Voters with more political knowledge use different voting motives (ideology, party program, ...) than voters with low levels of political knowledge ("things need to change"). New article by Amber Voets and @dieterstiers.bsky.social in @actapolitica.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The effect of political knowledge on voting motives in the 2024 Belgian elections - Acta Politica

In this study, we examine the extent to which political knowledge affects the importance of voting motives in electoral decision-making. Using political knowledge as a measure of sophistication, this ...

link.springer.com

There is concern that increasing electoral volatility would indicate more short-term voting motives. Using @cses.bsky.social data for Belgium, Amber Voets and @dieterstiers.bsky.social show this is not the case: ideology remains important as always. Now in CEP. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Does electoral volatility imply short-term voting motives? - Comparative European Politics

Recent research suggests that long-term determinants of vote choice have weakened, while short-term considerations have become increasingly influential, contributing to rising electoral volatility. Bu...

link.springer.com

Historici Marc Bloch (1886-1944) en Simonne Vidal (1894-1944) worden vandaag opgenomen in het Panthéon. Een hulde, zowel aan het baanbrekend historisch werk, als aan hun verzet tegen de nazi-bezetting.

Voters for extreme right protest parties have lower levels of subjective well-being, @stevendekeyser.bsky.social, @dieterstiers.bsky.social and I show in a new article in Journal of Happiness Studies @isqols.bsky.social . The effect, however, is almost fully mediated by anti-immigrant sentimens.

🆕 Avoidance is spreading 🫣 @marchooghe.bsky.social & @dieterstiers.bsky.social use BelREP panel data to ask what influence news avoidance has on congruent #Voting among those with lower levels of political understanding buff.ly/5WeB9RD

News avoidance and congruent voting. Results of an electoral panel study in Belgium | European Political Science Review | Cambridge Core

News avoidance and congruent voting. Results of an electoral panel study in Belgium

cambridge.org

www.cambridge.org/core/journal... 'News avoidance' is spreading quickly among younger generations. Is this just a media preference, or does it have democratic consequences? @dieterstiers.bsky.social and I show that it leads to less correct voting, thus underming representative democracy.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Between intentions and acts: How valid is the hypothetical turnout question? A benchmarking test on abolishing compulsory voting - Acta Politica

Acta Politica - Research on the consequences of compulsory voting often relies on a hypothetical question on what respondents would do if legislation were changed. It is well-known, however, that...

link.springer.com

Abolishing Compulsory Voting: The 2024 Experience in the Flemish Region of Belgium Abolishing Compulsory Voting: The 2024 Experience in the Flemish Region of Belgium By Marc Hooghe, University of Leuven, and Dieter Stiers, University of Leuven There are few clear-cut examples of countries that…

Abolishing Compulsory Voting: The 2024 Experience in the Flemish Region of Belgium

Abolishing Compulsory Voting: The 2024 Experience in the Flemish Region of Belgium By Marc Hooghe, University of Leuven, and Dieter Stiers, University of Leuven There are few clear-cut examples of countries that have abolished or introduced compulsory voting. When the Netherlands abolished the system in 1971, Irwin (1974) documented how this led to a sharp reduction in voter turnout, especially among young people, women, and those with little political interest.

politicalsciencenow.com

Our paper on how the higher educated are more able to vote correctly just got a volume and issue number. Do check it out! link.springer.com/article/10.1... @dieterstiers.bsky.social @marchooghe.bsky.social and Richard Lau

The Role of Education in Political Information Processing and Correct Voting: Inequality at the Voting Booth? - Political Behavior

It has been well established that the effectiveness and quality of political representation is unequally distributed in Western democracies. Scholars have frequently warned about the rise of ‘diploma ...

link.springer.com

Dr. Silke Goubin@silkegoubin.bsky.social · 2y ago

🎉 Excited to announce our new publication in Political Behavior! 📖 "The Role of Education in Political Information Processing and Correct Voting: Inequality at the Voting Booth?" sheds light on how education shapes democratic representation. Read it here: doi.org/10.1007/s111...

Canada Excellence Research Chair - Comparative Democratic Resilience in the Global South #ECPRMemberJobs 🎓 PhD in Political Science or a closely related discipline 🇨🇦 Memorial University of Newfoundland. ⌛ Sunday 14 December buff.ly/UPDCOQx #PolSciJobs #PoliSky #AcademicSky

Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences | Academic Careers

Below is a listing of academic career opportunities in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.To view current academic leadership career opportunities click here.

buff.ly

In summer 2024 @dieterstiers.bsky.social and I made a (publicly available) forecast on the consequences of abolishing turnout for the October 2024 elections in Belgium. Our forecasting model correctly predicted the effect of gender and political interest. Now out in Int. Journal of Forecasting.

