Université de Genève

La représentation descriptive des groupes sociaux comme problème de la démocratie électorale

Economic outcomes of social movements

Description: 

Economic outcomes have long been neglected by students of social movements. However, recently a number of studies have emerged addressing this topic. This chapter reviews works on economic outcomes of social movements. Economic impacts of social movements are defined here as pertaining to the economic sphere either in terms of government actions to regulate the economy/impose redistribution/reform the practices of companies and corporations, or to changes in social practices and individual behavior with respect to consumption. As such, the current review addresses scholarship on movements’ attempts to attain government regulation in markets, governments’ direct interventions in markets, and changes in market rules and practices in the social sphere.

Resistance to europeanization: National barriers to supranational changes in migration policy

Description: 

We argue that the national state remains the main frame of reference in the field of immigration and ethnic relations. The cultural-historical imprint of the pattern of state formation has produced distinct regimes for the incorporation of migrants which largely explain variations in government policies, public debates, and collective mobilizations concerning this policy area. we first discuss the debate seen in the literature between supporters of the primacy of national sovereignty and post-nationalist theorists. We then describe the process of construction of a EU migration policy, stressing the economic foundations that has driven efforts at policy coordination and the prevailing intergovernmental approach. Finally, we present results of an ongoing project which show the strong variations that exist between counties as regards policies, debates, and mobilizations pertaining to international migration.

Political values and extra-institutional political participation: The impact of economic redistributive and social libertarian preferences on protest behaviour

Description: 

Previous studies have found that left-wing and libertarian individuals are more likely to engage in extra-institutional political activism. However, due to a lack of suitable data, studies to date have not analysed the relative influence of economic redistributive and social libertarian values for the intensity of protest participation. By analysing data from a unique cross-national dataset on participants in mass demonstrations in seven countries, this article addresses this gap in the literature and provides evidence of the relative impact of economic redistributive and social libertarian values in explaining different degrees of protest participation. We show that there are divergent logics underpinning the effect of the two value sets on extra-institutional participation. While both economically redistributive and libertarian social values support extra-institutional participation, economically redistributive protesters are mobilized to political action mainly through organizations, whereas the extra-institutional participation of social libertarian protesters is underpinned by their dissatisfaction with the workings of democracy.

The contentious politics of unemployment in Europe: Political claim-making, policy deliberation and exclusion from the labor market – A research outline

How MPs' ties to interest groups matter for legislative co-sponsorship

Description: 

This article investigates whether linkages between members of parliament (MPs) and interest groups matter for MPs' activities of co-sponsoring legislative proposals. Based on statistical models for network data, the study builds on classical explanations of co-sponsorships highlighting the role of similar ties between MPs, such as party membership, legislative committee assignments, electoral district or gender. It shows that, on top of these traditional forms of homophily, MPs' ties to interest groups also make a difference. MPs with ties to a similar type of interest groups are more likely to co-sponsor their respective proposals. The same holds for MPs with ties to groups active in the same policy domain. These findings have implications for the study of groups' lobbying, legislative behaviour and representative democracy.

The politicisation of abortion, voters’ stereotypes and the electoral success of women candidates

The rise of cultural issues as an opportunity for the right? Insights from the 2015 swiss election

Description: 

This article presents an explanation for the success of the right in the 2015 Swiss parliamentary election based on the spatial model of voting. Since there is no party combining economically left with culturally authoritarian policy stances, voters with that preference combination face a difficult electoral choice. We show that they are more likely to abstain, and that those voters who turn out are more likely to cast votes for the right who represents them on cultural issues. We argue that this behavior is due to the fact that voters with this culturally conservative and economically left preferences attach more weight to cultural issues when making an electoral choice. On the aggregate, both findings imply an underrepresentation of economically left interests in the election result, and lead to a disproportional vote share for the right.

Established risk factors for addiction fail to discriminate between healthy gamers and gamers endorsing DSM-5 Internet gaming disorder

Description: 

Background and aims The DSM-5 includes criteria for diagnosing Internet gaming disorder (IGD) that are adapted from substance abuse and widely used in research and clinical contexts, although evidence supporting their validity remains scarce. This study compared online gamers who do or do not endorse IGD criteria regarding self-control-related abilities (impulsivity, inhibitory control, and decision-making), considered the hallmarks of addictive behaviors. Method A double approach was adopted to distinguish pathological from recreational gamers: The first is the classic DSM-5 approach (≥5 criteria required to endorse the IGD diagnosis), and the second consists in using latent class analysis (LCA) for IGD criteria to distinguish gamers’ subgroups. We computed comparisons separately for each approach. Ninety-seven volunteer gamers from the community were recruited. Self-reported questionnaires were used to measure demographic- and game-related characteristics, problematic online gaming (with the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire), impulsivity (with the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale), and depression (with the Beck Depression Inventory-II). Experimental tasks were used to measure inhibitory control (Hybrid-Stop Task) and decision-making abilities (Game of Dice Task). Results Thirty-two participants met IGD criteria (33% of the sample), whereas LCA identified two groups of gamers [pathological (35%) and recreational]. Comparisons that used both approaches (DSM-5 and LCA) failed to identify significant differences regarding all constructs except for variables related to actual or problematic gaming behaviors. Discussion The validity of IGD criteria is questioned, mostly with respect to their relevance in distinguishing high engagement from pathological involvement in video games.

Stock options and managers' incentives to cheat

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