This paper assesses the relationship between non-programmatic parties (NPP) and participation following the - effect-of-the-causes - approach. Using the method of process-tracing it identifies the causal mechanisms linking non-programmatic parties and one of the dimensions of democratic quality...

As more women compete against other women for political office, new questions can be addressed regarding the influence of candidate gender on voters' choices. In this study, we examine voter choice in a race where both major party candidates are women. We compare this race to a male versus male...

The 'decoy effect' is a concept readily understood in behavioral economics, but not often examined in political science contexts, and to my knowledge rarely in the setting of vote choice. This paper examines the prevalence of the decoy effect with multivariate models of English local elections...

America has a divided social system in which both the public and private sectors provide benefits and services. The relationship between party control and public social spending is well known. Yet, most citizens receive social insurance through the private sector and the government heavily...

This paper presents a model that reconciles Downsian voting models that assume parties move to the middle, with the political party literature that shows parties as offering distinctly different positions and remaining more extreme than most voters. It argues that in single district plurality...

Immigrants in the United States frequently express a desire to return to their country of birth, an attitude that could undermine political acculturation and democratic inclusion in the American context. This mindset has been labeled an “ideology of return.” Drawing from original surveys of...

Several authors have asserted that dominant party rule is perpetuated, in part, by uneven access to media and advertising. Dominant parties enjoy relatively free media exposure through state-run enterprises, while opposition parties struggle for exposure, or so the argument goes. I test this...

The European Parliament is a unique opportunity to study the development of trans-national democracy. The formation of European level 'political groups', consisting of like-minded political parties from across member states, has created a distinctly left-right, and not national, pattern of...

Aldrich's (1995) revisionist account of American political party formation has received widespread acclaim within political science. Yet competing explanations of party formation provide a clearer account of when and why American political parties formed in the early republic. Contrary to...

Food democracy is an important issue for human security globally. This paper seeks to address the effects of historical relationships like colonial and trading partnerships, to see their effect on present human relations. Natural resources are a scarce and food, along with its politics, has...