Basic Personal Values Underlie and Give Coherence to Political Values: A Cross National Study in 15 Countries

Do the political values of the general public form a coherent system? What might be the source of coherence? We view political values as expressions, in the political domain, of more basic personal values. Basic personal values (e.g., security, achievement, benevolence, hedonism) are organized on a circular continuum that reflects their conflicting and compatible motivations. We theorize that this circular motivational structure also gives coherence to political values. We assess this theorizing with data from 15 countries, using eight core political values (e.g., free enterprise, law and order) and ten basic personal values. We specify the underlying basic values expected to promote or oppose each political value. We offer different hypotheses for the 12 non-communist and three post-communist countries studied, where the political context suggests different meanings of a basic or political value. Correlation and regression analyses support almost all hypotheses. Moreover, basic values account for substantially more variance in political values than age, gender, education, and income. Multidimensional scaling analyses demonstrate graphically how the circular motivational continuum of basic personal values structures relations among core political values. This study strengthens the assumption that individual differences in basic personal values play a critical role in political thought.     

„Antinomien des demokratischen Friedens“

Both the monadic and the dyadic versions of the theory of the “emocratic peace” borrow their assumptions on causal links from different metatheories: rationalism, constructivism, and institutionalism. A thorough analysis of the causal hypothesis involved reveals that the linkage between democracy and peaceful behaviour is not as cogent as either version would have it. This verdict applies if we remain within each of the metatheories supplying the causal assumptions, and even more so if we analyse the combined assumptions of the metatheories. In either case, hypotheses can logically be deduced that would either predict specific reasons for being aggressive towards non-democracies or the neutralization of the particular war-preventing empathy democracies are supposed to develop towards each other. Both variants of the theory thus produce antinomies that are not recognized by the theory. The theory, it turnes out, is underspecified. A major task would be to theorize about the contextual conditions under which democracy does indeed produce peaceful behaviour, towards other democracies or even erga omnes.     

The European refugee crisis,party competition,and voters’ responses in Germany

Studies show that globalisation creates political potentials that can transform electoral competition in Western societies. The specific process of how these potentials become effective is not completely understood. It is argued in the article that attention-grabbing events can trigger the transformation of electoral competition as they force actors to take clear positions and thereby allow citizens to align their partisan preferences and policy attitudes. The article analyses the case of German parties’ reaction to the arrival of large numbers of refugees at Europe’s borders in 2015/16. Using panel data that bracket this event, it is shown how German citizens responded to party behaviour by changing partisan preferences on the basis of prior immigration attitudes. The so-called refugee crisis may thus have been a critical juncture transforming party competition in Germany. As such, the crisis represents a striking example of how events may focus attention on a new policy dimension and catalyse the evolution of new cleavages.     

Das novellierte “EEG 09” unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Biomasseanlagen

Zusammenfassung  Das Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz (EEG) ist der Nachfolger des Stromeinspeisungsgesetzes, welches erstmalig am 1.1.1991 in Kraft getreten ist. Mit Erlass des Stromeinspeisungsgesetzes hatte der Gesetzgeber das Ziel verfolgt, den Anteil erneuerbaren Energien an der Energieversorgung st?rker auszuweiten. Das Stromeinspeisungsgesetz und das nachfolgende EEG hat zu einem starken Ausbau der regenerativen Energien geführt. In den neunziger Jahren sind die Windkraftkapazit?ten erheblich ausgebaut worden. Nach dem Inkrafttreten des EEG 04 hat der Ausbau von Anlagen zur Erzeugung von Strom aus solarer Strahlungsenergie und aus Biomasse stark zugenommen. Die Stromerzeugung aus erneuerbaren Energien (Fotovoltaik, Bioenergie, Windenergie und Wasserkraft) ist von 18,4 TWh im Jahr 1990 auf 87,5 TWh im Jahr 2007 gestiegen. Der Anteil erneuerbarer Energien am Energieverbrauch lag 2007 bei 14,2 %.     

Gründe für wechselndes Wahlverhalten: Helfen neue Instrumente Licht in das Dunkel zu bringen?

Attempts to analyze the reasons for vote switching between consecutive elections have been in general quite disappointing. On the one hand, this result may be attributed to idiosyncrasies of vote switching; on the other hand, it may be a product of not fully adequate research strategies. This paper explores the second possibility. First, we suggest to study switchers not as a whole, but to distinguish different groups of switchers according to the political relevance of the different kinds of switching. Secondly, we discuss whether the analysis of switching could benefit from the use of panel data instead of cross-sectional data: the operationalization of switching by panel data should be superior to the widely used recall method. The hypotheses derived in the theoretical discussion receive strong support from empirical evidence from the German general election of 1998: both the differentiated measurement of switchers and the use of panel data enhance analysis of switching based on cleavage theory and the Michigan model. More generally, we conclude that our understanding of this dynamic element in electoral politics depends on the methodological adequacy of research.     

Jenseits des Wertekonsensus

Berliner Journal für Soziologie - Die Lesart von Parsons’ Theorie ist heute dominiert von einem normativistischen Modell sozialer Ordnung, wie es Parsons in der voluntaristischen...     

Not all campaign panels are created equal: Exploring how the number and timing of panel waves affect findings concerning the time of voting decision

This paper addresses the impact of the number and timing of panel waves in campaign panel surveys on findings concerning the prevalence of early, campaign, and late deciding as well as on the determinants of the time of voting decision. Using data from a seven-wave online campaign panel survey conducted during the 2009 German federal election, we demonstrate that the number and timing of panel waves affect results concerning the time of voting decision considerably. Whereas the number and timing of panel waves strongly affect the marginal distribution of decider types they do not impinge heavily upon the determinants of the time of voting decision.     

Modeling Hostage-Taking: On Reputation and Strategic Rationality of Terrorists

This article takes a fresh look at hostage-taking from a game theoretic standpoint. A new model is developed that shows why conventional government deterrence strategies may fail.