Summary:

"Comparative Politics" is an exciting and authoritative introduction to one of the most important fields of political science. International experts explore the methods and theories of comparative politics, as well as the institutions, actors, processes, and policies at the heart of political systems around the world. Alongside discussion of the key themes, students are presented with a wealth of empirical data to demonstrate similarities and differences in practice, and to encourage research. By focussing on industrial and developing countries, together with political bodies and systems above and below the level of the nation state, this textbook provides a fully comprehensive account of the discipline. The third edition is forthcoming in January 2014.

Contributors:

• Daniele Caramani

Sources of Funding:

• Private Sector (e.g. Industry)

Contacts:

Internal:

Daniele Caramani

Summary:

Collaboration with Simon Bornschier. Analysis of the emergence of responsive party systems in 12 countries. The project combines comparative historical analysis and quantitative statistical methods to empirically analyse processes of democratisation in Latin America. The hypothesis is that the way conflicts were mobilised early on affects the long-term balance between clientelistic and programmatic mobilisation strategies employed by parties.

Contributors:

• Daniele Caramani

Sources of Funding:

• SNF (Programm NFS/NCCR)

Contacts:

Internal:

Daniele Caramani
Simon Bornschier

Summary:

This project aims to investigate the cultural roots of populism in eight European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy). A long-term analysis over a period of approximately 40 years will be carried out in order to find out whether changes in political, cultural and media conditions are reflected in different levels and types of populism.

Contributors:

• Daniele Caramani

Sources of Funding:

• SNF (Programm NFS/NCCR)

Contacts:

Internal:

Daniele Caramani

Summary:

Collaboration with Florian Grotz of the Leuphana University, Lüneburg. Due to the ongoing processes of globalization and supranational integration, traditional core elements of democratic suffrage have been “on the move” in the recent past. More specifically, many countries have enfranchised resident aliens and/or non-resident citizens, thus abolishing citizenship and residency as necessary requirements for the individual right to vote in democratic nation-states. Although this kind of suffrage extension has been a transnational tendency since quite a while there is considerable variation in its timing, scope and levels of application (national – regional – local). Furthermore, the political consequences of resident aliens and non-resident citizens participating in general elections obviously differ from country to country. The project aims at investigating empirically the cross-country differences and estimating the impact of different provisions for immigrants' and expatriates' voting rights on the quality of representation.

Contributors:

• Daniele Caramani

Sources of Funding:

• No project-specific funding

Contacts:

Internal:

Daniele Caramani

Summary:

This project analyses the integration of European electorates and party systems, and the formation of a supra-national cleavage constellation in the European Union. It is an empirical research on the “Europeanization” of electorates and party systems convergence: (1) the ideological integration among parties of the same family in Europe, (2) the homogeneity of voting behaviour and common changes (uniform swings), (3) the location of sources for electoral behaviour (local, national or EU level), (4) the degree of distinctiveness of the EU party system with respect to national party systems and their alignments. The research covers 30 countries since the first direct election to the EP in 1979. The project is based on three types of data: (1) aggregate data, (2) survey data and (3) party manifestos.

Contributors:

• Daniele Caramani

Sources of Funding:

• SNF (Programm NFS/NCCR)

Contacts:

Internal:

Daniele Caramani

Summary:

The central aim of the CLEA project is to produce a repository of detailed results – including votes received by each candidate/party, total votes cast, number of eligible voters, and seat figures – at a constituency level for the lower house legislative elections that have been conducted around the world. The goal is to preserve and consolidate these data in one comprehensive and reliable reference resource that is ready for analysis and publicly available at no cost. This public good is expected to be of use to a range of audiences for research, education, policy-making and evaluation. The project is carried out in collaboration with Ken Kollman and Allen Hicken (University of Michigan).

Contributors:

• Daniele Caramani

Sources of Funding:

• Other Public Sources (e.g. Federal or Cantonal Agencies)

Contacts:

Internal:

Daniele Caramani

Summary:

International comparative project to which universities from most European countries participate consisting of a comparative national and regional MP survey in Europe. The Institute of Political Science is responsible for the survey of all MPs at federal and cantonal level in Switzerland. Four themes are studied. First, the definition of constituencies and how MPs define them. Second, how interests of (un)organised groups are defined in the representation process. Third, multi-level environment, how members of regional and national parliaments interact and compete. Fourth how electoral rules affect the role orientations that MPs choose from.

Contributors:

• Daniele Caramani

Sources of Funding:

• Other Public Sources (e.g. Federal or Cantonal Agencies)

Contacts:

Internal:

Daniele Caramani