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This paper focuses on the 2022 general elections in Papua New Guinea, covering both electoral quality and election outcomes. Overall, the 2022 elections were very troubled. In parts of the country, serious violence and electoral fraud were major issues. In other parts of the country, polling was less fraught. However, some problems, such as the roll, were serious almost everywhere. In terms of election outcomes, one outcome – only two women won seats – was predictable. However, the election brought puzzling results too: in particular, incumbents were re-elected at the highest rate ever. And the largest party won a larger share of seats than has been the case in any election since 1982. Neither of the latter two results appear to have been a direct product of electoral fraud. Rather, the party outcome stems from a turn-of-the-millennium rule change. High incumbent re-election rates remain a genuine puzzle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important field of research related to early modern sovereignty is the topic of female political authority. This article aims to utilise the category of gender to analyse potential obstacles that Queen Christina of Sweden had to overcome in order to obtain royal dignity in an elective monarchy, the early modern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Could the election of a female monarch constitute an acceptable and functional alternative for the Catholic and conservative noble society of this vast composite state? Former examples of Jadwiga of Anjou (1384) and Anna Jagiellon (1576) elected and crowned Kings of Poland seemed to suggest as much. The case of Christina's aspirations is all the more interesting, as her prominent supporter during the royal election of 1669 was the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Clement IX. It is, in fact, the diplomatic correspondence created by the papal Secretariat of State that constitutes the historical basis for the research presented here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationships between kings and monasteries or convents were governed by three privileges: free election, immunity, and royal protection. While the first two privileges have been extensively investigated, royal protection has attracted little attention among medievalists, with the exception of German scholarship. The latter has usually emphasised a specific consequence of the use of this privilege, namely the transfer of ownership rights over the monastery or the convent from the founders' family to the king. However, this was just one possible effect of royal protection, not necessarily the most common or most important. The distinguishing features of this privilege have been largely ignored, namely its nature as a right in personam, and not in rem, as well as its jurisdictional content, since royal protection allowed protected persons to be judged by the royal court. This article aims to explore the full political potential of royal protection, and to reconstruct the institutional dynamics that the use of this privilege could trigger in the Ottonian period. Two case studies are analysed comparatively: Central Italy and Eastern Saxony. Though different and distant from each other, these two political spaces can be fruitfully compared, as the Ottonians and the religious communities of these areas deliberately decided to make intensive use of royal protection to shape their mutual relationships. This comparative study reveals significant differences in the political application of the privilege in the two regions, in part reflecting a dissimilar understanding of the idea of royal protection itself. This privilege established a bilateral and asymmetrical relationship of variable intensity, which could change in time and space depending on the variable degree of political autonomy enjoyed by the protected abbot (abbess) and his (her) community as well as the different attitude of the king, acting as a lenient judge or as lord of those under his protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of History Studies (13094688) is the property of History Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There is a growing interest among policy makers in the use of subjective well‐being (or "happiness") data to measure societal progress, as well as to inform and evaluate public policy. Yet despite a sharp rise in the supply of well‐being‐based policymaking, it remains unclear whether there is any electoral demand for it. In this article, I study a long‐run panel of general elections in Europe and find that well‐being is a strong predictor of election results. National measures of subjective well‐being are able to explain more of the variance in governing party vote share than standard macroeconomic indicators typically used in the economic voting literature. Consistent results are found at the individual level when considering subjective well‐being and voting intentions, both in cross‐sectional and panel analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern British ideological centre has been neglected and its impact underestimated. This article highlights the persistence of the centre's moderating influence and its progressive, indeed at times radical, contribution. This ideological dynamism emanated from centrists' synthesis of objectives often considered to conflict. Notably, centrists sought social justice alongside individual aspiration, albeit that this cross-ideological marriage was partial and incomplete. The article also examines the relationship between the centre and the people – presently portrayed as one of popular disconnection from an aloof elite. Yet, centrists have received considerable electoral sustenance from voters, and in turn demonstrated an appreciation of the contradictory 'mix' in many people, conservatism and progressivism in complex co-existence. Centrist history points to the contemporary political challenge as being one of raising the sights of a collective national 'us', rather than demonizing a variously targeted 'other'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This "From the Archives" article provides the text of Belle Moskowitz's 1923 speech to the National Conference of Social Work, in which she encourages social workers to engage in the political process at the local, state, and national levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the issue of electoral promises in twentieth-century