1,284 research outputs found

    Political Campaign Manual

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    This manual is geared toward a campaign that is grassroots and democratic, actively engaging citizens and campaign volunteers. Such a campaign is ecological in its use of resources as well as in its policy positions. A people's campaign is one in which means and ends are harmoniously interwoven: the conduct of the campaign is fully reflective of the values and political positions of the candidate. It shows its commitment to social justice through inclusion of diverse citizens in its deliberations.Jamaica Political Campaign Manual,Jamaica development, Political Campaign manual, Campaign Manual

    Electronic Ballot Boxes: Legal Obstacles to Voting over the Internet

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    Selling Favors in the Lab: Experiments on Campaign Finance Reform

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    Substantial academic interest and public policy debate centers on campaign finance reform. Campaign resources can provide benefits to constituencies if candidates use them to fund the distribution of useful information. On the other hand, voters can potentially be harmed if candidates trade policy favors to special interests in exchange for contributions. Unfortunately, because informative field data on this topic are very difficult to obtain, the effects of different campaign finance strategies on election outcomes and economic welfare remain largely uninformed by empirical analyses. This paper reports data from novel laboratory experiments designed to shed light on the campaign finance debate. Our experiment is based on a model where power-hungry candidates are motivated to trade favors for campaign contributions. Our data is consistent with the model’s predictions. We find that voters’ revise their beliefs in response to candidate advertising in a way that is consistent with theory. Moreover, in relation to privately financed electoral competitions, in publicly financed campaigns (i) high-quality candidates are elected more frequently, and (ii) margins of victory are larger. Both of these outcomes are predicted by theory. We conduct policy experiments on various campaign finance strategies, including the widely suggested caps on private fundraising. Our results suggest that caps can improve voter welfare but do not increase the likelihood that high-quality candidates will be elected.

    Capitalizing On Infinitesimal Calculus In Political Marketing

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    The calculus, known to be a branch of mathematics dealing with differentiation and integration of variable quantities, is used to solve many mathematical problems. This paper explores these problem-solving qualities of calculus to determine how they enhance the practice of political marketing in our rapidly democratizing world. More importantly, science and technology are known to be providing appreciable impetus in every sphere of human endeavour and political marketing is no exception. Another objective of this paper therefore, is to interrogate the nature and dimension of this impetus within the context of electoral politics with specific reference to political marketing practice

    Voters, Candidates, and Campaigns in the New Information Age

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    New information technologies are slowly changing the conduct of campaigns and elections in the United States. This article provides an overview and synthesis of extant research on the use of this technology by candidates, journalists, and voters and discusses the implications for elections and democratic governance in the United States

    Party System Compactness: Measurement and Consequences

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    An important property of any party system is the set of choices it presents to the electorate. In this paper we analyze the distribution of parties relative to voters in the multidimensional issue space and introduce two measures of the dispersion of the parties in the issue space relative to the voters, which we call measures of the compactness of the parties in the issue space. We show how compactness is easily computed using standard survey items found on national election surveys. Because we study the spacing of the parties relative to the distribution of the voters, we produce metric-free measures of compactness of the party system. The measures can be used to compare party systems across issues, over time within countries, and across countries. Comparing the compactness of party systems across countries allows us to determine the relative amount of issue choice afforded voters in different polities. We examine the compactness of the issue space and test the impact it has on voter choice in four countries: the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, and Great Britain. We demonstrate that the more compact the distribution of the parties in the issue space on any given issue, the less voters weight that issue in their vote decision. Thus we provide evidence supporting theories suggesting that the greater the choice offered by the parties in an election, the more likely it is that issue voting will play a major role in that election

    Data for Democracy: Improving Elections Through Metrics and Measurement

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    Compiles essays on improving election data collection and reporting, management, and usage; how data improve elections; and other issues raised in a May 2008 conference; with policy recommendations. Includes a state-by-state assessment of data reporting

    Economic themes and style variables in presidential nomination acceptance speeches 1928-1968

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