Exploring Political Disappointment

Disappointment is often identified as a pathology of modern politics; citizens expect much of politicians, yet governments are ill-equipped to deliver outcomes commensurate with those expectations. The net result is said to be a widespread disappointment; a negative balance between what citizens expect of government and what they perceive governments to deliver. Yet little attention has hitherto been paid to which kinds of citizens are particularly disappointed with politics, and why. This article offers one of the first empirical analyses of political disappointment. Drawing on a survey conducted in Britain, it provides a quantitative measure of political disappointment and explores its prevalence among citizens. It then considers which social groups might be more prone to disappointment than others. In particular, it explores whether certain groups are more disappointed by virtue of holding very high expectations of government or very low perceptions of government performance. The article concludes by considering what strategies might be open to policy makers to alleviate political disappointment

The constraining role of political culture in the deepening of new democracies: the case of Chile

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Honors.This paper examines the role of political culture in the development of Chilean democracy as a case study for other third-wave democracies in the Latin American region. The prioritization of political stability during the years of democratic transition - seen as essential by the political elite to prevent the political polarization that led to the 1973 coup d’etat - resulted in limited social reform and the dissatisfaction of the average Chilean with his political parties. Differences in the political culture of the political elite and at the mass level resulted in a delegitimization of democracy for the average citizen. The Chilean case highlights a growing issue of representation in Latin America and a general loss of faith in the democratic project

The Greens in the German federal elections of 2013

The German Greens had a disappointing election outcome on 22 September 2013. Its 8.4% of the vote, well below its record 10.7% in 2009, left the party shocked and dispirited

Activismo ciudadano y acontecimientos políticos en la transformación de la esfera pública digital en españa: del sms ¡pásalo! a Podemos

This paper discusses digital communication, activism and political system in Spain from a critical-historical perspective. The results of combined empirical and analytical research indicate that a critical digital public sphere emerged in 2004 affecting the evolution of the political sphere to this day. Traditional parties had a slow and instrumental approach to the digital realm. Conversely, cyber-activism unfolded new options of political action, both in the short and long term, transforming the bipartisan system.El artículo aborda la comunicación digital, el activismo y el sistema político en España desde una perspectiva crítica-histórica. Los resultados de una investigación empírica y analítica indican que en 2004 surgió una esfera pública digital crítica que afectó la evolución de la esfera política hasta hoy. Los partidos tradicionales se acercaron al entorno digital de manera lenta e instrumental. En cambio, el ciberactivismo abrió nuevas opciones de acción política, a corto y largo plazo, transformando el sistema bipartidista

From low-conflict polity to democratic civil peace: explaining Zambian exceptionalism

An absence of civil war and other significant sub-state violence makes Zambia an exceptional although not unique case in central-southern Africa. The literature devoted to explaining civil war has grown dramatically in recent years, but while it pays much attention to sub-Saharan Africa only rarely does it investigate counterfactual cases like Zambia. Similarly the growing field of research into post-conflict reconstruction fails to capture the distinct features of persistently low-conflict situations where many of the predisposing conditions for violent conflict might seem to be present. This paper examines Zambia’s experience against a background of general theories that try to explain conflict. It is an “interpretative case study”. The paper proceeds by substantiating Zambia’s claim to a relatively peaceful record and introduces ideas of conflict and conflict theories, before arguing that no single general theory dwelling on just one primary “cause” will suffice to explain Zambian exceptionalism. The precise mix of arguments differs for each one Zambia’s three republican eras, as the potential threats to peace have themselves evolved over the period since independence. The paper’s main theoretical claim is that over time the explanation is both multi-layered and dynamic. That said, certain features do stand out, most notably an inherited political culture that is predisposed against the violent resolution of conflict and continues to insulate the country against social and economic traumas and democratic shortcomings

dc-europe bulletin no. 1975.10

Published by Groupe democrate-chrétien du Parlement europée

Political Activity of Women and Men – the Psychosocial Determinants of Conventional Political Activity

Political activity is a type of social activity displayed by citizens. Observations and research indicate that gender can be a factor which conditions its degree and forms. Apart from biological gen­der, which shapes the societal roles of women and men, additional factors that are supposedly respon­sible for their activities include elements of the system of beliefs (i.e. acknowledged political values, conviction that political activity has an importance, level of satisfaction with democracy as well as individualism and collectivism understood as an element of individual’s mentality). The impact of those factors on degree of conventional political activities among women and men is the subject of surveys which were conducted in 2004, 2010, and 2014 on a group of 1048 students from Polish universities. The received results show that differences in political activity between surveyed men and women as well as varying determinants in both groups are slowly fading away. The most important predictors of women’s political activity include: conviction of its significance in democracy and (dis)satisfaction with the way it functions

Wasting a window of opportunity: Anticipated and experienced regret in intention-behavior consistency

preferences;voting;elections;regret theory

Human Rights and Post-War Reconstruction: Democratization in Bosnia

Democratization in post-conflict, post-Dayton Bosnia has been characterized by many scholars as a “noble experiment”: the West’s guinea pig for internationally initiated post-communist democratization. In a state so wearied by war and dictatorship, democracy would be expected to take root quickly and flourish. However, due to various cultural and political influences, what the Dayton Peace Agreement originally intended to quickly lead to Bosnia’s self-governance has instead resulted in the state’s crippling dependence on external actors. The articles in this section of this bibliography explore the myriad influences (primarily under the umbrella of ethnicity) on the process