Elections and electoral systems
Why has Turkmenistan’s despotic president created the characteristics of a democracy?
The incumbent President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, was duly elected in February with almost 98% of the vote. But why did a man with such a firm grip on power – he has ruled since 2007 – bother to hold elections at all? Why take the risky step of allowing other candidates to run and […]
Do centre-right parties win back votes from the far right by talking about immigration?
With the rise of far-right parties in Europe during the 2000s, some centre-right parties spotted an opportunity to win back votes by pivoting towards immigration. James F Downes (Chinese University of Hong Kong) and Matthew Loveless (European University Institute) find that they were more successful if they were out of government at the time. Incumbent centre-right parties, […]
Votes at 16: we need a proper conversation about when adulthood begins
The vexed question of whether people should be allowed to vote from the age of 16 has returned to the Commons with Jim McMahon MP’s Private Member’s Bill. Many argue – citing the Scottish independence referendum – that it would provide a democratic stimulus. Yet the evidence for that is lacking, say Andy Mycock (University of […]
Understanding Labour’s ingenious campaign strategy on Facebook
The 2017 election saw a stronger than foreseen performance by the Labour Party. Matt Walsh explains how Labour’s Facebook success played out, heralding the party’s overall campaign performance. GE2017 was a numbers game: by achieving very high levels of organic reach, Labour managed to target undecided voters in marginal constituencies, energise voters who had drifted away from the […]
Canvassers tend to seek out people who are like themselves, and that’s not good for political participation
Petition canvassers play an important role as political recruiters by introducing citizens to political issues and seeking their support. But not much is known about how these canvassers decide whom to recruit or about their methods. Research by Clayton Nall (Stanford), Benjamin Schneer (Florida State University) and Daniel Carpenter (Harvard) proposes a model of political recruiting […]
What happens when a strongman dictator creates his own political party?
Around 40% of dictatorships are headed by a strongman ruler: Gaddafi in Libya and Idi Amin in Uganda were obvious examples. Erica Frantz (Michigan State University) finds that these regimes are more likely to democratise if their leaders create their own political parties. Most do this in order to reduce the risk of a military […]
Book review | Guilty Men – the Brexit Edition, by Tim Oliver
Brexit is as big and dangerous a mistake as that of appeasement in the 1930s. So argues Cato the Younger in his book Guilty Men: Brexit Edition, reviewed here by Tim Oliver. Taking up the pen of his great grandfather, whose 1940 book of the same name destroyed the reputations of those responsible for appeasement, Cato the Younger is no […]
Referendum campaigns end up convincing voters that their preferred party is right
When people are deciding how to vote in a referendum, do they take their cue from party loyalty or by listening to the debate and making up their own minds? When Céline Colombo (University of Zurich) and Hanspeter Kriesi (European University Institute) analysed two Swiss referendums, they found that voters do pay attention to the arguments. But during […]
Making it easier to vote hasn’t cut health-related inequality in turnout. Quite the opposite
Conscious that people with disabilities and health problems may find it difficult to vote, some countries have tried to make it easier for them by introducing mobile polling stations and proxy or advance ballots. But as Hanna Wass, Mikko Matila (both University of Helsinki), Lauri Rapeli and Peter Söderlund (both Åbo Akademi University) write, these measures […]
Without a change in leadership in Madrid or Catalonia, further conflict looks inevitable
Following the Catalan independence referendum on 1 October, Bonnie N Field and Astrid Barrio write that a potential declaration of independence by the Catalan government could further escalate tensions and prompt an even more severe clash with the Spanish authorities. Yet without a change of leadership in either Madrid or Catalonia, calls for dialogue to find a consensual resolution […]
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