In person icon Assessing the Challenges for the Quality of Representation

Abstract

One way of assessing democratic representation is to examine the degree of opinion congruence between representatives and represented. In the short-run, this can be measured by the proximity to the party voters are voting for at a particular election; in the long-run though, proximity to the party might be affected by the context each election is held (first- or second-order election, issue relevance, party policy convergence, timing). This panel addresses questions about the quality of representation by inviting papers that study (a) conditions for ticket-splitting within and across the European Union’s electoral arenas, (b) the impact of domestic and European issue salience on electoral behaviour, (c) the influence of party political contestation over the left-right and the pro-anti-EU dimensions on vote choices or (d) the influence of particular events, such as the outburst of the recent economic crisis on preferences. We welcome longitudinal or cross-sectional studies, country-based case studies or comparative analyses, which focus on representation at the national or the European level. We particularly encourage submissions which deal with the direct effects of the European debt crisis on voter behaviour, as well as the indirect effects through party political behaviour and policy issues, and ultimately the quality of representation.

Title	Details
Ticket-Splitting in EU Split-Level Democracy: Seeking Policy Representation Across National and EP Arenas	View Paper Details
Economic Crisis and Quality of Representation: Comparing the 2009 and 2013 German Federal Elections	View Paper Details
Do Wages Affect Politician Performance? A Regression Discontinuity Approach for Municipalities	View Paper Details