European mobility and local political incorporation: The case of British and Romanian residents in Spain

This paper analyses the impact of European mobility in the field of the political nomination of intra-EU migrants in local elections. The study contributes to the debates in the literature related to immigrant nomination and representation by showing how group resources and political opportunities in the country of residence interact with the political opportunities of the European citizenship regime. It argues that the symbolic and legal status of European identity, representation in the European Parliament and strong links between political institutions in the countries of destination and origin play a positive role in boosting immigrant political entrepreneurs’ visibility vis-à-vis host country political actors. In order to illustrate these findings, the paper provides a qualitative comparison of British and Romanian residents in Spain.

The Political Candidacy of EU Migrants in their European Countries of Residence. The Case of British and Romanians Standing in Spanish Local Elections

What explains the variation in how European citizens of diverse origins are politically incorporated in the member states of residence? This paper argues that immigrant groups’ status in the host society plays an important role in political party responses to immigrants’ political participation. Drawing on the case of Romanian and British candidacies in the Spanish local elections from 2011, the paper finds that the level of competition between parties is the key mechanism for incorporating candidates from a positively/neutrally perceived group. Instead, a greater level of ethnic diversity encourages the incorporation of candidates from the negatively perceived group. To demonstrate this, the paper uses an original data-set with the Romanian and British candidates in a large number of Spanish localities.

Political Education and First-Time Voting in Switzerland

The proposed paper investigates the effect of political education on first-time voting in Switzerland. Theoretically, the paper takes up assumptions of recent research that political education is positively related to political interest, and hence to political participation. Thereby, the paper adds to the literature in two aspects: First, in Switzerland, education is a cantonal matter presenting a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of political education on voting on individual as well as cantonal level. Second, political education is not only measured by political knowledge, but also by civic skills and attitudes acquired in school. Conceptually, the study adopts a multilevel approach permitting a simultaneous testing of the influence of individual and contextual determinants on electoral participation. This paper corresponds closely to the panel topic by examining the important question of how political education affects the voting behaviour of first-time voters not only on individual, but also on contextual level.

An Ever Closer Union? The Nationalisation of Political Parties in Switzerland, 1991–2015

The contribution of this research note is a systematic description of levels of party nationalisation in Switzerland, using results from the elections to the Swiss National Council between 1991 and 2015. Party nationalisation is understood as the territorial homogeneity of a party's electoral performance and measured using the inverted and standardised Gini index. Our results indicate a trend towards more nationalisation in the Swiss party system over the time period covered, and distinct patterns for single parties. The SVP and the GLP have made big leaps towards stronger nationalisation, with the former closing in on the levels of the SP and the FDP, while the CVP remains a weakly nationalised party, considering its size.

Cultural Legacies and Political Preferences: The Failure of Separatism in the Swiss Jura

The study of secession generally stresses the causal influence of cultural identities, political preferences, or ecological factors. Whereas these different views are often considered to be mutually exclusive, this paper proposes a two-stage model in which they are complementary. We posit that cultural identities matter for explaining secessionism, but not because of primordial attachments. Rather, religious and linguistic groups matter because their members are imbued with cultural legacies that lead to distinct political preferences – in this case preferences over welfare statism. Further, ecological constraints such as geography and topography affect social interaction with like-minded individuals. On the basis of both these political preferences and ecological constraints, individuals then make rational choices about the desirability of secession. Instrumental considerations are therefore crucial in explaining the decision to secede, but not in a conventional pocketbook manner. To examine this theory, we analyze the 2013 referendum on the secession of the Jura Bernois region from the Canton of Berne in Switzerland, using municipal level census and referendum data. The results lend support to the theory and suggest one way in which the politics of identity, based on factors like language and religion, can be fused with the politics of interest (preferences for more or less state intervention into the polity and economy) to better understand group behavior.

Splitsville: A Study of Income Inequality and Political Polarization in the United States House of Representatives

The study compares a measure of income inequality with polarization scores of U.S. Representatives from the 104th to the 109th Congresses. It attempts to explain the link, on the abstract level, between high inequality and high polarization. The end findings indicate that inequality increases a Representative's likelihood to act liberally.

