Do populist parties really boost turnout at elections?

The presence and popularity of populist parties – right-wing in the US, radical right in the EU – raises significant questions about their consequences for democracy, democratic legitimacy, and political participation. Tim Immerzeel and Mark Pickup examine the role of these parties for a specific indicator of the quality of democracy: voter turnout. Based on an analysis of 33 European countries in the period 2002-2012, they show that the presence and popularity attracts some people to the polling booth, while demotivating others

To speak of populist radical right parties as a ‘corrective to democracy’ is—in terms of turnout—a misunderstanding

In America a right-wing populist has sparked debate about the state of American democracy, while European countries have increasing experience of populist radical right parties. The presence and popularity of these parties raises significant questions about their consequences for democracy, democratic legitimacy, and political participation. In a recent study, Tim Immerzeel and Mark Pickup examined the role of these parties for a specific indicator of the quality of democracy: voter turnout. Based on an analysis of 33 European countries in the period 2002-2012, they show that the presence and popularity attracts some people to the polling booth, while demotivating others

The conditionality of the trade-off between government responsiveness and effectiveness: the impact of minority status and polls in the Canadian House of Commons

There is an extensive literature on the relative virtues of different electoral systems in producing more responsive and effective governments, but far less attention has been paid to role of dynamic factors. This article examines how government minority/majority status and popularity shape the trade-off between government responsiveness and effectiveness. We argue that minority governments face legislative constraints that incentivize them to be responsive to the public, but that this comes at the expense of legislative effectiveness. This trade-off between responsiveness and effectiveness is, however, conditioned by the government's standing in the polls. The more popular a minority government is in the polls, the less responsive and the more effective it becomes. These propositions are tested using original time-series data on public policy preferences, government popularity, legislative output and public expenditures in Canada from 1958 to 2009. Our findings demonstrate that minority governments are more responsive to the median voter but less legislatively effective than majority governments, and that these effects are moderated by the popularity of the government

For and against Brexit: a survey experiment of the impact of campaign effects on public attitudes toward EU membership

What are the lessons of the 2016 referendum on UK membership of the European Union (EU) regarding the effects of message framing? This article reports findings from an innovative online survey experiment based on a two-wave panel design. The findings show that, despite the expectation that campaign effects are generally small for high-salience issues-such as Brexit-the potential for campaign effects was high for the pro-EU frames. This suggests that within an asymmetrical information environment-in which the arguments for one side of an issue (anti-EU) are 'priced in', while arguments for the other side (pro-EU) have been understated-the potential for campaign effects in a single direction are substantial. To the extent that this environment is reflected in other referendum campaigns, the potential effect of pro-EU frames may be substantial

Majority of Brits want a soft Brexit compromise, but leave voters don’t

With the battle over Brexit returning to the House of Commons with the Internal Market Bill, it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture: what the British public wants in terms of a longer-term relationship with the European Union. To try to find out, Simon Hix (LSE), Clifton van der Linden (McMaster University) and Mark Pickup (Simon Fraser University) conducted a survey experiment with a random sample of British voters, where they asked them to choose between hypothetical “package deals”. This forced voters to have to make trade-offs across key issues. When faced with such choices, British voters overall prefer a “softer” form of Brexit: where the UK applies EU regulatory standards in return for quota-free and tariff-free access to the EU’s single market. However, a majority of Leave voters prefer a much “harder” trade-off: of regulatory sovereignty but restrictions on UK exports. Reconciling this difference will continue to plague British politics

The structure of phosphate glass biomaterials from neutron diffraction and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance data

