Electoral Fraud and Electoral Geography: United Russia Strongholds in the 2007 and 2011 Russian Parliamentary Elections*

Despite United Russia’s (Edinaya Rossiya—UR) dominance in repeated Russian legislative elections, the correlates of the party’s electoral support remain noticeably understudied beyond the influence of electoral manipulation. I pinpoint the specific contours of UR’s strongholds in the two most recent parliamentary elections in Russia—2007 and 2011—focusing on raion- and regional-level correlates of the vote using an original dataset. UR has been undergirded by geographically concentrated ethnic minorities and the countryside, and these patterns of support have persisted even in the absence of fraud, suggesting that the dominant party’s electoral windfalls cannot be attributed solely to electoral malfeasance.     

Emancipatory rural politics: confronting authoritarian populism

A new political moment is underway. Although there are significant differences in how this is constituted in different places, one manifestation of the new moment is the rise of distinct forms of authoritarian populism. In this opening paper of the JPS Forum series on ‘Authoritarian Populism and the Rural World’, we explore the relationship between these new forms of politics and rural areas around the world. We ask how rural transformations have contributed to deepening regressive national politics, and how rural areas shape and are shaped by these politics. We propose a global agenda for research, debate and action, which we call the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI, www.iss.nl/erpi). This centres on understanding the contemporary conjuncture, working to confront authoritarian populism through the analysis of and support for alternatives.     

Cultural Stressors and Mental Health Symptoms Among Mexican Americans: A Prospective Study Examining the Impact of the Family and Neighborhood Context

Studies of stress consistently have linked individuals’ experiences of stress to maladjustment, but limited attention has been given to cultural stressors commonly experienced by minority individuals. To address this, the current study examined the links between cultural stressors and prospective changes in mental health symptoms in a sample of 710 (49 % female) Mexican American youth. In addition, the moderating role of both family and neighborhood cohesion was examined. In-home interviews were completed with youth, mothers (required) and fathers (optional) to collect data on youth’s experiences of cultural stressors (discrimination and language hassles) and internalizing/externalizing behavior, and mothers’ report of family cohesion and mothers’ and fathers’ report of neighborhood cohesion. Analyses revealed that youth’s experiences of discrimination and language hassles at 5th grade were related positively to increases in internalizing symptoms at 7th grade. Additionally, youths who reported higher levels of language hassles in 5th grade experienced increases in externalizing symptoms across the 2-year span. Both family and neighborhood cohesion emerged as significant moderating factors but their impact was conditional on youth’s gender and nativity. Limitations and future implications are discussed.     

Streams,springs, and stones: Ontario public service reform in the 1980s and the 1990s

Abstract: Since the era of reform triggered by the Committee on Government Productivity during the early 1970s, there has been surprisingly little writing about public service reform in Ontario. This article surveys developments since the early 1980s, reviewing the changes that occurred during the Davis, Peterson, and Rae governments pertaining to the structure and integrity of the public service, human resource development, relocation, accountability regimes, reorganization and restraint initiatives, to name only a few. We review the rise and fall of the Tomorrow Project, and how the Rae government developed an interest in public management issues as part of its policy and restraint agendas. As a frame for our analysis, we invoke the metaphor of “streams, springs, and stones” to convey not only the breadth and complexity of public service reform but also its enduring themes and issues. Sonirnnire: Depuis l'époque des réformes déclenchées par le Comité sur la productivité gouvernementale vers le début des années 1970, curieusement peu d'auteurs se sont penchés sur la réforme de la Fonction publique en Ontario. Cet article s'intéresse à l'évolution qui s'est produite depuis le début des années 1980, examinant les changements survenus sous les gouvernements Davis, Peterson et Rae en ce qui concerne la structure et l'intégrité de la Fonction publique, le développement des ressources humaines, les déménagements, les régimes d'imputabilité, ainsi que les initiatives de reorganisation et d'austérité, pour ne citer que ceux-là. Nous analysons la montée et la chute du Projet “ Demain ” et comment le gouvernement Rae a commencéà s'intéresser aux questions de gestion publique dans le cadre de son programme oû figuraient l'austérité et la définition des politiques. Pour encadrer notre analyse, nous faisons appel à la métaphore des “ courants, sources et pierres ” pour indiquer non seulement l'ampleur et la complexité des réformes de la Fonction publique mais aussi sa probématique et ses thèmes permanents.     

The politics of disgruntlement: Nonvoting and defection among supporters of nomination losers, 1968–1984

This paper focuses on the effect of disgruntlement among those primary voters who supported U.S. presidential nomination losers. It analyzes the general election voting behavior of primary voters in the last five presidential elections in order to determine if differences exist between those supporters of the winning nominee in each party and backers of other candidates who also sought the nomination. A multivariate analysis of the determinants of voter turnout shows significant results only for the Democrats in 1972, when primary voters who supported candidates other than George McGovern were more likely to abstain in the general election. Taking into account the option of defecting to another party in November, both parties appear to have been plagued by a considerable amount of disloyalty on the part of supporters of candidates who failed to win the nomination, although for the Republicans this type of response is confined to the 1980 election. The existence of a third party or independent candidacy may be an important variable influencing the behavior of these disgruntled primary voters.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1984 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, August 30–September 2, 1984.