The relationships among governmental institutions are some of the most studied phenomena in political science. Yet these complex interactions remain largely unexplained due to the difficult task of developing accurate measures that lead to quantifiable tests that enhance explanation and prediction. This work centers on the interactions of United States Supreme Court justices with other political actors. The goal of this dissertation is to better understand the relationship between the Supreme Court and its institutional environment. In short, I ask: What factors affect Supreme Court justices’ voting decisions? I approach this question from several different angles while making use of a unique dependent variable—Yearly Supreme Court justice ideal point. This variable is a variant of the ideal points calculated by Michael A. Bailey of Georgetown University (Bailey, 2007). My empirical models consider the effects of numerous independent variables on this dependent variable. One of the unique aspects of this study is that it considers the effects of a wide variety of factors purported to affect judicial behavior. There are four main theories of judicial decision-making, and my empirical analyses test notions exported from all of them. In designing and testing my models, I draw especially on the developing approach of new institutionalism—an approach to the study of judicial politics that emphasizes the influence of external, non-judicial political actors on judicial behavior. Ultimately this work will show what factors constrain the actions of Supreme Court justices and to what degree they do so. This research has many implications for larger theoretical concerns of political science, specifically formulating questions about the independence of the judiciary and contains relevant questions for democratic theory as well.

This dissertation explores political representation and its manifestation within the European Union (EU). The main purpose is to examine the representative roles of Members of the European Parliament (MEP) in the context of cross–pressure between the national level and the EU level. This involves an analysis of how the MEPs under-stand their roles, how they organize their work, and how they have voted in the European Parliament (EP) in 1999-2002. It also includes a study of how national party organizations adapt to the EU environment and how this influences the MEPs link to the national arena. The study is based on various sources, such as interviews, formal documents and voting data. The most under-researched part of the cross-pressure has been the national link and the empirical focus of the thesis is on that link. It is a comparative study of parties in Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. In each country, three parties were selected (social democratic, right-wing and green parties). By using a focused comparative method, and by controlling for certain independent variables, the ambition is to go beyond description and identify explanations for why MEPs adopt certain roles. The overall picture that emerges is of a relatively weak link between MEPs and the national level. To a certain extent, MEPs express frustration over their limited role in the national arena and over the lack of input from the national arena in their work at the European level. Most of the parties struggle to include MEPs in their organizational set-up, and the MEPs experience a growing hostility within the parties toward them. In general, the lack of interest and knowledge in the national arena, concerning the EU in general and specifically the work of the MEPs, obscures the role of the MEPs. They become EU ambassadors at the national level, rather than elected representatives at the EU level. The dissertation also tests variables that are thought to influence MEPs’ roles: the type of electoral system, popular opinion on EU issues, whether their party is in government, the party’s ideological heritage, and if the party organizes more advanced coordination mechanisms. The main result is that the working assumption that MEPs are influenced by characteristics in the national arena is shown to be largely correct. That is, some of the identified aspects of the national political context do influence how the MEPs understand their roles. For example, the character of the electoral system influences attitudes among the MEPs. However, that relationship is not as simple and straightforward as much of the literature suggests. Rather, the results in this study suggest that the most important aspect of the relationship between the national level and the MEPs is whether parties or others (such as national parliamentarians) actively engage in the work of the MEPs. It matters how parties design the relationship between the levels, especially for how and where MEPs direct their main attention, but also in terms of how MEPs vote in the EP. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of further research into how parties facilitate the link between the national and the EU level.

The work focuses on the voting behavior of citizens Czech Canada. The work compares the different types of elections to identify factors that voting behavior of citizens the most affected.

El comportamiento electoral es un tema de estudio bastante complejo dentro de las ciencias sociales y específicamente dentro de la ciencia política, pues llega a tomar en consideración no solo elementos políticos sino también sociológicos y psicológicos. La mezcla e interacción de factores que tienen lugar dentro del proceso de decisión electoral es lo que complejiza su estudio. Este artículo tiene por intención dar acercamientos a la comprensión del compor- tamiento electoral en el Perú a partir del análisis de las elecciones presidenciales en primera vuelta de 2006 y 2011. Buscamos la propuesta de un modelo que considere los elementos más importantes dentro del estudio del comportamiento electoral, a partir de lo que se ha estudiado y analizado sobre dicho tema desde las ciencias sociales. La identificación de los elementos clave a tener en cuenta nos permitirá un análisis más detallado y desagregado del comportamiento electoral. El artículo busca estudiar el efecto de un primer elemento del modelo propuesto: la influencia de las variables sociodemográficas y socioeconómicas en el comportamiento electoral de los votantes.

