The Paradoxes of the Revolutions of 1989 in Central Europe

Abstract

The self-limiting revolutions of 1989 in Central Europe offer an alternative paradigm of revolutionary change that is reminiscent more of the American struggle for independence in 1776 than the Jacobin tendencies that grew out of the French Revolution of 1789. In order to understand the contradictory impulses of the revolutions of 1989—the desire for a radical renewal and the concern for preservation—this article takes as its point of departure the political thought of Hannah Arendt and Edmund Burke.     

Issues and voting in the European elections 1989

Abstract: After a discussion of the role of 'issues' in models of voting behaviour, this article focuses on the degree of homogeneity of issue evaluations on the one hand and the match between issue evaluations and vote choice on the other. Three major conclusions emerge from cross-national comparative analyses. First, and quite generally, a large segment of the national electorates does not perceive any particular party as best able to handle any of the problems they personally feel most important. Second, when particular parties are considered as best able to handle the problems seen as most important, then uniform - or homogeneous - evaluations outnumber more varied choices by far. And third, overall vote intention matches the competence evaluation much more often than not. These results give little support for the cognitive, rational choice approach to issue voting, but, still issue competence evaluations may be more than merely a reflection of affective ties.     

European Community politics and electoral representation: Evidence from the 1989 European Elections Study

Abstract: In spite of the fact that the European elections were, in most countries, not fought over the issue of Community building and European integration, this article shows that only a few parties take positions towards the Community which are clearly out of line with the average position of their voters. The parties involved are the orthodox-Protestant combination in the Netherlands, the Workers Party in Ireland, the Italian MSI, and the greens in Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Luxembourg. The discrepancies between these parties'positions and the attitudes of their electorates - in combination with their generally successful electoral performance - underscores what is known from other analyses: Parties do not acquire votes on the basis of European issue concerns, but on the basis of national political concerns. The result of the European elections may still, however, be considered as an ex post facto , endorsement and legitimation of parties'policies towards European integration.     

The 1989 European elections: Campaigns and results

Abstract: This article gives an overview discussion of the electoral campaigns and the results of the European elections of 1989. The role of national as well as European actors and issues during the campaigns are highlighted, and the results are discussed, both in view of turnout and party strength, in terms of its likely implications for the national and European political process.     

About voting and non-voting in the European elections of June 1989

Abstract: This article reviews conventional wisdom about determinants of electoral participation in general, and of participation in European elections in particular. A model of European electoral participation is proposed which relates indicators of general political involvement, European attitudes and orientations and social-structural background characteristics to both intended and reported participation. In contrast to the findings of earlier research, it appears that the participation of EC citizens in the European elections of June 1989 - as reported in the post-electoral surveys of the European Elections Study 1989 - was primarily the result of 'habitual voting'. Irrespective of their EC related attitudes and more general political involvement, those who participated went to the polls just because they are used to doing so on election day.     

Rethinking the New ENP: A Vision for an Enhanced European Role in the Arab Revolutions

This article assesses European responses to the Arab uprisings and, in particular, the introduced change in the European Union policy toward its southern neighborhood. The presented analyses provide a profound scrutiny and assessment of the new version of the European Neighbourhood Policy, empirical evidence of persisting security considerations post-2011 in Euro–Arab relations, and a more elaborated vision of future Euro–Arab relations, attempting to balance between three considerations: security, democracy, and governance.     

Getting out the vote: Social structure and the mobilization of partisanship in the 1989 European elections

Abstract: Why do European elections look more like national elections in retrospect than in prospect? One possibility is that during the run-up to a European election party leaders appeal for the votes of their 'normal' supporters, and their success in these appeals gives rise to the 'normal' outcome of the campaign. To test this hypothesis two definitions of 'normal supporters' are evaluated and the outcome is to discredit the use of party identification as a means of identifying supporters. Instead, social structure is employed to identify the groups that might respond to party appeals, and the basic finding of the article is that supporters defined in this fashion do increase their support for appropriate parties during the run-up to a European election, as though they were responding to appeals of the hypothesized kind.     

Leader Survival,Revolutions, and the Nature of Government Finance

Leaders face multiple threats to their political survival. In addition to surviving the threats to tenure from within the existing political systems, which is modeled using Bueno de Mesquita and colleagues' (2003) selectorate theory, leaders risk being deposed through revolutions and coups. To ameliorate the threat of revolution, leaders can either increase public goods provisions to buy off potential revolutionaries or contract the provision of those public goods, such as freedom of assembly, transparency, and free press, which enable revolutionaries to coordinate. Which response a leader chooses depends upon existing institutions and the structure of government finances. These factors also affect the likelihood and direction of institutional change. Tests of leader survival indicate that revolutionary threats increase the likelihood of deposition for nondemocratic leaders. Leaders with access to resources such as foreign aid or natural resource rents are best equipped to survive these threats and avoid the occurrence of these threats in the first place.     

Mind the (Mobilization) Gap: Comparing Climate Activism in the United States and European Union

The barriers to concerted political action on climate change mitigation are steep, especially in multilevel systems where power is diffused and authority contested. This article seeks to explain how mobilization—galvanizing resources and people to participate actively—occurs in complex multilevel systems. It compares two different polities—the United States and the European Union—to tease out the key features of multilevel systems and how they affect climate activism and mobilization. To capture this dynamic, it proposes a three‐staged model of mobilization: awareness building, alliance building, and network creation. The latter stage features “mobilization networks”—stakeholder networks able to transcend levels and institutional inertia and steer polities toward particular climate goals. The article demonstrates how each stage of mobilization is highly contingent on stakeholders' ability to exploit—or at least navigate—multilevel institutional barriers.     

Contesting Citizenship in the Arab Revolutions: Youth,Women, and Refugees

Focusing on youth, women, and refugees in the context of the ongoing Arab revolutions, this article explores how constructions of citizenship are being challenged. More than 40 percent of the population in the Arab world is under the age of eighteen, and youth are expressing a strong civic motivation and agency for change. Second, with regard to women’s participation in the Arab revolutions, while highly visible on the Arab streets, to date they have been largely excluded from participating in subsequent more formal political processes. Third, the ensuing large refugee populations in the Arab world further challenge understandings of citizenship. This article proposes that exploring the role of youth, women, and refugees in contesting citizenship in the ongoing revolutions of the Arab world challenges not only conceptions of citizenship in the Arab world but also how we understand conceptions of civil society.