Suchergebnisse

This book presents the experiences of eleven European countries in the field of territorial reforms. Based on case-studies that outline the basic features of the politics of territorial choice in the respective countries, the focus is on national policies, politics, and cleavages; the strategies employed and the outcomes of the reforms

What do policy-makers do when they think municipalities are too small for their tasks, metropolitan areas too institutionally fragmented or regional bodies too weak to take on new duties? These are issues of scale faced by national political authorities in most countries of the world, and they are not easily resolved. This book presents the experiences of eleven European countries in the field of territorial reforms. Drawing upon case studies that outline basic features of the politics of territorial choice in the respective countries, the focus is on the evolution and consequences of national policies. What are the conflicts encountered, the strategies employed, and the ultimate outcomes of territorial reform initiatives? The studies were carried out with the aim of explaining the variation and development of sub-national organization in these countries. By focusing on the politics of territorial choice the contributors seek to identify and elaborate forces of change that contribute to new patterns of territorial organization that arise in response to such problems in modern European societies.

The question of whether increased electoral turnout would make a difference has long been a matter of interest to psephologists and laymen alike. Several approaches to this question have been employed, one of which has been an analysis of responses to survey questions about how non-voters would have voted had they actually voted. The problem with this approach is not only that it involves responses to a hypothetical question, but also that the responses are given after the election outcome is known and hence are subject to the impact of various post-election effects - 'bandwagon effects' in particular. In the present article an alternative approach based on an analysis of party sympathy scores is pursued. Party sympathy scores are calculated among voters and non-voters alike. On the basis of this information, an algorithm is then used to estimate what percentage of potential voters were 'lost' by the failure of different parties to mobilize non-voters with sympathy scores comparable to their voters, and thereby assess the impact of non-voting on the election outcome. Analyses are carried out using data from six national parliamentary elections held in Norway in the period from 1981 to 2001. Results indicate that the impact of higher levels of turnout is marginal at best. [Copyright 2006 Elsevier Ltd.]