本文旨在研究政治人物或政黨的表現如何影響選民對立法委員進行選舉課責。課責是民主政治運作的重要基石，而選舉機制則是體現政治課責最直接的制度設計。現有選舉課責研究多數聚焦於行政首長的表現如何影響選民的投票選擇，以立法委員選舉為對象的選舉課責研究相對顯得不足，且這些研究或者是在舊選制的架構內進行分析，或是旨在探索選民的分裂投票行為，未見新選制下的選舉課責研究。 本研究以2016年新北市與臺中市的立法委員選舉為例，分析選民對總統、市長、政黨、政黨立委與區域立委五種層面的表現評價如何影響其立委投票對象。企圖了解選民是否真的會因為現任者表現不佳而投給在野黨、或因滿意現任者表現而投給執政黨？而當不同層面的表現評價發生衝突時，哪一項的表現評價影響力更大？並藉由兩個不同黨籍的直轄市長，來解析過去研究未曾在立委選舉研究中觸及的地方首長施政表現因素會如何影響選民的投票抉擇。 本研究發現，選民在區域與不分區立委選舉中均會以市長與區域立委的表現作為課責依據，而政黨立委表現評價僅對區域立委選舉有影響，政黨表現評價及不分區名單印象則影響不分區立委選舉，至於過去研究認為會影響立委選舉結果的總統施政表現評價，反而在統計模型中未達顯著水準。這樣的結果，除了立委與政黨本身表現在各自選票上的影響力外，更凸顯了地方首長的施政表現對於立委選舉的重要性，當總統與立委選舉合併舉辦後，立委選舉不再是總統的期中成績單，而是地方首長的期中成績單與現任者的期末成績單，被課責的對象包含了現任者本身（立委與政黨）與地方首長。這些研究發現與既有的研究提供一個重要的對照與補充，也希望這些發現能提供未來選舉課責與地方治理研究的助益。 / Accountability is the cornerstone for the operation of democracy, and election is the mechanism realizing political accountability. Most studies on electoral accountability focused on the influence of presidential performance at the national level while the influences of legislators themselves and local governments are less concerned.This essay explores how the performance of the president, the legislators, the local governments, and the political parties influence electorate’s vote choice in the 2016 legislative elections in New Taipei City and Taichung City in Taiwan. Political accountability is operationalized as voter’s performance assessments of the president, the legislator, the city mayors, and the two major political parties. It is assumed that an electorate will be more likely to vote for the legislative candidate based on favorable assessments of her party’s president, legislators, city mayors, list of at-large candidates and overall party performance. The study finds that the performance of city mayors and the performance of (district as well at–large party list) legislators have exercised significant impact on voter’s choice. Meanwhile, voters’ assessment of political parties and impression of party list candidate will influence voter’s choice in the at-large legislative election. As for the evaluation of presidential performance which has been widely discussed in the literature, this essay finds only limited impact. As the elections for legislator and president are held concurrently, the impact of the presidential performance is overshadowed by the performance of local executives. These findings provide crucial comparison and supplementation with the previous studies of political accountability and offer valuable references for the future study of electoral accountability and local governance.

​Does political information lower the incidence of ethnic voting in Africa? Even though a significant amount of research has been dedicated to African ethnic voting behaviour,​not much capacity has been dedicated to studying the function of ethnic cues as informational shortcuts. Considering voters use cognitive shortcuts like party affiliations or ideology when making decisions, it is also plausible that voters in elections characterized by ethnic voting use demographic cues in lieu of more comprehensive information. The aim of this thesis was therefore to contribute to the existing research on how informational context affects ethnicity as a determinant for voting behaviour, testing a theory developed by Conroy-Krutz suggesting more political information reduces the incidence of ethnic voting. Using Afrobarometer survey data from 2016-2018, regression analysis was conducted measuring the effects of access to and consumption of political information on ethnic voting in Kenya. The results are ambiguous and do not lend support to the theory in its current form, but instead suggests that what kind of political information and how it is perceived might affect the relationship with ethnic voting. Another possibility is that the content of the political information, bringing about factors like media coverage and press freedom, should be accounted into the model. More research is needed to dismiss or develop the theory, and so this thesis opens up for more research to be made concerning our understanding on the effects of political information on ethnic voting behavior.

The aim of this graduate thesis is proposing an optimization of the likely voter model parameter values utilized by Median (research agency) based on secondary analysis of data from the third wave and post-election follow-up of the Czech Household Panel Study 2017 and the Median omnibus survey. The theoretical chapter presents selected aspects of the analyzed likely voter model parameters. Secondary data analysis confirms hypotheses regarding the relationships of: 1) voter turnout, prior voting behavior and the intent to vote, 2) pre-election voting preferences and actual voting behavior, 3) reported prior voting behavior and time elapsed since the prior election. Hypotheses are confirmed, and analysis results are utilized in construction of an optimized likely voter model. This model's results are then compared to the results of four currently or formerly published likely voter models (MEDIAN, CVVM2017, CVVM2018, KANTAR), all computed using an identical dataset (September/October 2017 Median omnibus survey). Based on prior-set comparison criteria, the proposed model has the highest ranking out of all the compared models. Areas of future research proposed, namely exploring the relationship between prior voting behavior misreporting and voting preference trends, in accordance with cognitive...