Net verschenen in @pspolisci.bsky.social, een eerste gepubliceerde analyse over de gevolgen van de afschaffing van de opkomstplicht in het Vlaams Gewest (met @dieterstiers.bsky.social ). Vooral vrouwen en personen met lage politieke interesse hebben afgehaakt. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

De mythe van Wallonië als ‘l’Etat PS’ kan in de vuilbak. In 2024 verschoof de publieke opinie er op een structurele manier naar rechts. 💥 Nieuw onderzoek over de kiezersstromen in Wallonië van @dieterstiers.bsky.social‬ en @marchooghe.bsky.social‬

'l'Etat PS' komt niet terug

De publieke opinie in Wallonië schoof op een structurele manier naar rechts. En het traditionele beeld van een ‘links Wallonië' komt niet onmiddellijk terug.

sampol.be

Een bijzonder scherpe daling van verkiezingsdeelname in het Vlaams Gewest. De resultaten bevestigen wat er 50 jaar geleden in Nederland gebeurde (Irwin, 1974): minder deelname van vrouwen en personen met lage politieke interesse. Vooral de (linkse en rechtse) radicale partijen verliezen kiezers.

PS: Political Science & Politics@pspolisci.bsky.social · last yr.

Now on FirstView ft. @marchooghe.bsky.social .bsky.social and @dieterstiers.bsky.social! "Indeed, compulsory voting is an effective manner for implementing Jeremy Bentham’s dictum that “everyone is to count for one, and nobody to count for more than one” in the electoral realm." shorturl.at/G16wD

The abolishment of compulsory voting in the Flemish Region reduced turnout by 26 %. Remarkably, our results are completely in line with the analysis of Galen Irwin (1974) on the abolishment of compulsory voting in The Netherlands. Just like in Irwin's article, turnout dropped especially among women.

PS: Political Science & Politics@pspolisci.bsky.social · last yr.

Now on FirstView ft. @marchooghe.bsky.social .bsky.social and @dieterstiers.bsky.social! "Indeed, compulsory voting is an effective manner for implementing Jeremy Bentham’s dictum that “everyone is to count for one, and nobody to count for more than one” in the electoral realm." shorturl.at/G16wD

While some media reports whine about an alleged liberal bias among high school teachers, this new study by Sari Verachtert and @dieterstiers.bsky.social shows they tend to be very moderate, they eschew extreme parties and positions, and they cherish neutrality in the classroom.

Hebben leerkrachten echt een specifiek ideologisch profiel? Sari Verachtert en @dieterstiers.bsky.social tonen in een onderzoek bij Vlaamse leerkrachten aan dat ze ideologisch gematigd zijn, extreme partijen vermijden, en neutraliteit belangrijk vinden. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

🇧🇪New article! "Who decides what are second-order elections? A study of ticket-splitting in simultaneous federal and regional elections in Belgium" by @dieterstiers.bsky.social and @marchooghe.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Who decides what are second-order elections? A study of ticket-splitting in simultaneous federal and regional elections in Belgium

The idea that regional elections automatically could be considered as second-order elections has been criticized in the recent literature, as the rise of regional authority implies that the regiona...

tandfonline.com

In Belgium, federal and regional elections are held simultaneously. What does this imply for the traditional second-order model? @dieterstiers.bsky.social and I have asked voters, and the result is that for most voters, both levels are equally important. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Who decides what are second-order elections? A study of ticket-splitting in simultaneous federal and regional elections in Belgium

The idea that regional elections automatically could be considered as second-order elections has been criticized in the recent literature, as the rise of regional authority implies that the regiona...

tandfonline.com

💥BAM!💥 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐚𝐩'𝐧𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 👉Ontdek 'em via www.sampol.be/latest

Very happy that our study (with @marchooghe.bsky.social and Michael Lewis-Beck) is now a #TopCitedArticle in Politics & Policy! In the study, we examine whether the electoral college grew more disproportional over the last century. See: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

🌟 New article 📢 👥 Martin Okolikj @mokolikj.bsky.social, Marc Hooghe @marchooghe.bsky.social & Michael Lewis-Beck 👉 The Compleat Economic Voter in Belgium: Channels of Accountability in a Complex Multilevel Government System 📘 The Journal of Politics 🔗 doi.org/10.1086/735633

Peut-on expliquer les résultats des élections de juin 2024 en Région wallonne ? Avec @dieterstiers.bsky.social nous montrons dans un nouvel article paru dans French Politics que l'opinion publique évolue bel et bien vers une position idéologique plus à droite. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

What explains the June 2024 election results in the Walloon Region? @dieterstiers.bsky.social and I show in a new article in French Politics that public opinion indeed shifts toward a more right-wing ideological position. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

🎉 Excited to announce our new publication in Political Behavior! 📖 "The Role of Education in Political Information Processing and Correct Voting: Inequality at the Voting Booth?" sheds light on how education shapes democratic representation. Read it here: doi.org/10.1007/s111...

The Role of Education in Political Information Processing and Correct Voting: Inequality at the Voting Booth? - Political Behavior

It has been well established that the effectiveness and quality of political representation is unequally distributed in Western democracies. Scholars have frequently warned about the rise of ‘diploma ...

doi.org