An election outcome reflects institutional, behavioural and attitudinal influences. We set out a model showing it is a function of the electoral system, the offices at stake and the number of parties competing as well as the choices of voters and the level of turnout. Therefore, any attempt to...

Although analyses of democracy and governance may be complementary rather than in conflict, they are not identical. This article compares the EU criteria for evaluating applicants for membership with those of democracy indexes. It uses data from the 13- country New Europe Barometer surveys of...

This article develops and tests empirically a theory of the effect on political trust of forms of behaviour that violate social, political and legal norms about how politicians ought to behave. These include taking money for favours, over-indulging in private life and making misleading promises...

Representative democracy gives voters the right to influence who governs but its influence on policy making is only indirect. Free and fair referendums give voters the right to decide a policy directly. Elected representatives usually oppose referendums as redundant at best and as undermining...

An election outcome reflects institutional, behavioural and attitudinal influences. We set out a model showing it is a function of the electoral system, the offices at stake and the number of parties competing as well as the choices of voters and the level of turnout. Therefore, any attempt to...

In totalitarian systems informal social networks are very important as means of insulating individuals and families from pervasive repression by an intrusive state. This was particularly so in the Soviet Union, since in furtherance of the state's attempt to transform Russia, anti-modern means...

The economic crisis facing national governments is first of all a macro-economic crisis involving vast sums controlled by a small number of institutions, private as well as public, international as well as national. This analysis uses survey data to show that the micro-economic effects of the...

Major proponents and opponents of European integration debate issues in terms of absolute values and ideology. Pragmatism offers a third way: it judges specific policies on the basis of experience -- and after more than half a century there is a lot of EU experience to judge. It analyses the...

This paper expands the conventional model of responsible party government to take into account the effect of trans-national constraints on nationally elected governments. It starts by systematically comparing the closed model of national party government with that of a governing party subject to...