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See detailThe Matthew Effect in Electoral Campaigns: Increase in Policy Congruence Inequality During the Campaign
Walgrave, Stefaan; Lesschaeve, Christophe UL

in Electoral Studies (2017)

Previous studies have almost consistently found differences between lower and higher educated voters regarding their policy congruence, the policy position agreement between voters and their party. This ... [more ▼]

Previous studies have almost consistently found differences between lower and higher educated voters regarding their policy congruence, the policy position agreement between voters and their party. This study analyses the role of a campaign herein. Based on novel panel evidence with an extensive battery of policy statements, combined with a survey of party leaders using the same items, we find that, more than the lowly educated, the highly educated profit from the campaign to increase their policy congruence. The reason for the increased inequality is that the later switch parties more often during the campaign than the former. Our evidence also suggests that the higher educated switch parties because this may increase their policy congruence. In sum, the campaign produces a Matthew effect. Those already having a higher policy congruence increase their congruence even further, while those with a lower congruence to start with, do not make any significant progress. [less ▲]

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See detailVoting after war: Legacy of conflict and the economy as determinants of electoral support in Croatia
Glaurdic, Josip UL; Vukovic, Vuk

in Electoral Studies (2016), 42

In spite of a rapidly expanding literature on democratization, elections, and conflict, we lack systematic understanding of what determines electoral results in post-conflict societies. This article ... [more ▼]

In spite of a rapidly expanding literature on democratization, elections, and conflict, we lack systematic understanding of what determines electoral results in post-conflict societies. This article offers a novel initiative in revealing electoral patterns in states recuperating from painful experiences of war by analyzing data from more than 500 Croatian municipalities during five post-war electoral cycles. While the findings suggest voters do respond to parties' economic policies, the underlying pattern of electoral support demonstrates that competition is heavily constrained by the legacy of conflict, with the communities more exposed to the violence being more likely to vote for the principal party of the center-right which led the country into independence and throughout the war. This tendency exhibits a remarkable level of stability over time, which suggests conflict dynamics can become firmly embedded in post-conflict democratic electoral competition e even in societies that are not ethnically diverse. [less ▲]

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