Neutron diffraction and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were used to probe the structure of phosphate glass biomaterials of general composition (CaO)0.5?x(Na2O)x(P2O5)0.5 (x = 0, 0.1 and 0.5). The results suggest that all three glasses have structures based on chains of Q2 phosphate groups. Clear structural differences are observed between the glasses containing Na2O and CaO. The P–O bonds to bridging and non-bridging oxygens are less well resolved in the neutron data from the samples containing CaO, suggesting a change in the nature of the bonding as the field strength of the cation increases Na+ ? Ca2+. In the (CaO)0.5(P2O5)0.5 glass most of the Ca2+ ions are present in isolated CaOx polyhedra whereas in the (Na2O)0.5(P2O5)0.5 glass the NaOx polyhedra share edges leading to a Na–Na correlation. The results of the structural study are related to the properties of the (CaO)0.4(Na2O)0.1(P2O5)0.5 biomaterial

Crossing the Line: Evidence for the Categorization Theory of Spatial Voting

Bølstad and Dinas (2017) propose a model of spatial voting, based on social identity theory, that suggests supporting a candidate/policy on the other side of the ideological spectrum has a disutility that is not accounted for by common spatial models. Unfortunately, the data they use cannot speak directly to whether the disutility arises because individuals perceive their ideology as a social identity. We present the results of an experimental study that measures the norm against crossing the ideological spectrum; tests the cost of doing so, controlling for spatial effects; and demonstrates that this cost increases with the salience and strength of identity norms. By demonstrating the norm mechanism for the disutility of crossing the ideological spectrum, we provide strong support for B&D\u27s model

Research Openness in Canadian Political Science: Toward an Inclusive and Differentiated Discussion

In this paper, we initiate a discussion within the Canadian political science community about research openness and its implications for our discipline.  This discussion is important because the Tri-Agency has recently released guidelines on data management and because a number of political science journals, from several subfields, have signed the Journal Editors’ Transparency Statement requiring data access and research transparency (DA-RT).  As norms regarding research openness develop, an increasing number and range of journals and funding agencies may begin to implement DA-RT-type requirements.  If Canadian political scientists wish to continue to participate in the global political science community, we must take careful note of and be proactive participants in the ongoing developments concerning research openness

Interlacing - extremal graphs

A graph G is singular if the zero-one adjacency matrix has the eigenvalue zero. The multiplicity of the eigenvalue zero is called the nullity of G. For two vertices y and z of G, we call (G, y, z) a device with respect to y and z. The nullities of G, G − y,  G − z and G − y − z classify devices into different kinds. We identify two particular classes of graphs that correspond to distinct kinds. In the first, the devices have the minimum allowed value for the nullity of G − y − z relative to that of G for all pairs of distinct vertices y and z of G. In the second, the nullity of G − y reaches the maximum possible for all vertices y in a graph G. We focus on the non–singular devices of the second kind.peer-reviewe

Effect of silver content on the structure and antibacterial activity of silver-doped phosphate-based glasses

Staphylococcus aureus can cause a range of diseases, such as osteomyelitis, as well as colonize implanted medical devices. In most instances the organism forms biofilms that not only are resistant to the body's defense mechanisms but also display decreased susceptibilities to antibiotics. In the present study, we have examined the effect of increasing silver contents in phosphate-based glasses to prevent the formation of S. aureus biofilms. Silver was found to be an effective bactericidal agent against S. aureus biofilms, and the rate of silver ion release (0.42 to 1.22 µg·mm–2·h–1) from phosphate-based glass was found to account for the variation in its bactericidal effect. Analysis of biofilms by confocal microscopy indicated that they consisted of an upper layer of viable bacteria together with a layer (20 µm) of nonviable cells on the glass surface. Our results showed that regardless of the silver contents in these glasses (10, 15, or 20 mol%) the silver exists in its +1 oxidation state, which is known to be a highly effective bactericidal agent compared to that of silver in other oxidation states (+2 or +3). Analysis of the glasses by 31P nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and high-energy X-ray diffraction showed that it is the structural rearrangement of the phosphate network that is responsible for the variation in silver ion release and the associated bactericidal effectiveness. Thus, an understanding of the glass structure is important in interpreting the in vitro data and also has important clinical implications for the potential use of the phosphate-based glasses in orthopedic applications to deliver silver ions to combat S. aureus biofilm infections