hakeim was but one of many feats of arms during the Second World War, it particularly marks the memory of "Fighting France", because the exploit of the Free French Forces occurred during a period in which the Allies were having few successes on the Pacific and Mediterranean fronts. Allied propaganda therefore celebrated this battle, thus attracting adherents to the cause of "Fighting France", and aiding general de Gaulle's French National Committee in obtaining recognition from the British and American governments. General de Gaulle's challenge was to keep France at war so that France would participate in the Allied victory, offsetting the Vichy's government's collaboration. The legendary epic of the Free French Forces at Bir Hakeim is an important part of the myth, and the reality, of "Fighting France". While the official memory of "Free France" still celebrates the unity of Frenchmen under the banner of "the Cross of Lorraine", the soldiers at Bir Hakeim could not forget the franco-french tensions they experienced.

This paper examines differences between what voters want from a campaign website and what political parties are actually providing on their campaign websites. A series of focus groups were conducted and the results of those discussions provided insight into what potential voters wanted from a campaign website. Analysis of the Conservative, Liberal, Bloc Quebecois, Green and New Democratic Party campaign websites was then conducted, and the results provided a glimpse at what the political parties were providing during the 2004 federal election campaign. The results of this research show that is a significance imbalance between what the political parties in Canada were providing and what the focus groups mentioned they wanted from a campaign website. The participants wanted more engaging and mobilizing features, while the campaign websites used during the 2004 election lacked these types of features. / vi, 130 leaves ; 29 cm.