Britain—how they were made, how they were understood, and how they evolved across time. It does so through a study of general election manifestos (issued by political parties) and election addresses (issued on behalf of individual candidates). The premise of the article is that exploring the act of making promises illuminates the development of political communication and democratic representation, and that considering the print culture and circulation history aspects of addresses and manifestos helps us understand the relationship between the process of pledging and actual policy outcomes. The article further argues that the Labour Party was an innovator that helped push changes in the ways in which policies were promoted to the electorate. It posits that the years 1900–97 saw an important but slow and contested shift towards a more programmatic form of politics. This did not always favour policies of state expansion, but it did favour promises of state action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Largely ignored as an anomaly, the 1892 general election represents a major gap in the scholarship on late nineteenth-century British politics. This article is the first to analyse the issues on and electioneering rhetoric with which it was fought, with a focus on England's constituencies. It argues that the early 1890s saw the inauguration of a new, 'positive' kind of political appeal. It explores how Liberals embraced the radical reforms of the National Liberal Federation's 'Newcastle programme' and how Unionists constructed a self-referential 'positive Unionism' that trumpeted their achievements in government. In addition, by considering the limits of Home Rule as an electoral strategy, the article challenges accepted narratives of Liberalism's slide into 'faddism' and Unionist dominance. The article draws on my databases of election addresses. Addresses were an essential medium for the communication of political appeals; by analysing their content, the article highlights the utility of quantitative methodologies for studying shifts in and the transmission of political discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few innovations in democratic institutional design are considered as fundamental as the introduction of voting through the use of a uniform, official, and secret ballot. One account claims that the official ballot liberates dependent voters from the dictates of local elites, thereby enhancing democratic competition. Another argues that in contexts of widespread illiteracy, its adoption may be tantamount to a suffrage restriction. This article adjudicates between these views by drawing upon an original data set of municipal‐level voting returns from Brazil's Second Republic (1945–1964). The unique staggered rollout of the official ballot during this period permits one to assess its impact with unprecedented accuracy. The article finds that the primary consequence of ballot reform was suffrage restriction. Rather than liberating poor and dependent voters, the official ballot made it exceedingly difficult for these individuals to vote. Moreover, parliamentary debates indicate that this was an anticipated and intended effect of the reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the history of the political participation of the Maori people of New Zealand in the 19th century which started with the creation of the Maori seats of Parliament under the Maori Representation Act 1867 (MRA). Topics discussed include the incorporation of MRA into the Electoral Act of 1893, the history of their voting rights, practices and election participation, and the issue of giving fair representation to Maori in the House of Parliament in 1862.

The British general election of 1945 and the return of the nation's first ever majority Labour government was a profound turning point in Britain's political history. The scale of Labour's victory, and the belief in its inevitability, has, however, obscured important developments in British Conservatism. Historians have subsequently characterized the Conservative party as either unwilling to develop their own distinct plans for the post-war future, or divided between those who were willing to embrace the policies of social democracy and those with a neo-liberal approach to political economy. This article challenges this depiction by examining the thoughts and actions of those within what it terms the wartime 'Conservative movement': the constellation of fringe and pressure groups that orbited around the Conservative party during the period. In examining this movement, it identifies three major traditions of Conservative political thinking, and three sets of activists and parliamentarians all committed to developing radical Conservative plans for post-war Britain. The article demonstrates how these different traditions built upon but also radicalized pre-existing currents of Conservative thought, how the language of social democracy was co-opted and reinterpreted by those within the Conservative movement, and how the war changed Conservative perception of the British people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do human rights violations affect post-election protest? Until recently, post-election protests have been explained primarily by election-related factors such as the level of manipulation and the quality of electoral institutions. We argue that there are three dimensions along which human rights violations influence post-election protest: (1) the physical cost to protesters, (2) the ability to connect the violation to an election outcome, and (3) the ability to connect the repressive action to the government. Using this framework, we identify political imprisonment as the physical integrity right violation most likely to increase the probability of post-election protest. We test our hypotheses empirically with data on all national-level elections in the world between 1982 and 2012. We find that political imprisonment, a violation easily connected to government action and election outcomes, and less costly physically than other physical integrity rights violations, increases the probability of post-election protest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on the influence of elections on insurgent territories in Zacatlán, Mexico in 1813. Topics discussed include document of priest Francisco García Catarinas on the role of elections, leadership of insurrection, history of elections and military crises in Mexico.

