The article reflects on the diagnosis the levels of a sense of alienation in the context of voting behavior in elections to parliament in 2011. Social functioning, mental condition and the perception of the political scene are important primarily in the plane of the possibility of mobilization of individual electorates. It can be assumed that those who feel a sense of impact on the socio-political environment, recognizing the link between the actions taken by them and their effects are more likely to take part in elections. It is difficult to determine in which direction will influence the level of a sense of political alienation, as dissatisfaction with the current political scene, lack of trust in political leaders, the lack of any effect on its shape can result in one hand and the consequent withdrawal of political passivity, on the other – raise motivation to change the status quo through activity and voting for another party. A sense of an external anchor, the integration of values and other people may also be affected in two ways – firstly to provide the individual a sense of strength, support, and identification with a group of committed and interested in the election could translate into a significant mobilizing force, on the other, being in a safe place among the cherished values and loved ones can focus enough attention to the individual, that active participation of socio-political recedes into the background. The author`s research tool was used in the study – the Scale of Alienation ”Z”. It consists of measurements of three factors: a sense of powerlessness-power, a sense of political alienation-self-significant, sense of isolation-integration.
Research report „Political Behavior of the People of Toruń” is a part of a research project „People of Toruń on Politics”. The aim of the project was to learn about opinions, interest in politics and political activity, including electoral behavior of people who live in Toruń. The sample was composed of 350 people who filled in questionnaires. The results show that young people (up to 24) are less interested in politics then the older cohorts, that the main source of political knowledge are: TV and the Internet, and that the people who live in Toruń are not very engaged in political activities except voting. Not many of them are members of political parties or other political organizations; they rarely take part in political manifestations or marches. Analysis of electoral behavior of the sample suggests that the Civic Platform is loosing its popularity and the new parties, which emerged during the last electoral campaign, are popular mostly among the youngest.
The article seeks to answer the question of whether, and if yes – to what extent, voters are guided by economic issues in their decisions about electoral participation (activity or passivity in the elections). The analysis of this question was carried out in the context of declared electoral behavior of the respondents in elections which took place in 2014, namely to the European Parliament and the Polish regional (voivodship) parliaments. Detailed analysis was aimed at verifying the sociodemographic variables that could significantly differentiate the subjective importance of the economic factor in decisions taken on electoral participation. These empirical considerations took into account variables such as sex, age, education, marital status, financial situation, professional status and place of residence.
The article analyzes the origin and the entry into the Bundestag of the right-wing populist party AfD, as compared to other right-wing parties in postwar Germany. It presents the party’s program and internal divisions and shows change in the electorate of the extreme right. This electorate is not a margin any longer, but comes “from the very center” of society. The AfD’s profile in public is analyzed as well as its electoral campaign in which problems of immigration were dominating. At the end some political consequences of the presence of the first parliamentary group of a right-wing populist party in the Bundestag are discussed and some questions for further research formulated.
This paper is based on research into levels and characteristics of electoral participation in CEE states currently belonging to the European Union. The data covers the time period from 1989 to 2013 and excludes Croatia as the youngest formal member of the community. An analysis of voter turnout records proves the pattern of formal participation decline at an accelerated rate and with graver consequences in post-communist countries which joined the democratic community in the early 1990s. The author’s paradigm in the paper upholds the initial ideals and values of democracy - which presuppose the subjectivity and participation of citizens – and differentiates between these and the practical implications of modern forms of democracy, such as liberal democracy. That leads towards a discussion which highlights the social changes which occurred over the time period in question as the main cause of the observable inefficiency of electoral democracy in modern circumstances. Last but not least the paper makes an argument for socio-political alternatives and high probability of their flourishing in Central and Eastern Europe.
“Friends-and-neighbors voting”, that is, the tendency of voters to support local candidates (even in national elections) is a phenomenon known from a number of democracies. In this short article I focus on three constituencies to analyze it in the context of the Polish Senate election held in 2011. These analyses demonstrate a strong effect of “localness” of the candidates, despite the fact that the election was held in single-member districts, a system theoretically unfavorable to “friends- -and-neighbors voting”. At the same time, the above effect is much less pronounced in case of the candidates running on behalf of the two largest political parties. This suggests that some more general aspects of party competition at the national level may contribute to the suppression of the effect of the candidates’ personal traits, including their local roots, on their electoral success.
