The short-term and long-term effects of institutional reforms on party system nationalization

The impact of institutions on party system nationalization has traditionally been examined in a cross-national fashion. However, while in some cases institutional reforms may be expected to immediately affect party nationalization, in others, changes might take place over subsequent elections. In this paper, we argue that reforms affecting mainly elite coordination-such as decentralization-will take a longer time to have an impact on party system nationalization than reforms related to the mechanical effects of electoral laws, i.e. changes in the electoral system. In order to test this argument, we use error-correction models to test the impact of electoral reforms on party system nationalization in democratic elections held in 22 Western and Eastern European countries from 1945 to 2012. In accordance with our arguments, we show that both decentralization and the number of districts elected in the legislative power will have an impact on party system nationalization, but that the impact of the latter will manifest itself earlier

The Emotional Underpinnings of Populism : how Anger and Fear Affect Populist Attitudes

Altres ajuts: Ramon y Cajal (RYC-2012-09861)Popular accounts of populist movements often point to negative emotions as a key motivating factor underlying their support. However, little systematic research has been devoted to examining differences in how distinct negative emotions affect levels of populism among voters. This paper attempts to fill this gap by focusing on the influence of the two emotions most frequently connected to populism in political commentary: fear and anger. Informed by appraisal theories of emotions, we hypothesize that populist attitudes are driven by feelings of anger, rather than fear. Using a three-wave online panel survey of Spanish citizens between 2014 and 2016, we find that anger expressed over the economic crisis is consistently associated with variations in support for populism both between individuals and over time, whereas no significant effects emerge for expressions of fear. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the nature of populist support

Empowered and enraged : political efficacy, anger, and support for populism in Europe

This article addresses the psychological dynamics between internal political efficacy, emotions and support for populism. Contrary to the extended idea that populism is associated with low levels of political competence, it is argued that individuals' self-competence beliefs enhance populist attitudes. Individuals who conceive themselves as able to understand and participate effectively in politics are more critical towards politicians and more prone to consider that citizens could do a better job. The article also hypothesises that internal efficacy enhances the likelihood of experiencing anger, which in turn promotes populist attitudes. Experimental and comparative observational evidence shows robust direct effects of internal efficacy over populism, as well as a smaller indirect impact via feelings of anger. These findings raise important questions regarding the nature of populism and how to fight it in our emancipated and information-intensive democratic systems

Análisis del comportamiento de alumnos expertos resolutores de problemas en el contexto del concurso matemático Pruebas Cangur

Presentamos los resultados de una investigación que analiza las estrategias de estudiantes considerados expertos resolutores de problemas en el contexto del concurso Pruebas Canguro, con problemas de elección múltiple y tiempo limitado para resolverlos. Nuestro objetivo es entender mejor las estrategias de resolución utilizadas, el uso de las opciones de respuesta y cómo afecta el límite de tiempo a sus estrategias de resolución y a su confianza en las respuestas. Los estudiantes han resuelto dos bloques de problemas, uno en las condiciones del concurso y otro sin estos condicionantes. Establecemos una categorización para el grado de certeza que muestran los estudiantes en sus respuestas. No se observan diferencias importantes en la selección de estrategias ante la presencia o no de opciones de respuesta, pero sí en el porcentaje de aciertos, que concuerdan con diferencias en el nivel de confianza en el momento de dar una solución

Mediatriz, circuncentro y diagrama de voronoi en educación primaria: experimento con M&M’s

En este estudio se ha diseñado un taller manipulativo para alumnos de todos los cursos de primaria que se centra en los conceptos de mediatriz, circuncentro y diagramas de Voronoi. A través de visualizar el concepto de mediatriz entendido como la recta de puntos que están a igual distancia de dos puntos dados, se amplía su conceptualización al ver que están a igual distancia de tres puntos y el paso a la generalización consiste en realizar los diagramas de Voronoi. Se han recogido datos de las distintas fases del taller en las diferentes etapas educativas y se muestran resultados de los distintos niveles de intervenciones de los alumnos durante la realización del taller

Aprendiendo a enseñar matemáticas a partir de la propia experiencia

International Conference on University Teaching and Innovation, CIDUI 2014, 2-4 July 2014, Tarragona, SpainEn este artículo se presenta una experiencia de innovación docente en la enseñanza y aprendizaje de las matemáticas con alumnos del Grado de Educación Primaria. Los resultados de la experimentación indican el potencial de emular una actividad de resolución de problemas de Fermi para alumnos de primaria como alternativa a la clase magistral. El objetivo es reflexionar sobre las características del aprendizaje matemático de los alumnos y la gestión del aula.An experience of educational innovation in teaching and learning mathematics with primary student teachers is presented in this report. The obtained data point out the power of emulating Fermi problem solving activities as an alternative to lectures. Our aim is to promote reflection on the characteristics of primary students' mathematical learning and classroom management

Government Formations in the Netherlands : A historical

In this study we are investing in the duration of government training, electoral volatility, fragmentation and polarization of the party system. To investigate, the legislative elections in Holland are used between 1948 and 2017. This study uses complementary strategic debts. In an initial place, it is a realization of quantities studied by means of a regression of generalized minimum squares. Secondly, an analysis is complemented by a more similar system design, which allows investigating the causal mechanism. It is not yet discovered that electoral volatility as the fragmentation of the party system has a substantial impact on the government's training durationAquest estudi investiga la relació entre la durada de la formació del govern, la volatilitat electoral, la fragmentació i la polarització del sistema de partits. Per investigar-ho, s'utilitzen les eleccions legislatives a Holanda entre el 1948 i el 2017. L'estudi utilitza dues estratègies empíriques complementàries. En primer lloc, es realitza un estudi quantitatiu mitjançant una regressió de mínims quadrats generalitzats. En segon lloc, es complementa l'anàlisi mitjançant un most similar system design, que ens permet investigar el mecanisme causal. L'estudi descobreix que tant la volatilitat electoral com la fragmentació del sistema de partits tenen un impacte substancial en la durada de formació del govern

When the context matters: identity, secession and the spatial dimension in Catalonia

Regional and national identities are significant determinants of people's support for secession. Most previous works, however, have implicitly assumed that national identity has a linear unconditional effect. We complement previous works by showing that the relationship between identity and support for secession changes as a function of the context in which an individual interacts, an effect particularly important among those with mixed national and regional identities. The first stage of our empirical analysis is based on a pool of 22,000 individuals in the context of Catalonia (Spain). Findings confirm that dual-identity individuals are especially affected by their immediate surroundings: the probability to vote in favour of independence among them substantially increases when the percentage of people speaking Catalan increases. On a second stage, we explore the existence of a social interaction mechanism by employing a survey that measures the preferences of people's close networks. We show that individual's interaction in like-minded networks modifies the relationship between identity and secession, with the effect being again strong among dual-identity individuals. This group is six times more likely to vote for secession when having only pro-secession close contacts, as compared to having none. These results have implications for studies on regionalism and preferences for territorial decentralization