Igualdad, democracia y élite

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la reacción de las distintas teorías democráticas frente a las teorías de la élite y la forma en que, a partir de una mutua penetración, incorporaron algunos de sus principios dando lugar a lo que se ha denominado como "elitismo democrático". Se trata de recuperar para la democracia la máxima expresión posible de aquellos valores atribuidos por el modelo clásico. Y el énfasis está puesto en el término "posible", pues lo que se intenta es pensar empíricamente la democracia, pero sin perder de vista su dimensión normativa. Entonces, ¿qué es lo que hace preferible al sistema democrático (y es esto a lo que debe responder la filosofía política)?, ¿qué es lo que hace deseable a la democracia?, ¿es el hecho de que sea la mayoría la que gobierne, (hecho que no ocurre empíricamente hablando)?, ¿es la posibilidad de dar un lugar a cualquier grupo que desee hacer tanto una demanda como una oferta política?, ¿es la libre competencia por el poder?

Igualdad, democracia y élite

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la reacción de las distintas teorías democráticas frente a las teorías de la élite y la forma en que, a partir de una mutua penetración, incorporaron algunos de sus principios dando lugar a lo que se ha denominado como "elitismo democrático". Se trata de recuperar para la democracia la máxima expresión posible de aquellos valores atribuidos por el modelo clásico. Y el énfasis está puesto en el término "posible", pues lo que se intenta es pensar empíricamente la democracia, pero sin perder de vista su dimensión normativa. Entonces, ¿qué es lo que hace preferible al sistema democrático (y es esto a lo que debe responder la filosofía política)?, ¿qué es lo que hace deseable a la democracia?, ¿es el hecho de que sea la mayoría la que gobierne, (hecho que no ocurre empíricamente hablando)?, ¿es la posibilidad de dar un lugar a cualquier grupo que desee hacer tanto una demanda como una oferta política?, ¿es la libre competencia por el poder?

Igualdad, democracia y élite

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la reacción de las distintas teorías democráticas frente a las teorías de la élite y la forma en que, a partir de una mutua penetración, incorporaron algunos de sus principios dando lugar a lo que se ha denominado como "elitismo democrático". Se trata de recuperar para la democracia la máxima expresión posible de aquellos valores atribuidos por el modelo clásico. Y el énfasis está puesto en el término "posible", pues lo que se intenta es pensar empíricamente la democracia, pero sin perder de vista su dimensión normativa. Entonces, ¿qué es lo que hace preferible al sistema democrático (y es esto a lo que debe responder la filosofía política)?, ¿qué es lo que hace deseable a la democracia?, ¿es el hecho de que sea la mayoría la que gobierne, (hecho que no ocurre empíricamente hablando)?, ¿es la posibilidad de dar un lugar a cualquier grupo que desee hacer tanto una demanda como una oferta política?, ¿es la libre competencia por el poder?

Political Decision-Making in Switzerland. The Consensus Model under Pressure

This in-depth study of the decision-making processes of the early 2000s shows that the Swiss consensus democracy has changed considerably. Power relations have transformed, conflict has increased, coalitions have become more unstable and outputs less predictable. Yet these challenges to consensus politics provide opportunities for innovation.

Co-authorship Networks in Swiss Political Research

Co-authorship is an important indicator of scientific collaboration. Co-authorship networks are composed of sub-communities, and researchers can gain visibility by connecting these insulated subgroups. This article presents a comprehensive co-authorship network analysis of Swiss political science. Three levels are addressed: disciplinary cohesion and structure at large, communities, and the integrative capacity of individual researchers. The results suggest that collaboration exists across geographical and language borders even though different regions focus on complementary publication strategies. The subfield of public policy and administration has the highest integrative capacity. Co-authorship is a function of several factors, most importantly being in the same subfield. At the individual level, the analysis identifies researchers who belong to the “inner circle” of Swiss political science and who link different communities. In contrast to previous research, the analysis is based on the full set of publications of all political researchers employed in Switzerland in 2013, including past publications.

Revue du droit public et de la science politique en France et à l'étranger.

Editor: 1894- F. Larnaude.