Author of these thesis researches the ability Paired comparison method to predict the results in the presidential elections during January 2018 ( the first and the second round). The pair comparison method is based on the assessment of individual candidates in combinations (pairs) where two candidates stand against each other and there is a judge who compares them in all combinations. The author carried out an investigation using three standardized questionnaires. She has applied the method in the first questionnaire and surveyed the actual choice of the respondents in the other two questionnaires. There were 392 respondents who participated in the complete questionnaire surfy and their answers were analyzed and compared with their results of Paired comparison method. The thesis also shows the accuracy of the method and the suitability of the application, as well as the ability to predict the results of undecided voters. The Paired comparison method in prediction of the results of the first round, but was able to estimate the results of the second round. The author concludes that Paired comparison method should be used in several round types of elections or those where two candidates stand against each other. There are also examined the disadvantages and risks of the method.

This thesis deals with the nature of the Left-Right scale. Theories and ideas about the Left-Right scale have been tested by a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. The research questions are, in short, firstly if voters’ preferences on political issues, where economic issues are tested in this specific thesis, can consistently explain voters’ Left-Right self-placement, secondly if this level of explanation can vary depending on changes in national political discourse, and finally if a high level of correlation between issue and Left-Right self-placement facilitates the matching process of parties and voters of similar ideological conviction. A regression is run on data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Study, data which consists of survey questions about attitudes towards economic preferences and self-placement on the Left-Right scale. The selection is restricted to old democracies, as there is some discrepancy between new and old democracies with regards to the capacity of the electorate to relate to the Left-Right scale. The independent variable in this regression is attitudes toward different economic issues, while the dependent variable is self-placement on the Left-Right scale. The first question is answered by the regression, which is if preferences regarding issues can explain self-placement on the Left-Right scale. The answer that is given is that there is indeed a consistent relationship between preferences on economic issues and self-placement on the Left-Right scale, over time. Albeit it is higher for some countries, like Scandinavia, and lower for other countries, like Japan and Ireland. The two remaining questions are answered by case studies, selected through the method of least likely and most likely cases. These are Netherlands, Sweden, Japan and France. In essence, these cases show that the Left-Right scale is indeed flexible, and can adapt to the current political discourse, and that a high relationship between preferences on political issues and self-placement on the Left-Right scale facilitates the matching of voters and parties of similar ideological conviction.

本研究有感於近年來台灣社會政治活動的參與情況，與往年相較起來熱絡許多，從以往只能透過數年一度的選舉活動，來表現個人的政治參與；到目前有許多人能夠從網路發表自身意見，討論時事議題，進而與政府、官員們接觸，甚至透過大型的集會活動來表達個人的立場以及訴求，企圖影響，並改變當前政治環境。在眾多參與政治的過程當中，個人心理因素對於投入與否的影響效果十分重要。政治態度的種類繁多，筆者在本文以政治效能感的角度出發，探討民眾對於政治參與的動機。是否會因為個人能夠理解政治，同樣能夠感受到政府官員對於個人的關心與重視，進而擁有認為自身能夠影響政治的這項心理態度，使得個人願意力行不同種類的政治參與。 本研究運用2013年「台灣選舉與民主化調查研究」資料，探索政治效能感對於政治參與的影響效果。除了檢證過去理論中：政治效能感愈高，愈會參與政治活動之外，區分了政治效能感的內在與外在的不同面向，以及政治參與的不同種類，探討政治效能感對於不同種類的政治參與是否具備不同的影響效果。研究結果發現，內在政治效能感較容易影響純粹表達意見的政治參與，而外在政治效能感較容易影響企圖改變現況的政治參與，此一發現提供與以往不同的理論觀點，認為政治效能感對於是個人政治參與的影響，是一項重要心理因素。 / Over the past few years, political participations in Taiwan have been flourished. Indeed, a democratic society, like Taiwan, should allow people to have various ways to participate in politics beyond simply casting their votes, including demonstrating on the street to show what they stand for. By examining public opinion data in Taiwan, this study aims to explore the relationship between political efficacy and different types of political participations. Specifically, this study use the 2013 Taiwan’s Election and Democratization Study (TEDS) data to examine the extent to which one’s political efficacy could influence his/her political participations. The conventional wisdom suggests that the higher the political efficacy, the more political activities one may participate in. Additionally, previous research also posits that the linkages between political efficacy and participation vary, depending on different components of political efficacy as well as various types of political participations. The empirical results of this analysis show that the respondents who have higher internal political efficacy are more likely to participate in “opinion-expression actions”. On the other hand, those who have higher external political efficacy are more likely to participate in “changing the status quo action”. In short, political efficacy should be regarded as an important psychological element that may influence different dimensions of political participations.