This article tries to examine the underpinning determinants of voting behavior in Sudan. It adopts a descriptive method and an inter-disciplinary approach with empirical explanation to verify the hypothesis that “voting behavior in Sudan is a function of religious sectarianism and ethnicity more than other determinants, such as ideology, class or socio-economic status.” It discusses the interrelationship between voting behavior and other relevant concepts, such as political behavior, electoral behavior, and political culture. It explains how several determinants/factors converge on influencing the voting behavior. The article notes that the vigorous influence of ethnicity and religious sectarianism over the political behavior in Sudan resulted in apparently irrational voting behavior. These two determinants have marked the political behavior in Sudan since it regained independence in 1956. However, the Uprising of 2018 ushered in an emergence of a new conscious generation that might lead to a paradigm shift for political and voting behavior. The article proposes the adoption of Consociational democracy with proportional representation and parliamentary system to guarantee the representation of minorities and sustain a fair share of power and wealth to put an end to instability and wars. In the case of Sudan, it is advisable that more attention should be paid to the development of political culture and efficacious civic engagement in politics should be boosted to increase conscious political participation to pave the way for sustainable democracy.
Civil political competency, but especially public trust are the basis of development of the civil society. Level of civil political competency also influence the electoral behaviour. In a research made in the end of 2014 we asked about Polish people civil political competency and about chosen reasons when taking electoral decisions. The group who declares an absence in the election or not taking big care about their electoral decisions and also have lack of skills to determine on which place on the left-right line they are, give evidence of a very low level of civil political competencies. Less important for them are programs and future plans presented by the politicians and political parties and also how they realize them (or not). When taking an electoral decision on the local level, this group take a lesser degree of care then other voters about the local elections candidates (for mayors, council member etc.) memberships to the political parties.
Celem artukułu jest analiza użyteczności badań politologicznych różnych sposobów naukowego opisu miasta. Sposoby te są oceniane przez pryzmat badań nad zachowaniami wyborczymi, elitami miejskimi, funkcjonowaniem i rozwojem miast. W pracy wskazano problemy, jakie – szczególnie w badaniach porównawczych – rodzi sama definicja miasta. Ukazano też pułapki związane z utożsamieniem miasta z jednostką administracyjną. W konkluzji zaproponowano wykorzystanie metafory węzła jako najbardziej adekwatnego sposobu opisu miasta i jego powiązań z otoczeniem.
EN
The text analyzes usefulness of various scientific ways of describing cities for the political science research. These ways are verified in context of the study of electoral behaviour, urban elites and city development. The article points the problems related to definition of a city, especially in comparative research. It shows traps associated with identifying “city” with an administrative unit. The conclusion suggests the use of node metaphor as the most appropriate way of describing the city and its connections with the environment.
Celem artykułu jest analiza rozbieżności między uczestnictwem w wyborach parlamentarnych i samorządowych w Polsce. Analizowane dane pokazują, że luka uczestnictwa wyborczego między wyborami władz centralnych i lokalnych w Polsce jest niższa niż w innych krajach regionu. Frekwencja wyborcza w wyborach lokalnych w Polsce spada wraz ze zwiększającym się rozmiarem wspólnot politycznych (gmin), podczas gdy frekwencja w wyborach parlamentarnych rośnie wraz ze zwiększającym się rozmiarem gmin. Analiza sondażowych deklaracji udziału w wyborach, przeprowadzona z wykorzystaniem modeli wielopoziomowych, pozwala stwierdzić, że podobne cechy społeczno-demograficzne determinują uczestnictwo wyborcze w obu rodzajach wyborów. W wyborach lokalnych niezależną rolę odgrywa również rozmiar gminy. Potwierdza to „hipotezę bliskości”, głoszącą, że wybory w małych wspólnotach mobilizują większy elektorat, nawet gdy kontrolowane są klasyczne, jednostkowe determinanty uczestnictwa wyborczego. Wyborcy lokalni, preferujący udział w wyborach samorządowych ponad udział w wyborach parlamentarnych koncentrują się w mniejszych gminach.