In this article, we draw on the contradictions in, and the geopolitics of, international election observation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's 2006 and 2011 elections to identify and analyse the emergence of a neo-third world behaviour among African states intended to counter the excesses of Western liberal democracy promotion on the continent. We argue that the decision by African states to quickly endorse the 2011 elections and close ranks around Joseph Kabila's government, amidst mounting international criticisms of the electoral process, should be understood in the context of a new form of third worldism that is emerging in the global South in response to the unrestrained exercise of US power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers detailed information on the elections in Costa Rica in 2018. Topics discussed include bipartisan system in the country, declined voter turnout over there, bipartisan and multiparty system in Costa Rica, election campaigns organized over there, and political tension between LGBT people and feminists. It further discusses works of region's political party partido del gobierno, Acción Ciudadana (PAC), social christianity in Costa Rica, and relations between Catholics and Protestants.

The article offers information on the elections in Latin America in 2018. Topics discussed include presidential elections in the Latin American countries, changed political cycle because of political distrust, political disaffection in those countries, number of Latin Americans who participated in election polls and political campaigns over there. It further discusses democracy in Latin American countries, works of political party Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) and antipolitical movements in the region.

Political parties often appeal to groups. Yet, existing work does not consider how such group-based appeals are used, presumably because they are thought to have grown ineffective. Contrary to this, I argue that group-based appeals are central to party electoral strategy, and that time has only strengthened the incentive to use them. Using original data on 10,000 group-based appeals found in sentence-by-sentence coding of British election manifestos, I demonstrate an increasing use of group-based appeals from 1964 to 2015. Furthermore, I show that the range of groups emphasized, the concentration of group emphasis, and the specific group categories targeted also follow the electoral incentives prevalent over this 50-year period. These findings shed new light on how political parties appeal for votes and suggest that we view group-based appeals as a distinctive feature of party electoral strategy. I discuss the implications for our broader understanding of electoral competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On December 3, 2017, Bolivian voters went to the polls to vote for their national judges. Bolivia is the only country in modern world history to use direct elections to select its judges, and the adoption and implementation of these elections have been highly contentious. We report on this election and contend that though formally compliant with the Bolivian Constitution, the MAS supermajority used its powers to limit the ability of the public to make its voice heard in an electorally meaningful way. Voters registered their discontent by spoiling more ballots than in any election in Bolivian history. Relying on original survey data as well as municipal-level election returns, we demonstrate that candidates' electoral fates in this election were tied more closely to their position on the ballot than their ascriptive characteristics or professional qualifications, and voters' decisions to cast spoiled votes correlate strongly with their dissatisfaction with the broader MAS political project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On December 3, 2017, Bolivian voters went to the polls to vote for their national judges. Bolivia is the only country in modern world history to use direct elections to select its judges, and the adoption and implementation of these elections has been highly contentious. We report on this election and contend that though formally compliant with the Bolivian Constitution, the MAS supermajority used its powers to limit the ability of the public to make its voice heard in an electorally meaningful way. Voters registered their discontent by spoiling more ballots than in any election in Bolivian history. Relying on original survey data as well as municipal-level election returns, we demonstrate that candidates' electoral fates in this election were tied more closely to their position on the ballot than their ascriptive characteristics or professional qualifications, and voters' decisions to cast spoiled votes correlate strongly with their dissatisfaction with the broader MAS political project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a research works of historian Armin Wolf on constitutional history of Germany. Topics discussed include history of elections over there, political families in Germany, election of German kings, lifetime achievements of Wolf, works of German King Henry I and Rhenish archbishops in 13th century.

