The General Election in Denmark 1988

Foiketing (Parliament) slates that for the last 30 years it has been Danish policy not to accept nuclear arms on Danish territory (including ports). The government is urged to inform visiting naval ships of this.
Hereatter the Ting (Parliament) proceeds to the next item on the agenda.
Proposal fur motivated agenda set forward by The Social Democrats on April 14 1988     

The 1988 Presidential Election in Finland

The article aims to describe and analyse the 1988 presidential election in Finland. The parties and candidates in the election are presented and the electoral system is discussed. For the first time a double-vote system was used in which there are two ballots, one for the direct election of the president and one for the elector of the president. If a candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, then that candidate is elected. If, however, no candidate receives 50 percent or more of the vote, then the electoral college elects the president. Although it was fairly certain that the incumbent president Mauno Koivisto would be re-elected, the campaign was a heated one, with the electorate very politically engaged. It is concluded that despite the fact regional differences between north and south Finland were aggravated—the candidate for the opposition, Paavo Väyrynen, received considerable support especially in northern Finland-the presidential election showed that the Finnish political system functions relatively smoothly and that its overall effect is highly legitimizing.     

The Problematics of Policy-Making: Foreign and Security Issues in Israel's 1988 Election

Based on the assumption that foreign and defence policy grows out of the domestic political arena, this paper examines the 1988 elections in Israel with a particular focus on the territorial issue of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. The two major parties, Likud and Labour, share certain fundamental views, and this fact contributed to the formation of a National Unity Government during 1984–88. Yet they also differ markedly in terms of ideological outlook and more specifically in policy towards peace-making with the Arabs and the future of the territories. The election campaign reflected the differences and incompatibilities between the two major parties, while the results indicated a political stalemate. The domestic party arena in Israel has not produced any clear long-term strategy regarding peace and the territories. This deadlock suggests incoherence in the Cabinet, the impotence of the legislature and the likelihood that external events alone can alter the political status quo.     

Change and Continuity in the Liberal Democrat General Election Campaign of 2005

This article analyses the Liberal Democrat general election campaign of 2005, with special attention to developments in the party between 2001 and 2005. It argues that there was significant change in policy during that period, towards an agenda emphasising decentralisation and 'tough liberalism'. However, this did not significantly alter the party's overall message from that of 2001, which remained focused on policies such as scrapping university tuition fees. Meanwhile, there was great continuity in campaign strategy and tactics, particularly because of the influence of the party's Chief Executive, Lord Rennard. Tactical innovations in 2005 stemmed from the party's success at fundraising, rather than any decision that new methods of campaigning were necessary. The article concludes with a critical assessment of the campaign, and examines the issues which are likely to arise in forthcoming debates on Liberal Democrat strategy, policy and leadership.     

Online and Undecided: Voters and the Internet in the Contemporary Norwegian Election Campaign

This article addresses the Internet as a campaign communication channel, and the approach is to explore voters' use of the Internet for electoral information in the contemporary Norwegian campaign. Theoretically it is argued for a distinction between party-controlled and uncontrolled online communication channels, and this distinction proves important as patterns of use differ between these two types of the new media. Based on digital inequalities and assertions of web campaigning being 'preaching to the converted', the article explores the factors that contribute to the use of the Internet for electoral information, and to what extent online voters are available on the electoral market. The article finds that the Internet was an important information source for a relatively small, but nonetheless substantial, part of the electorate. However, most other channels of communication were considered more important. Digital inequalities related to socioeconomic status and gender are mostly about following the campaign on online newspapers (uncontrolled), not acquiring information from party websites (controlled). Moreover, while the youngest, most inexperienced voters visited party websites to a greater extent than their older cohorts, they did not follow the campaign on online newspapers to a greater extent. Furthermore, online voters are not 'converted' to a party, but are available on the electoral market.     

Young British Partisan Attitudes to Negative Election Campaign Advertising: A Tri-Party Perspective

This article presents an empirical investigation of young partisan first-time voter attitudes toward the use of negative attack advertising in a British general election. Partisanship, particularly in relation to negative advertising and third-party effects, is significantly under-researched, yet it advances understanding of youth electoral interaction. Our study confirms that young British partisans are not passive recipients of information, but are actively involved in information processing, interpretation, and counter arguing. Our findings also highlight a third-party effect among young partisans in their evaluation of the attack advertising. Overall our young partisans broadly reject image-attack election ads, which raises a “health warning” on its use in future election campaigning. The findings of this study are of significant interest to election campaign strategists in their planning for future elections and to political researchers striving to advance understanding within the field of political marketing.     

The 2008 Election

The 2008 presidential election will be significant both for domestic and for foreign policy. Issues of security in domestic policy will continue to trump issues of freedom. The difficulties of resolving our military presence in Iraq will be the first among many important issues the new administration must confront. In both domestic and foreign affairs the new administration will have to deal with the unanticipated consequences of inherited policies even as it creates its own agenda and its own set of unintended consequences.

Voter Decision Making in Election 2000: Campaign Effects, Partisan Activation, and the Clinton Legacy

How do citizens respond to campaign events? We explore this question with a unique repeated measures survey design, fielded during the 2000 presidential campaign. We model transitions in support for the major party candidates following the party conventions and presidential debates. In the aggregate, Gore support increases following the conventions (but not the debates), while Bush support increases with the debates (but not the conventions). But there is considerable microlevel variation in the data: responsiveness to campaign events is greatest among Independents, undecided voters, and “mismatched partisans,” but exactly how these groups respond differs for each event. Moreover, attitudes toward then President Clinton mediate the effect of the campaign events on voter preferences. Two primary conclusions follow: (1) rich data sets are required to observe the effects of campaign events; (2) the influence of campaign events on vote choice is conditional on previous preferences, partisan dispositions, and political context.     

Negative Campaigning in Party-Controlled Communication Channels: Party Communication Strategies in Campaign Posters,Newspaper Advertisement,and Press Releases during the 2008 Austrian National Election Campaign

Politicians and people professionally involved in politics agree that negative campaigning is a frequently used campaign communication strategy by Austrian political parties. Yet, there is no empirical investigation of such claims. The present study examines party-controlled communication channels to identify the use of negative messaging strategies from a political actor's perspective. The data for this study come from a 6-week content analysis of campaign posters, newspaper advertisement and press releases of the 2008 Austrian National Elections. I examine the degree, source, target, and type of negativity. Results show that there are great differences in the degree and type of negativity between the three communication channels. Whereas in press releases all Austrian parties constantly engaged in going negative, campaign posters hardly contained any negative message. To a great extent negative campaign tactics are adjusted depending to whom the message is addressed to in the first place, the voter or the media. Concerning the source and target of negative appeals, results show that in particular, parties sitting in opposition employ negative campaigning. Yet, they are hardly ever the target of negative messages.