EN
This article analyzes the discrepancy between participation in local and general (parliamentary) elections in Poland. The data demonstrate that the local-national turnout gap in Poland is smaller than in other countries of the region. The voter turnout in Polish local elections decreases along with the increasing size of local communities (municipalities), while the voter turnout in parliamentary elections increases along with the increasing size of municipalities. The analyses of survey data, performed with the use of multi-level regression models, demonstrate that the similar socio-demographic characteristics determine electoral participation in both types of elections. Nonetheless, in local elections an independent explanatory role is played by the population size of the municipality. This finding confirms the “proximity hypothesis” claiming that the elections taking place in smaller political communities mobilize larger electorates, even if the typical individual determinants of participations are controlled. “Local voters” preferring to participate in local than national elections concentrate in smaller municipalities.
The article is based on the assumptions of the neighborhood effect, defined as a spatial diversity of electoral behavior. It reflects the structural and social differences, but taking into account the effect of context, where living space is a context of reference. Election results in Szczecin in the years 2006-2015 have been studied in this article. Author compared the boundaries of constituencies and neighborhoods, assigning constituencies to specific neighborhoods and then creating neighborhood's characteristics by determining the ratio between the support or the turnout in the neighborhood and in the whole city. Studies have shown that the overall picture of the distribution and diversity of electoral behavior of inhabitants of the city is relatively stable in time and independent of the type of election, except for the election to the City Council. Voter turnout is differentiating electoral behavior in neighborhoods to the greatest extent.
PL
Praca opiera się na założeniu o istnieniu efektu sąsiedztwa, zdefiniowanym jako przestrzenne zróżnicowanie zachowań wyborczych. Odzwierciedla ono różnice strukturalne i społeczne, ale przy uwzględnieniu efektu kontekstowego, gdzie przestrzeń zamieszkania stanowi kontekst odniesienia. Badaniu w niniejszym artykule zostały poddane wyniki wyborcze w Szczecinie w latach 2006-2015. Porównano granice obwodów wyborczych i osiedli, dokonując przyporządkowania poszczególnych obwodów wyborczych do konkretnych osiedli, a następnie określono osiedlową charakterystykę poprzez wyliczenie stosunku pomiędzy wartością poparcia czy frekwencji na terenie osiedla oraz w całości miasta. Badania wykazały, że ogólny obraz rozłożenia i zróżnicowania zachowań wyborczych mieszkańców miasta jest względnie stabilny w czasie i niezależny od rodzaju wyborów, za wyjątkiem wyborów do Rady Miasta. Czynnikiem różnicującym osiedla w największym stopniu w kwestii zachowań wyborczych jest frekwencja.
Artykuł omawia występowanie głosów nieważnych w wyborach do sejmików województw w Polsce w roku 2014 i w roku 2010. Analiza regresji wyników wyborów zagregowanych na poziomie gmin pokazuje, że wzorce występowania zjawiska głosów nieważnych w Polsce nie różnią się znacząco pomiędzy rokiem 2010 a 2014. Modele wyjaśniające odsetek głosów nieważnych w wyborach władz regionalnych wskazują na istnienie stosunkowo silnego efektu zbroszurowania karty wyborczej, który zwiększył odsetek głosów nieważnych – w 2010 roku jedynie w województwie mazowieckim, a w 2014 roku – w całym kraju. Głosy nieważne w wyborach regionalnych padają częściej w małych społecznościach lokalnych, położonych peryferyjnie, tam gdzie szczególnie zaznacza się zjawisko „wybiórczej mobilizacji” – tzn. gdzie wyborcy są motywowani przede wszystkim do wyborów władz gminy, a w mniejszym stopniu – do wyborów władz wyższych szczebli.
EN
The article describes the phenomenon of large shares of invalid ballots in regional elections held in 2010 and 2014 in Poland, simultaneously with municipal and county elections. The regression analysis (conducted with use of data disaggregated at the municipal level) demonstrates that the patterns of invalid votes’ distribution in 2010 and 2014 were similar. The models indicate a relatively strong impact of ballot card design. In 2014 a brochure ballot card was used in all regions; in 2010 brochure was used only in Mazowsze region, while in other regions voters used single-page ballot card. The analysis also demonstrates that invalid votes in regional elections were casted more frequently in small, peripheral communities where voters were mobilized to participate primarily in the election of local, not regional, councils.