In many recent democracies, candidates seek to mobilize voters using a combination of clientelistic promises and coercive strategies. How pernicious do such infringements on voters' electoral autonomy appear if one compares national elections in Imperial Germany to elections in other recent democracies? In this contribution, I examine how the “menu of electoral irregularities" one encounters in German national elections between 1870 and 1912 differs from other first- and thirdwave democracies. Electoral coercion perpetuated by state employees or employers remained the modal type of irregularity. By contrast, electoral irregularities that are common in other third-wave democracies, such as vote-buying, patronage or violence were remarkably absent in German national elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of electoral practice into the analysis of the history of democracy allows a better understanding of what democracy meant for the people in their time. It becomes clear that modern elections were – not always, but often – forced from above. Elections served not only to legitimize power, but also supported other functions such as the disciplining of the population. Democracy, therefore, has not evolved from a single ideal, but from a conglomeration of conflicting ideas and powerful practices. Yet in spite of all the national differences, the history of elections and democracy proves to be a common, transnational history of the North Atlantic area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2017 seemed a possible turning point for the economic, social and political model of the ruling party, Frente Amplio, which has governed Uruguay since 2005. The political and economic scenario was particularly sensitive for the government, both at the domestic and international levels. However, the year closed with unexpected economic growth, the improvement of some important social indicators, and the return of the parliamentary majorities that the Frente Amplio had lost in 2016. At the same time, new conflicts opened for the government, especially on the internal front. Among them, the process that led to the resignation of the Vice President of the Republic Raúl Sendic, the negotiation processes for securing of an investment by the Finnish company UPM, the attempt to reform the "Caja Militar," and the generation of agreements for the so-called "Ley de los Cincuentones." For different reasons, these conflicts produced tensions within the Executive branch of the government, which finally settled over the course of the year. As has happened on other occasions, the Frente Amplio's internal politics were revealed as an especially relevant area for negotiation and decision-making related to the resolution of conflicts between the Executive and the governing party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, Cuba prepared itself for a momentous change that was coming in 2018: the first time in 59 years that a Castro would not be leading the government. No one expects Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, whom the National Assembly elected as Cuba's president in April 2018, to chart a course dramatically different from the one President Raúl Castro had established. However, given the economic, demographic, and international political challenges Cuba faced in 2017, the year had to be viewed as the end of an era. Change is inevitable in order to sustain the Cuban Revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paraguayan politics in 2017 was dominated by two central events: 1) the attempt to modify the constitution to allow for presidential reelection, and 2) party primaries in anticipation of the 2018 general elections. The amendment to allow for reelection was not approved, but the informal procedures through which it was advanced resulted in the destruction of the Congress building and the loss of a life. On the other hand, the same factions that competed over the reelection amendment also competed in the party primaries but in an organized and peaceful manner. By summarizing the main political, social and economic events that happened in Paraguay in 2017, this article suggests that institutionalized processes allow for the resolution of conflicts in a more constructive way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2017 was marked by growing uncertainty about the future as Evo Morales continued to prepare for yet another presidential campaign despite growing resistance and a 2016 referendum in which voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would allow Morales to seek a fourth term. The year was also dominated by plans for the December judicial elections, which were just as problematic as they had been in 2011. While economic indicators remained generally positive, there was also growing concern about the future of the economy. 2017 was also the first year that the quality of Bolivian democracy declined significantly, suggesting that 2018 could be a defining year for the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2017 in Ecuador has been marked, first, by the electoral victory of Alianza PAIS and, then, by the rapidly escalating conflict within the governing party. With the departure from office of Rafael Correa, who had governed the country since 2007, Ecuadorian politics has entered a new period which is characterized by political realignments and heightened political uncertainty. At the same time, the economic situation is improving only gradually and imposes significant constraints on the new government led by Lenín Moreno. The article reviews the politically turbulent year of 2017, and, in doing so, analyzes the struggle over the legacy of the "Citizens' Revolution" that has broken out between the supporters of the new president and the followers of his predecessor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2017 was an unusual year for politics in Chile. After a period of institutional stability, the government had to face forest fires, police corruption, and reports of abuses within the National Service for Minors (SENAME). In