Election-related Internet-Shutdowns in Autocracies Kristin Eichhorn (Chemnitz University of Technology) Eric Linhart (Chemnitz University of Technology) Contemporary autocracies face a digital dilemma concerning the provision of access to the internet. General access to free information and instant communication seems to be contradictory to non-democratic governance. Its mobilization potential may destabilize the regime. At the same […] Read more

Evaluating Performance in Opposition Dieter Stiers (University of Leuven) Recent scholarship in retrospective voting has shown that voters do not only evaluate incumbent performance when they go to the polls, but the performance of parties in opposition as well. So far, however, these studies could only speculate what it is exactly that voters evaluate of […] Read more

Social norms and electoral participation: doing what is right or doing like everyone else Maxime Coulombe (Université de Montréal) People tend to behave differently, often more in accordance with social norms, when they feel observed or when they know their behavior is monitored or disclosed to others. In political science, Get-Out-To-Voteexperiments have shown how people […] Read more

Can Part ID be a Proxy? The Measure of Party Ideology with Party Identification Nadjim Frechet (Université de Montréal)Maxime Blanchard (McGill University) Many research questions in electoral studies focus directly or indirectly on political parties’ position on specific issues. Unfortunately, parties do not answer surveys. Accordingly, it is much more complex to determine their position […] Read more