Democracies are transforming worldwide, but at the same time political inequality is increasing. This development threatens to leave growing portions of mass publics effectively 'outside' the political process. This volume brings together leading authorities in the field of democratic citizenship and participation to address pertinent questions concerning the quality of the democratic political process at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Analysing causes and consequences of recent developments in democratic governance and citizenship, it contributes new and original research to the ongoing debate on the crisis of representative democracy. The contributors deal with a broad range of issues including aspects of democratic citizenship and citizens' perceptions of system performance, political inequality and the democratic impact of participatory innovations. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students in democratization studies, democratic citizenship, comparative politics, political sociology and political participation.

Democracies are transforming worldwide, but at the same time political inequality is increasing. This development threatens to leave growing portions of mass publics effectively 'outside' the political process. This volume brings together leading authorities in the field of democratic citizenship and participation to address pertinent questions concerning the quality of the democratic political process at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Analysing causes and consequences of recent developments in democratic governance and citizenship, it contributes new and original research to the ongoing debate on the crisis of representative democracy. The contributors deal with a broad range of issues including aspects of democratic citizenship and citizens' perceptions of system performance, political inequality and the democratic impact of participatory innovations. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students in democratization studies, democratic citizenship, comparative politics, political sociology and political participation.

This unique book offers an empirical assessment of how social and political involvement relates to theories of citizenship and democracy, providing a detailed comparative assessment of the potential that voluntary organizations offer citizens for social and political participation in several European countries.
The coherent chapters, written by leading European researchers, examine the participatory opportunities offered by a wide and diverse variety of voluntary associations and provides a comparative perspective on the role, structure and functions of associations in six medium-sized European cities - Aalborg (Denmark), Aberdeen (UK), Bern (Switzerland), Enschede (the Netherlands), Mannheim (Germany) and Sabadell (Spain).
This book has a companion volume entitled Citizenship and Involvement in European Democracies edited by Jan van Deth, Jose Ramon Montero and Anders Westholm (Routledge, 2006).
Both volumes will be of great interest to students and researchers of European politics, comparative politics and sociology.

Voluntary associations have been presented as a solution to political apathy and cynicism towards representative democracy. The authors collected in this volume, however, argue that these claims require more robust substantiation and seek to critically examine the crucial link between the associative sector and the health of democracy. Focusing on the role of context and using diverse approaches and empirical material, they explore whether these associations in differing socio-political contexts actually undermine rather than reinvigorate democracy.

This unique book offers an empirical assessment of how social and political involvement relates to theories of citizenship and democracy, providing a detailed comparative assessment of the potential that voluntary organizations offer citizens for social and political participation in several European countries. The coherent chapters, written by leading European researchers, examine the participatory opportunities offered by a wide and diverse variety of voluntary associations and provides a comparative perspective on the role, structure and functions of associations in six medium-sized European cities - Aalborg (Denmark), Aberdeen (UK), Bern (Switzerland), Enschede (the Netherlands), Mannheim (Germany) and Sabadell (Spain). This book has a companion volume entitled Citizenship and Involvement in European Democracies edited by Jan van Deth, Jose Ramon Montero and Anders Westholm (Routledge, 2006). Both volumes will be of great interest to students and researchers of European politics, comparative politics and sociology.

Recently, civil society has been celebrated as a solution to political apathy and cynicism towards representative democracy. This however, argues that the role of associations in and for democracy is only properly understood if we take the context into account.
The authors collected in this volume critically examine the crucial link between the associative sector and the health of democracy. Focusing on the role of context and using diverse approaches and empirical material, they explore whether there association in differing socio-political contexts can sometimes undermine rather than reinvigorate democracy.
The book features empirical and comparative studies on the effects of associative democracy focusing on Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Ireland, European Union institutions and South America. It will interest student and researchers of social capital, civil society and associative democracy.