Осуществлен анализ основных теоретико-методологических исследований электорального поведения и факторов, которые на него влияют. Рассмотрено влияние средств массовой коммуникации и информации на массовое сознание и электоральное поведение.
PL
Dokonano analizy podstawowych badań teoretyczno-metodologicznych nad zachowaniami wyborczymi oraz przesłankami które je kształtują. Wskazano także wpływ mediów i informacji na świadomość społeczną i zachowania wyborcze.
EN
The analysis of the main theoretical and methodological researches of electoral behavior and factors influencing it has been carried out. The influence of mass communication and information on mass consciousness and electoral behavior is considered.
The goal of this article is to evaluate the relationship between the profiles of main polish cities, established on the basis of nationwide presidential and parliamentary elections, and the political affiliations of City Presidents (Mayors). Based on data from six elections: three presidential ones (1995, 2005, 2015) and three parliamentary ones (1991, 2001, 2011), cities were divided into groups characterized by similar voter preferences. Then, the relationship between the permanent characteristics of behaviour in national elections and the results of City President elections was examined. The survey was concluded with an attempt to explain the regularities and the deviations observed in the behavior of voters in 107 surveyed centers.
PL
Celem niniejszego artykułu jest ocena związku między profilami elektoratów miast prezydenckich, ustalonymi na podstawie ogólnopolskich wyborów prezydenckich i sejmowych, a afiliacjami politycznymi prezydentów miast. Na podstawie danych z sześciu elekcji – trzech prezydenckich (1995, 2005, 2015) i trzech sejmowych (1991, 2001, 2011) – dokonano podziału miast na grupy, charakteryzujące się podobnymi preferencjami wyborców. Następnie zbadano zależność między trwałymi cechami zachowań w wyborach ogólnopolskich a wynikami wyborów prezydentów miast. Badanie zamyka próba wyjaśnienia prawidłowości i odstępstw dostrzeżonych w zachowaniach wyborców 107 badanych ośrodków.
Рассматриваются теоретические подходы к объяснению электорального поведения. Анализируются экологическая, социологическая, социо-психологическая, коммуникативная и другие теории мотивации электорального выбора. Прослеживается их эволюция, взаимосвязь и отличия. Также прослеживается зависимость концепций электорального поведения от социо-исторических, технологических и политических условий. Итогом работы является вывод, что все имеющиеся объяснения поведения избирателей следует рассматривать как такие, которые акцентируют на определенных факторах электорального выбора и поэтому наиболее полное понимание этого феномена возможно только при их комплексном применении.
PL
W artykule rozważane są teoretyczne podejścia do wyjaśnienia zachowań wyborczych. Analizowane są ekologiczne, socjologiczne, socjopsychologiczne, komunikatywne i inne teorie motywacji zachowań wybnorczych. Wskazuje się na ich ewolucję, wzajemne relacje i różnice. Ukazywana jest także zależność koncepcji zachowania wyborczego w stosunku do warunków społeczno-historycznych, technologicznych i politycznych. W oparciu o rozważania teoretyczne dochodzimy do wniosku, że wszystkie dostępne wyjaśnienia zachowań wyborców należy traktować jako takie, które skupiają się na zdefiniowanych przesłanach dokonywania wyboru w czasie samych wyborów, w związku z czym najbardziej wszechstronne zrozumienie tego zjawiska jest możliwe tylko za sprawą ich zintegrowanego zastosowania.
EN
Theoretical approaches to the explanation of electoral behavior are considered. Ecological, sociological, socio-psychological, communicative and other theories of motivation for electoral choice are analyzed. Their evolution, interrelation and differences are traced. The dependence of the concepts of electoral behavior on socio-historical, technological and political conditions is also traced. The result of the work is the conclusion that all available explanations of the behavior of voters should be regarded as those that emphasize certain factors of electoral choice and therefore the fullest understanding of this phenomenon is possible only with their integrated application.
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