The European elections in Central and Eastern EU states illustrate that the rise of Euroscepticism was far from uniform across Europe

The key story to emerge from the European elections in countries like France and the UK was the rise of Euroscepticism, but does this narrative apply to all countries across Europe? Tim Haughton and Tereza Novotna present an analysis of the elections in four Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. They write that while there has been a tendency to regard CEE states as distinct from those in Western Europe, this perspective is largely outdated and analyses of EU-wide political trends should pay as much attention to smaller states in the East as they do to larger states in the West. When adopting this perspective it is apparent that the rise in Euroscepticism was not a Europe-wide trend, but rather confined to individual countries

Having won Slovenia’s elections, political newcomer Miro Cerar will have to make tough decisions if he is to bring stability to a new government

Slovenia held parliamentary elections on 13 July. Alenka Krašovec and Tim Haughton assess the results of the election, which saw a newly formed party led by Miro Cerar win the largest share of the vote. They write that the key challenge for Cerar will be to retain his new party’s appeal while making the tough decisions necessary to solve the country’s economic problems

Leading the Way, but Also Following the Trend : The Slovak National Party

Despite spells outside parliament, with its blend of nationalist and populist appeals the Slovak National Party (SNS) has been a prominent fixture on Slovakia’s political scene for three decades. Unlike some of the newer parties in Slovakia and across the region, partly as a product of the point of its (re-)creation, SNS has a comparable organizational density to most established parties in the country and has invested in party branches and recruiting members. Although ordinary members exercised some power and influence during the fissiparous era of the early 2000s, SNS has been notable for the role played by its leader in decision-making and steering the party. Each leader placed their stamp on the projection, pitch and functioning of the party, both as a decision-making organization and an electoral vehicle. Ordinary members have been largely—but not exclusively—relegated to the role of cheerleaders and campaigners for the party’s tribunes; a situation which has not changed significantly in the era of social media. The pre-eminent position of the leader and the limited options for “voice” has led unsuccessful contenders for top posts and their supporters to opt instead for “exit.” Despite having some of the traits of the mass party and having engaged in some of the activities common for mass parties, especially in the earlier years of its existence, in more recent times in particular, SNS falls short of the mass party model both in aspiration and reality

There are such people:the role of corruption in the 2021 parliamentary elections in Bulgaria

Voters often express a dislike for corruption, yet on election day, they still vote for corrupt politicians. While existing research highlights the impact of information and concern about corruption on voter behavior, our novel theoretical approach integrates three elements–dislike, knowledge, and care–to better understand corruption's role in parliamentary elections. We test this framework on Bulgaria, a nation grappling with pervasive corruption. Using a commissioned survey from Alpha Research, we discover that voters who have a dislike for corruption, can identify a party as corrupt, and consider corruption when voting are significantly less likely to support a corrupt party

Corruption, Campaigning, and Novelty: The 2020 Parliamentary Elections and the Evolving Patterns of Party Politics in Slovakia

Party politics across Central and Eastern Europe has become less structured. Many of the divides that anchored political competition have waned in recent years, weakening the attachment of voters to the existing palette of parties and making them more likely to be attracted to new and non-traditional electoral vehicles. But for such parties to succeed at the ballot box, they need to be able to frame elections and campaign effectively. Drawing on data from a specially commissioned survey, we find that the success of Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) led by Igor Matovič in the 2020 parliamentary elections in Slovakia owed much to the crafting of an anti-corruption appeal combined with an effective campaign. Both mobilization and conversion of voters, particularly through television and the leaders’ debates, in the months leading up to election day ensured OĽaNO won a quarter of the vote. OĽaNO stands in stark contrast to other parties whose leaders failed to craft as effective a message, miscalculated the impact of electoral rules and in some cases were unable to distance themselves enough from their past actions. The success of OĽaNO underlines that themes related to anti-corruption and good governance have become central to party politics and political contestation. More broadly, the election and its aftermath continued a general trend of forward movement of voters from old parties to new to newer still, indicating the churn of party politics in Slovakia is likely to continue

Privlačnost novog: nove stranke i promjena stranačkog sustava u Sloveniji

Slovenski stranački sustav dugo je slovio kao jedan od dosadnih, stabilnih stranačkih sustava u srednjoj i istočnoj Europi

Etablirana privlačnost novoga: slovenski parlamentarni izbori 2018. godine

Ovogodišnji slovenski izbori nisu samo naglasili privlačnost stranaka koje obećavaju novu politiku, već i snagu osobnosti, učinkovitost protuimigrantske retorike te važnost vođenja predizborne kampanje

Etablirana privlačnost novoga: slovenski parlamentarni izbori 2018. godine

Ovogodišnji slovenski izbori nisu samo naglasili privlačnost stranaka koje obećavaju novu politiku, već i snagu osobnosti, učinkovitost protuimigrantske retorike te važnost vođenja predizborne kampanje

Streaming video: some practicalities

There are a number of difficulties in using videos and animations in learning and teaching packages, e.g., students lose them, fail to return them on time, and damage VHS tapes, CD-ROMs and DVDs. Additionally, it is not always possible for students to obtain access to such materials when they want them, e.g., laser video discs can only be accessed on site, the download times for video material from the Internet can be very long especially at certain times of the day, and material taken directly from the Internet is often not specific to the student’s needs. An answer to these difficulties is to deliver, i.e., ‘stream’, the appropriate video and audio material, subject to copyright clearance and licensing, on the institution’s Intranet. A number of sources, e.g., British Universities Film and Video Council (http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/), have described and discussed the background to this topic in considerable detail and the names of commercial companies, which can provide ‘streaming’ services, are available via the BUFVC web site. At Southampton we have delivered the videos on ‘Practical Laboratory Chemistry’, produced by the Chemistry Video Consortium (http://www.chemistry.soton.ac.uk/cvc/), over a local 100Mbps network by two routes. In this Technical Note we shall not discuss the theoretical aspects of ‘streaming’ (see above) but rather we shall describe our practical experiences, which we hope will be useful

The volatility of volatility: measuring change in party vote shares

Volatility is a widely used term in political science, but even the most widely used measure of volatility, Pedersen's index, can mask as much as it reveals. His simple and elegant calculation has become part of the political science toolbox, but scholars employing this tool have tended to produce distinctly different results thanks to a series of decisions about measurement and classification. Using examples from Central Europe the critical role of decisions related to party continuity and threshold of inclusion are identified. The article not only unpacks the underlying questions addressed by different uses of Peder- sen's index, but offers standards for choosing particular methods over others and outlines steps that should be followed in creating a more accurate measure of volatility