Voters on the Move or on the Run? addresses electoral change, the reasons, and the consequences. By investigating heterogeneity of voting, and complexity of voting and its context the volume shows that increasing heterogeneity is not arbitrary and unstructured. Heterogeneity of voting rather is a way of voters dealing with the increasing complexity of the context of elections - diversified social structures, increasing differentiation of political supply, increasing complexity of the information environment. By analysing the conditions of heterogeneity and showing that the calculus of voting becomes more and more conditional in terms of what voters regard as relevant criteria for vote choice, the book demonstrates that the new feature of electoral behaviour is structured heterogeneity. The dimensions of differentiation of the electorate are cognitive capacity and the structure of individual information acquisition systems. The book demonstrates that voters are on the move looking for appropriate answers to new complexities rather than on the run. The book uses data predominantly from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES), and also comparative data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES). Cross-sectional analysis is complemented by long- and short-term dynamic analyses with panel data, and comparative analyses.

Mit dem Aufkommen der politischen Psychologie stehen politische Informationen und ihre Verarbeitung im Fokus des Interesses der Wahl- und Einstellungsforschung: Wie sieht das Informationsumfeld in modernen Demokratien aus, mit dem sich Menschen konfrontiert sehen? Welche Informationen nehmen Menschen aus dem vorhandenen Angebot wahr und wie verarbeiten sie diese? Welche Rolle spielen dabei Emotionen? Wie pragen Informationen und Emotionen die politischen Einstellungen der Burger? Welche Verhaltenskonsequenzen gehen damit einher? Dieser Band beinhaltet - neben einem kompakten UEberblick uber den State of the Art - empirische Studien, die sich diesen Fragen im Detail widmen.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Over the past half century, the behavior of German voters has changed profoundly - at first rather gradually, but during the last decade at accelerated speed. Electoral decision-making has become much more volatile, rendering election outcomes less predictable. Party system fragmentation intensified sharply. The success of the AfD put an end to Germany's exceptionality as one of the few European countries without a strong right-wing populist party. Utilizing a wide range of data compiled by the German Longitudinal Election Study, the book examines changing voters' behavior in the context of changing parties, campaigns, and media during the period of its hitherto most dramatically increased fluidity at the 2009, 2013, and 2017 federal elections. Guided by the notions of realignment and dealignment the study addresses three questions: How did the turbulences that increasingly characterize German electoral politics come about? How did they in turn condition voters' decision-making? How were voters' attitudes and choices affected by situational factors that pertained to the specifics of particular elections? The Changing German Voter demonstrates how traditional cleavages lost their grip on voters and a new socio-cultural line of conflict became the dominant axis of party competition. A series of major crises, but also programmatic shifts of the established parties promoted this development. It led to a segmentation of the party system that pits the right-wing populist AfD against the traditional parties. The book also demonstrates the relevance of coalition preferences, candidate images as well as media and campaign effects for voters' attitudes, beliefs, and preferences.

Im Mittelpunkt dieses Bandes steht der soziale und politische Wandel der vergangenen Jahrzehnte. Seit den 1980er Jahren hat das deutsche Parteiensystem massive Veranderungen erlebt, aus dem scheinbar stabilen zweieinhalb Parteiensystem entstand allmahlich eine heterogene Mehr-Parteienlandschaft. Die deutsche Vereinigung fuhrte zur Ausweitung des Elektorats auf Burgerinnen und Burger, die unter voellig anderen systemischen Vorzeichen sozialisiert wurden. Medien- und Bildungssystem haben umfassende Veranderungen erlebt. Dieses Buch stellt die Frage, ob und in welchem Umfang dieser Wandel auch die Einstellungen und Praferenzen der Burgerinnen und Burger umfasst. Aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven untersuchen die Autorinnen und Autoren den Wandel der Einstellungen und Verhaltensmuster in einer Langfristperspektive empirisch.

Der Band liefert empirische Analysen zur Bundestagswahl 2009. Dabei beleuchtet er insbesondere die bei dieser Wahl aussergewohnlichen Aspekte: die niedrige Wahlbeteiligung (und ihre Hintergrunde), die Vielfalt der Koalitionsmoglichkeiten, aber auch die wachsende Bedeutung von Kandidaten. Anknupfend an den vorherigen Band des Arbeitskreises Information Wahrnehmung Emotion liegt zudem ein Schwerpunkt auf politischer Kommunikation sowie der Wahrnehmung und Verarbeitung politischer Informationen."