The Anti‐Incumbent Effects of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs

Scholars concur that conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have a strong proincumbent effect among beneficiaries. Although no study has properly focused on the overall effect of cash transfers on incumbents' national vote shares, most scholars have deduced that this effect is positive; i.e., that cash transfers lead to the expansion of incumbents' electoral bases. This article analyzes survey data from nearly all Latin American countries and confirms that beneficiaries of CCT programs are more likely to support incumbents. However, it also shows that CCT programs may induce many voters who were previously incumbent supporters to vote for the opposition. As a consequence, the overall impact of cash transfers on incumbents' vote shares is indeterminate; it depends on the balance between both patterns of behavioral changes among voters. This study is the first to report evidence that cash transfer programs may have significant anti‐incumbent effects.     

An Ever-Shadowed Past? Citizens’ Attitudes towards the Dictatorship in Twenty-First Century Portugal

Abstract

Several years after the transition to democracy, positive attitudes towards the authoritarian past are still observable in Portugal: the belief that the previous regime had more good things than bad things is expressed by about one-fifth of the Portuguese. What explains this nostalgic sentiment? Are factors such as socialisation under the regime, party identification or religiosity more important than satisfaction with democracy and the state of the economy? The empirical analysis suggests that the relevance of these factors varies considerably, but socialisation phases lead to different stances on the past both in routine times and in times of economic crisis.     

The Effect of Family Violence on Sexual Victimization among Young Women

Young people who grow up in a violent family context are more vulnerable to become victims of sexual aggression outside the family context. The present study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms that explain this link among young women by looking at the mediating role of sexual exposure behavior and target vulnerability. Data were used from an online survey among 237 young women aged 16 to 26 (M?=?21.0 years, SD?=?2.75). Experiencing violence from (one of) the parents and to a lesser extent witnessing interparental violence were related to an elevated risk for sexual victimization. Witnessing interparental violence was related to increased target vulnerability but this factor did not mediate the link with sexual victimization. Experiencing parental violence was related to both increased sexual exposure behavior and increased target vulnerability and these factors did mediate the link with sexual victimization.     

Divergent Perspectives: Exploring a Multiple Informant Approach to Cyberbullying Victimization and Perpetration

The present research adopts a multiple informant approach to identify victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying. Similar approaches have been successfully applied in the field of traditional bullying, and they are highly relevant for studying cyberbullying as well. Three informants can provide key perspectives on cyberbullying incidents: victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. To collect data on these actors, all eighth-grade students in 11 secondary schools were invited to participate in a survey. In total 1458 respondents completed peer-nomination questions on cyberbullying involvement. The results indicated that the prevalence of cyberbullying varied depending on the type of informants that was consulted. In addition, limited overlap was observed between the reports of different informants, resulting in different profiles of victims and perpetrators, depending on the informants that identified them. In sum, different informants tended to have divergent views on cyberbullying, which has important implications. It warrants accurate reporting and critical reflection on the sources of data in cyberbullying research. Moreover, it demonstrates the need to study a more diverse set of informants to advance the understanding of cyberbullying and to enhance prevention efforts.     

The institutionalisation of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the institutional development of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies (BCD) from 1826 to the present. Legislature careers, the internal organisation of the BCD, the current system for filling positions within the committees and electoral rules are the objects of this study. The process of development of the BCD should be understood in light of the dynamics of the Brazilian political system, which has undergone significant ruptures of regime, and also in light of the nearly permanent fragility of the democracy, especially of its representative components. It is an institution with legislature career patterns that vary through time, but always point towards opportunities out of the BCD, a stable, hierarchical and complex mode of organisation that currently values parties as distributors of opportunities. It is, above all, an institution that is subject to external influences from other parts of the political system, which diminish its autonomy and self-determination, as shown by the example of the rule for the adjudication of terms. With its 190 years, the BCD has evolved along with Brazilian democracy and today, although boasting a great structure and large resources, it still needs to establish itself as a decisive and permanent actor in driving public policies and communication (parties and government projects) with voters.     

The gendered construction of expert discourse: An analysis of psychiatric evaluations in criminal court

According to critical literature, psychiatrization is a central feature of gendered social control. It operates in a twofold process: by orienting women to medical institutions rather than the penal system, and, for those women who do enter the criminal justice system, by favoring an interpretation of their behavior in terms of mental health problems. However, the production of gendered social control cannot be reduced to institutional decision-making; it also leaves its traces in various discursive forms. One such form is forensic psychiatrists' discourse on the offenders they evaluate. Our study analyzes these forensic reports as units of a computerized database. Our goal is to gain insight into the text by means of systematic quantitative and qualitative procedures. Even though the expert discourse is shaped by specifications requested by the court, the discourse examined here constructs two very distinct identities that do not correspond to stereotyped conceptions about femininity and masculinity.     

Anti-immigrant parties in Europe: Ideological or protest vote?

Abstract. In this article we address the question whether or not the votes for anti–immigrant parties can be considered as protest votes. We define protest votes by the motives underlying electoral choices, building on earlier research done by Tillie (1995) and Van der Eijk & Franklin (1996). That research showed that ideological proximity and party size are the best predictors of party preference. On this basis we designed a typology of motives for party choice and how these motives would manifest themselves empirically. Analyzing the 1994 elections for the European Parliament for seven political systems we show that anti–immigrant parties attract no more protest votes than other parties do, with only one exception: the Dutch Centrumdemocraten. Voting for anti–immigrant parties is largely motivated by ideological and pragmatic considerations, just like voting for other parties. In addition, (negative) attitudes towards immigrants have a stronger effect on preferences for anti–immigrant parties than on preference for other parties. Social cleavages and attitudes towards European unification are of minor importance as determinants of preferences for anti–immigrant parties. The overall conclusion is that a rational choice model of electoral behavior has strong explanatory power for party preferences in general, but also for the support for anti–immigrant parties in particular.     

Exit,voice and loyalty: Analytic and empirical developments

Abstract. This paper seeks to reconstruct and revitalize the famous Hirschman framework by providing a comprehensive review of the current use of 'exit, voice and loyalty'. We begin by critically examining Hirchman's original account, and then look at the way his argument has been extended in different fields both conceptually and empirically. We suggest that while advances have been made, the results so far are somewhat disappointing given the perceptiveness of the original insight. We believe this is because his apparently simple schema is more complex than it first appears, and different aspects of exit, of voice, and of empirical foundations of loyalty need to be analytically distinguished in order to produce testable empirical hypotheses about their relationships.     

Who is that (wo)man in the street? From the normalisation of protest to the normalisation

European Journal of Political Research - The time has long since passed that protests and demonstrations wereregarded as the possible beginning of violent revolutionary ferment. Venting...