addition, the years saw presidential, parliamentary, and regional elections. This was also the first time that the new electoral system, which replaced the binominal formula with a more proportional system using a great district magnitude, was used for national elections. We argue that this change in the electoral rule had three effects on political actors: 1) uncertainty about the new rules changed political ambitions; 2) it led to new campaign strategies; 3) it gave new actors who had traditionally been excluded from electoral competition new hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cambiemos victory in the midterm elections was the most important political event in Argentina during 2017. The government achieved this result by managing the intertemporal dynamics of economic adjustment. Before the elections, the government deferred unpopular measures and pursued an economic policy that, beyond empowering the winners (mainly the agricultural sector), compensated the losers (workers, seniors, and the informal sector) by increasing their income. The counterpart of this strategy was a significant increase in the external debt stocks and the deterioration of fiscal and external accounts. After the elections, the elderly, the informal sector, and the middle class suffered a greater imposition of costs. This report analyzes Argentina's government policies before and after the elections, paying particular attention to its strategy of deferring the costs of adjustment and its negotiation with winners and losers. Going forward, the government faces the difficult task of solving accumulated economic imbalances without eroding the social support that allowed it to prevail in the legislative elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the marriage of Polish politician Zofia Moczarska and Polish writer Kazimierz Moczarski in July 1939, and discusses their education, their participation in parliamentary elections in 1947 and trials against them.

Copyright of Prohistoria is the property of Prohistoria Ediciones and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Which parties use simple language in their campaign messages, and do simple campaign messages resonate with voters’ information about parties? This study introduces a novel link between the language applied during election campaigns and citizens’ ability to position parties in the ideological space. To this end, how complexity of campaign messages varies across parties as well as how it affects voters’ knowledge about party positions is investigated. Theoretically, it is suggested that populist parties are more likely to simplify their campaign messages to demarcate themselves from mainstream competitors. In turn, voters should perceive and process simpler campaign messages better and, therefore, have more knowledge about the position of parties that communicate simpler campaign messages. The article presents and validates a measure of complexity and uses it to assess the language of manifestos in Austria and Germany in the period 1945–2013. It shows that political parties, in general, use barely comprehensible language to communicate their policy positions. However, differences between parties exist and support is found for the conjecture about populist parties as they employ significantly less complex language in their manifestos. Second, evidence is found that individuals are better able to place parties in the ideological space if parties use less complex campaign messages. The findings lead to greater understanding of mass‐elite linkages during election campaigns and have important consequences for the future analysis of manifesto data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent decades have been marked by increasingly divided partisan opinion in the US. This study investigates whether a similar trend might be occurring in Canada. It does so by examining redistributive preferences, using Canadian Election Studies data from every election since 1992. Results suggest that Canada has experienced a surge in partisan sorting that is comparable to that in the US. Over time, like-minded citizens have increasingly clustered into parties, with increasingly stark divisions between partisans. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Revista de Sociologia e Política is the property of Revista de Sociologia e Politica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Democracy is often fragile, especially in states recovering from civil conflict. To protect emerging democracies, many scholars and practitioners recommend political powersharing institutions, which aim to safeguard minority group interests. Yet there is little empirical research on whether powersharing promotes democratic survival, and some concern that it limits electoral accountability. To fill this gap, we differentiate between inclusive, dispersive, and constraining powersharing institutions and analyze their effects on democratic survival from 1975 to 2015 using a global dataset. We find sharp distinctions across types of powersharing and political context. Inclusive powersharing, such as ethnic quotas, promotes democratic survival only in post-conflict settings. In contrast, dispersive institutions such as federalism tend to destabilize post-conflict democracies. Only constraining powersharing consistently facilitates democratic survival regardless of recent conflict. Institution-builders and international organizations should therefore prioritize institutions that constrain leaders, including independent judiciaries, civilian control of the armed forces, and constitutional protections of individual and group rights. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a historical perspective of the foreign policy of the Republic of Texas. Topics discussed include declaration of independence of Texas on March 2, 1836; how David G. Burnet, provisional president of the new republic, voted for and made a choice on the constitution made by the delegation assembly; and how the Republic decided for the election of officials and merged in the United States of America.