Do People Vote on the Basis of Minimax Regret?

Rational choice theory has yet to provide a satisfactory explanation of voter turnout. One such account, minimax regret, is analyzed using data from a survey involving students at two Canadian universities during the 1993 Canadian federal election campaign. While the minimax regret hypothesis is supported at the bivariate level, it fails to pass a multivariate test in which other components of the calculus of voting are included. Minimax regret appears to be little more than a rationalization on the part of those having a strong sense of duty to vote.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68661/2/10.1177_106591299504800408.pd

Shared decision making and experiences of patients with long-term conditions : has anything changed?

Background Medication problems among patients with long-term conditions (LTCs) are well documented. Measures to support LTC management include: medicine optimisation services by community pharmacists such as the Medicine Use Review (MUR) service in England, implementation of shared decision making (SDM), and the availability of rapid access clinics in primary care. This study aimed to investigate the experience of patients with LTCs about SDM including medication counselling and their awareness of community pharmacy medication review services. Methods A mixed research method with a purposive sampling strategy to recruit patients was used. The quantitative phase involved two surveys, each requiring a sample size of 319. The first was related to SDM experience and the second to medication counselling at discharge. Patients were recruited from medical wards at St. George’s and Croydon University Hospitals.The qualitative phase involved semi-structured interviews with 18 respiratory patients attending a community rapid access clinic. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis using inductive/deductive approaches was employed. Survey results were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results The response rate for surveys 1 and 2 survey was 79% (n = 357/450) and 68.5% (240/350) respectively. Survey 1 showed that although 70% of patients had changes made to their medications, only 40% were consulted about them and two-thirds (62.2%) wanted to be involved in SDM. In survey 2, 37.5% of patients thought that medication counselling could be improved. Most patients (88.8%) were interested in receiving the MUR service; however 83% were not aware of it. The majority (57.9%) were interested in receiving their discharge medications from community pharmacies. The interviews generated three themes; lack of patient-centered care and SDM, minimal medication counselling provided and lack of awareness about the MUR service. Conclusion Although patients wanted to take part in SDM, yet SDM and medication counselling are not optimally provided. Patients were interested in the MUR service; however there was lack of awareness and referral for this service. The results propose community pharmacy as a new care pathway for medication supply and counselling post discharge. This promotes a change of health policy whereby community-based services are used to enhance the performance of acute hospitals

The meaning of elections in transitional democracies: Evidence from Russia and Ukraine

The way in which citizens understand the meaning of elections may have a profound impact on the legitimation of transitional political systems. In post-Communist systems, this legitimation depends on the development of feelings that elections perform the functions of achieving accountability of elected officials, influencing policy direction of government and gaining personal benefits. Surveys in Russia and Ukraine at the time of elections in 1993 and 1994 show that those attaching such meanings to elections were most likely to display political interest and support system legitimacy, but that such people were a minority of the electorate. Popular acceptance of elections as legitimate democratic institutions in the future will depend on their ability to perform the functions of accountability, policy influence and personal benefit. Copyrigh

Activating the citizen: Dilemmas of participation in Europe and Canada

The decline of citizen involvement affects two key elements of democratic government: elections and political parties. Activating the Citizen examines the reasons underlying citizen withdrawal and explores and assesses innovative approaches on both sides of the Atlantic to try to counter these phenomena

Citizen orientations to political parties in Russia

A combination of factors renders problematic the establishment of a competitive party system in Russia. Survey evidence from the period of the 1993 Duma election is used to examine the nature of attitudes to parties; these are found to be more supportive than might have been expected. The extent of public orientations to party is found to relate to interest in politics and belief in the meaningfulness of elections. General similarity in party orientation is found to exist among parties of different sizes and ideological stances. The importance of the development of public belief in political parties as a basis for democracy is emphasized

Turnout and the Party System in Canada, 1988-2004

Turnout in Canadian national elections declined sharply in the 1990s, especially among young voters. We argue that a prime cause is the parallel decline in electoral competitiveness. We demonstrate this by estimating an encompassing model of turnout, including indicators of party spatial location and riding-level competitiveness embedded in a setup that is sensitive to entering cohorts and the passage of time, broadly in the spirit of Franklin (2004). Data come from the Canadian Election Studies from 1988 to 2004. In addition to its main conclusions, the analysis generates new questions, especially about how voters derive information about competitiveness and about the relative importance of voters’ own reckonings and the strategic allocation of resources and effort by parties

Democratic Deficit or the Europeanisation of Secession? Explaining the Devolution Referendums in Scotland

This article deals with the variation in the demand for self-government in Scotland – as measured by the vote in the two referendums – between 1979, when devolution was rejected, and 1997, when devolution was endorsed. The existing literature mainly deals with each of the two referendums in isolation and does not offer an explicitly comparative analysis of them. However, implicit comparisons contained in analyses of the 1997 referendum tend to identify as the main cause of the variation the 'democratic deficit' created by Conservative rule between 1979 and 1997, which was consistently rejected in Scotland. I take issue with this explanation on theoretical and empirical grounds and advances an alternative account grounded in an explicit comparison of the two referendums. Based on a rationalist approach, the analysis presented here identifies three key elements in the voting dynamics at the two points in time – a gap between support for self-government and the actual vote in the referendum; an interaction effect between attitudes to devolution and to independence; and the role of the European context in shaping perceptions of independence. I argue that significant change in these three variables (rather than a 'democratic deficit') appear to have been the most important determinants of the different results of the two referendums