Party system closure and openness: conceptualization, operationalization and validation

The degree of closure of the governmental arena is a central aspect of the stabilization of party systems, and yet little systematic effort has been devoted to its operationalization. The article proposes a new index, examines its reliability and validity, and reports the ranking of 60 party systems. By redefining the units of measurement we suggest new indicators that are uniform and transparent in their logic of construction, can be applied both to specific government-changes and to time periods, and are sensitive to the degree of change. The article finds a hierarchy among the components of party system closure, dominated by coalition formula. While new and established democracies can both produced closed patterns, the analysis of inter-war European party systems shows that closed systems are less prone to authoritarian takeover. The article demonstrates the power of inertia: the completely closed configurations stand out as the most durable ones

Support for European Integration

This chapter examines generalized support for the EU rather than attitudes towards specific institutions and policies. Theories about its origin are subjected to more comprehensive empirical tests than previous analyses attempted, using time-series cross-section data covering all member states from the 1970s to 2007. The dynamic relationship between EU-support and national economic and political developments follows a transfer, rather than substitution logic, while increasing trade with EU member states, high cognitive mobilization, low welfare spending, Catholicism and favourable labour market position all contribute to favourable dispositions towards EU-membership. Other often suggested influences on EU support appear inconsistently across nations or time, which we attribute to the nature of the EU itself that generates diverse, contradictory, and ever-changing expectations among citizens

This time it’s different? Effects of the Eurovision Debate on young citizens’ and its consequence for EU democracy – evidence from a quasi-experiment in 24 countries

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.For the very first time in EU history, the 2014 EP elections provided citizens with the opportunity to influence the nomination of the Commission President by casting a vote for the main Europarties’ ‘lead candidates’. By subjecting the position of the Commission President to an open political contest, many experts have formulated the expectation that heightened political competition would strengthen the weak electoral connection between EU citizens and EU legislators, which some consider a root cause for the EU’s lack of public support. In particular, this contest was on display in the so-called ‘Eurovision Debate’, a televised debate between the main contenders for the Commission President broadcasted live across Europe. Drawing on a quasi-experimental study conducted in 24 EU countries, we find that debate exposure led to increased cognitive and political involvement and EU support among young citizens. Unfortunately, the debate has only reached a very small audience

Unboxing the vague notion of policy goals: comparison of Croatian public policies

IN ENGLISH: This study aims at empirically improving public policy theory by unfolding the concept of policy goals and contributing to their classifications. The research focuses on the thematic dimension of policy goals and investigates 11 Croatian governmental strategies using qualitative content analysis. The research identifies original policy goal types and classifies them into sector‐, process‐, evaluation‐, instrument‐, and value‐oriented goals. Article concludes with a more comprehensive definition of policy goals, as governmental statements about desired futures in relation to specific sectoral purposes, values, and principles in democratic political systems, policymaking process improvements, necessary instrumental innovations, and evaluation standards that should be fulfilled. The application of this definition and developed goals’ classification reveals that elements of policy‐process theories, evaluation research, policy design theory and instrument analysis, democracy theory, and sector‐specific research need to be synthesized to better understand the concept of policy goals and to advance their research. --------------- IN CROATIAN: Cilj ovog članka je empirijski poboljšati teoriju javnih politika razvijanjem koncepta ciljeva politike i doprinosom njihovoj klasifikaciji. Istraživanje se fokusira na tematsku dimenziju ciljeva politike i istražuje 11 hrvatskih vladinih strategija pomoću kvalitativne analize sadržaja. Istraživanje identificira izvorne vrste ciljeva politike i klasificira ih na ciljeve usmjerene na sektor, proces, procjenu, instrument i vrijednost. Članak završava opsežnijom definicijom ciljeva politike, kao vladine izjave o željenoj budućnosti u odnosu na određene sektorske svrhe, vrijednosti i načela u demokratskim političkim sustavima, poboljšanja procesa donošenja politika, potrebne instrumentalne inovacije i standarde ocjenjivanja koje treba ispuniti. Primjena ove klasifikacije i klasifikacija razvijenih ciljeva otkriva da elemente teorija političkih procesa, istraživanja evaluacije, teorije dizajna politika i analize instrumenata, teorije demokracije i specifičnih sektorskih istraživanja treba sintetizirati kako bi se bolje razumio koncept ciljeva politike i kako bi unaprijedili svoja istraživanja