Larger parties at the centre of the political spectrum are more likely to be representative of their voters than smaller, more extreme parties.

What factors influence how closely the positions of political parties match the positions of their voters? Based on a study of 189 parties across Europe, Ana Belchior identifies some of the key variables that explain congruence between the positions of politicians and voters. Her primary conclusion is that parties in the centre of the political spectrum are more likely to be representative than those on the left or right

Explaining Left-Right Party Congruence across European Party Systems: A Test of Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Level Models.

WOS:000314477100003 (Nº de Acesso Web of Science)Empirical studies on representation have been based mainly on the descriptive analysis of levels of political or ideological congruence between MPs and voters. Very few studies focus on explaining congruence, and those that have done so do not explore all the explanatory dimensions. This article contributes to filling this gap by testing whether three theoretical models can explain left–right congruence among European parties. These models explore causality at the micro or individual level (the characteristics of voters and MPs), the meso level (party characteristics), and the macro or system level (party system and institutional characteristics). Based on data from the PIREDEU project, the study examines the party systems of the 27 countries of the European Union with reference to the 2009 European Parliament elections. The findings reveal that MP–voter congruence is best explained at the party level and by key MP candidate characteristics

Ideological congruence among European political parties

Do European political parties represent the ideology of their voters well? This research aims to provide an empirical appreciation of the levels to which Members of Parliament (MPs) ideologically represent their electorate within political parties in 12 European countries. The variable used is left–right self-placement and representation is measured through congruence. Three main hypotheses are tested. First, MPs express greater ideological extremism than voters. Second, MPs have biased perceptions on the positioning of their electorate. Third, New Left parties exhibit higher levels of representation than the other parties. This article's findings reveal that only the second hypothesis can be supported without restriction

Party political representation in Portugal

This study analyses the degree to which Portuguese parties represent their electorates. In this instance, representation is measured by the degree of congruence between those who vote and those who are elected. The analysis has two dimensions: ideological positioning and attitudes towards democracy. On the first dimension, it appears that, compared to the voters, the parliamentary elite is ideologically more extreme. On the second dimension, one finds that elites are more favourable towards democracy than the electorates they represent

Are green political parties more post-materialist than other parties?

Among other social and political changes, post-materialist theory anticipated the need to strengthen democracy in political institutions in post-industrial societies. This change in political values would mean that in addition to growth in post-materialist values, parties would be pushed to take an alternative view of politics that would entail greater assimilation of democratic procedures. This paper partially and empirically tests the validity of this explanation in four European party systems. The Greens are the focus, since they are considered the parties that best fit the post-materialist profile. In particular, the paper aims to ascertain whether the Greens display a significantly better positioning in respect to support for democracy and the congruence of their voters than other parties, as theory leads us to believe. The explanation of higher levels of party congruence is also expected to be related to post-materialist party features. The findings of this research did not show enough evidence to validate our theoretical expectations

Explaining MPs' perceptions of voters' positions in a party-mediated representation system: evidence from the portuguese case

WOS:000336233200009 (Nº de Acesso Web of Science)The article addresses the crucial but still relatively understudied issue of political perceptions, specifically the perceptions of members of parliament (MPs) regarding the positioning of voters on the left–right spectrum, and the accuracy thereof. It focuses on the Portuguese case, which differs from others studied to date in terms of the links between MPs and voters (in contrast to prior research, Portuguese voters do not vote for an MP candidate but for a party list; the representation process is mediated by political parties). The article begins by characterizing Portuguese MP perceptions of voters’ left–right positions, and then explores the reasons for MPs’ perceptual accuracy. The findings show that MP perceptions are shaped by wishful thinking, reiterating previous research, and that party integration is an important new factor explaining perceptual accuracy

Party Democracy and Party Representation: an Assessment of Post-Materialist Forecasts

One of the social and political changes that post-materialist theory anticipated was the need for the democratic deepening of political institutions in modern democracies. This change in political values would mean that, together with an expansion in post-materialist values, parties would be pushed towards an alternative view of politics which would mean greater assimilation of democratic procedures. This paper tests the validity of this explanation in four European party systems. Specifically, it aims to ascertain if most post-materialist parties (the Greens) display a significantly better position in their support for democracy and voter representation than other parties, as post-materialist theory leads us to believe. It also tests whether the explanation for higher levels of party representation is related to post-materialist party features. The findings of this research do not show enough evidence to validate the literature‟s theoretical expectations.Entre outras mudanças sociais e políticas, a teoria pós-materialista antecipou a necessidade de aprofundamento democrático das instituições políticas nas democracias modernas. Esta mudança nos valores políticos significaria que os partidos, a par do crescimento dos valores pós-materialistas, seriam levados a adoptar uma perspectiva alternativa sobre a política que implicaria uma maior assimilação dos procedimentos democráticos. Este paper pretende testar a validade desta explicação em quatro sistemas partidários europeus. Visa, especificamente, confirmar se os partidos mais pós-materialistas (os Verdes) detêm uma posição significativamente melhor no que respeita ao apoio à democracia e à representação dos seus eleitores, por comparação aos outros partidos, como a teoria pós-materialista sugere. Pretende ainda verificar se a explicação de níveis mais elevados de representação partidária está relacionada com características partidárias pós-materialistas. Os resultados da pesquisa não fornecem evidência suficiente que permita validar estas expectativas teóricas

Saúde percebida e comportamentos de saúde na adolescência

Dissertação de mest., Psicologia Clínica e da Saúde, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Univ. do Algarve, 2011Neste trabalho procuramos estudar como é que os adolescentes percepcionam a sua saúde e de que modo esta percepção está associada aos seus comportamentos de saúde e a características sócio-demográficas e familiares. Foram inquiridos 644 adolescentes da população escolar dos distritos de Faro e Setúbal. Para a avaliação das variáveis em estudo utilizámos a versão reduzida do questionário do estudo Health Behaviour School Children (HBSC) (Currie, Hurrelmann, Settertobulte, Smith & Todd, 2000), o KIDSCREEN-52 (The KIDSCREEN Group, 2004) e ainda um questionário de dados sócio-demográficos e familiares. No global, os resultados apontam para relações significativas entre as variáveis em estudo e sugerem que, em particular, o consumo de substâncias e um historial de retenções académicas parecem estar associados a uma percepção mais negativa de saúde, enquanto os comportamentos promotores de saúde surgem associados a uma percepção positiva de saúde. De igual modo, foi encontrada uma associação estatisticamente significativa entre o consumo de substâncias e o tipo de estrutura familiar do adolescente e, com um início precoce de actividade sexual. Finalmente, destacamos a associação encontrada entre comportamentos de saúde, o género sexual e a fase de adolescência

Regimes of collaborative innovation : application to the portuguese collaborative laboratories 2018-2022

Mestrado Bolonha em Economia e Gestão de Ciência, Tecnologia e InovaçãoRecognising collaboration as a privileged innovation strategy for tackling complex problems, public policies aimed at strengthening the institutional basis of the Science and Technology System have contributed to the institutionalisation of new forms of collaboration between the public and private sectors in Portugal. In this context, the emergence of institutions oriented to innovation and markets development, through mechanisms of co-responsibility between partners, sharing of risks and costs, and ownership of objectives and benefits, is particularly relevant. In this framework, this dissertation attempts to provide new evidence on regimes of collaborative innovation, making use of the experience of Collaborative Laboratories implemented in Portugal in the period 2018-2022. Adopting a conceptual model in which three different regimes evolve – Disruptive, Technology Push and Market Pull, analysis shows that the collaborative innovation process depends upon a complex and diversified set of input-output variables, including relative stakeholder relationships, autonomy and the level of capacities required to develop sophisticated products and services to global markets and stimulate the creation of qualified employment and externalities related with the quality of jobs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Is Party Type Relevant to an Explanation of Policy Congruence? Catch-all versus Ideological Parties in the Portuguese Case

WOS:000319128500003 (Nº de Acesso Web of Science)Most research on policy congruence has failed to provide an explanation for it. Party characteristics are acknowledged to be relevant, but the literature has not achieved a consensus as to their effective importance. Nor has there thus far been an analysis of the implications for results of using different methods to assess congruence. The present article seeks to test the importance of party type (catchall versus ideological) for an explanation of levels of intra-party congruence, with a control using the main congruence-assessment methods. The article focuses on the Portuguese party system and makes use of a set of 19 policy issues across two dimensions: socioeconomic left–right and libertarian–authoritarian (plus left–right self-placement), which introduces additional controls of the assessment of party-type relevance. As far as we know, such an in-depth analysis of party-type congruence has not been done before. Findings support the notion that Portuguese catchall parties tend to display higher levels of MP–voter congruence than ideological parties, but the type of policy issue is also relevant: levels of congruence diverge across parties depending on the issue at stake. These results were supported by the different methods used