Comparing Media Systems and Voter Turnout E-Book

Peter Ru

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2014 im Fachbereich Politik - Politische Systeme allgemein und im Vergleich, Note: 1,0, Universität Mannheim (Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften), Veranstaltung: Seminar: Comparing Media Systems and Media Policies across Europe, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: This paper concentrates on the effects of media systems on voter turnout. It is based on the work of Hallin and Mancini “Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and politics” published in 2004 (Hallin/Mancini 2004). Thus the research question this paper seeks to answer is “Is there a significant difference between the type of media system proposed by Hallin and Mancini and the degree of voting participation?” All three models differ in their size of media markets, their degree of political parallelism as well as the different kinds of professionalization of the journalists and the role of the state in the media systems. Subsequently there is a possibility of this affects the number of people attending elections. It is expected to find significant differences between the models in their degree of voting participation. In the following chapters this paper introduces the categorization of Hallin and Mancini and discusses its findings and also presents the reception of their work. Next the theory and the hypothesis are introduced. Then the methodology is displayed. Bivariate regression analysis will be used in order to analyse the differences regarding the media systems and the voter turnout. After that the findings of the analysis is shown and finally the conclusion drawn from the findings are discussed.

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Table of contents

INTRODUCTION

Democracy and Turnout

Research Question

Structure

LITERATURE REVIEW - Hallin and Mancini: “Comparing Media Systems: Three models of media and politics”

The four dimensions of media systems

The five political dimensions

The three Models

Reception

THEORY AND HYPOTHESIS

METHODOLOGY

Regression Analysis

Operationalisation

DATA ANAYLSIS.

Influence of Media Markets on Turnout

Influence of Political Parallelism on Voter Turnout

Influence of Professionalization and Voter Turnout

5.4 Influence of the State’s role on voter turnout

Limitations

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX

Turnout Data between 2009 and 2014 (IDEA 2015)

Dimension Index Values and Country Rankings (Brüggemann et al. 2014, 1061)

REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

Democracy and Turnout

What defines a democracy? This question should be considered as one of the most polarizing questions when it comes to Comparative Politics. There are plenty of different conditions considered as necessary in order to call a country democratic. One of the conditions that seems to be more important than others, is the existence of competitive elections. Joseph Schumpeter, an influential economist and political scientist, states “the democratic method is that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions which realizes the common good by making the people itself decide issues through the election of individuals who are to assemble in order to carry out its will” (Schumpeter 1950, 428). A more recent definition of democracy states that “the essential idea of democracy is that the people have the right to determine who governs them. In most cases they elect the principal governing officials and hold them accountable for their actions. Democracies also impose legal limits on the government’s authority by guaranteeing certain rights and freedoms to their citizen” (Sodaro 2004, 31). There are countless other definitions of democracy and there is no an “ongoing lively debate on the subject” (Kekic 2007, 1). Most of them include the elements of competition or elections meaning the existence of competitive elections and declare them as a necessary condition for democracy. Therefore the absence of free and fair elections should only occur in undemocratic systems.

Knowing that competitive elections have a major significance in a democratic system. But nowadays we observe an alarming trend in many modern democracies. The voter turnout is decreasing in most countries. (Zelenko 2012). Many scholars agree that this trend is not desirable (Rosema 2007; Lijphart 1997) and may be a huge threat to democratic systems. The effects of low turnout and its causes are extensively discussed. (Lutz/Marsh 2007; Blais 2007).

If turnout is low, then there is no longer a full representation of all groups of society and rather a bias towards certain social groups. This may lead to political apathy which in return may lead to less people participating in general and local elections (Volmer 2013). Thus the legitimacy of political leaders is in danger, as they are no longer in office based on the major will of the citizens.

In sum, the decrease of voting turnout is threatening the whole democratic idea. Hence it is crucial to find out the most important factors that lead to the decrease of voter turnout. Further investigation in that area of political science may be important due to normative aspects. Once the factors that lead to a decrease in voting participation are identified, the authorities and politicians can proceed against this trend and ensure that at least a representative sample of the population is participating in the vote ensuring the basic principle of a democracy: The representation of people’s will and interests.

Scholars agree that there is not just one but many factors that influence the number of people participating in elections. One of the first studies on that topic is done by G. Bingham Powell’s work named “Contemporary Democracies. Participation, Stability, and Violence”. In this book, Powell seeks to identify the factors that lead to less participation in elections. He comes up with the indicators “nationally competitive districts” and “strong party-group linkages” (Powell 1982). Later Robert W. Jackman also looked for the variables that are responsible for voter turnout. (Jackman 1987). He was more concerned with institutional factors and came up with three institutions that seem to support voter turnout. These institutions are “unicameralism”, the existence of “compulsory voting” but also the “nationally competitive districts” (Jackman 1987, 416). Unicameralism because if there only exists one chamber, this chamber is more powerful, which gives the voters more incentive to vote. The existence of compulsory voting simply because it “provide[s] a disincentive to nonvoting that should increase turnout” (Jackman 1987, 409). Finally national competitive districts have an impact on turnout, as those districts “provide incentives for parties and candidates to mobilize voters, which increases turnout. (Jackman 1987, 407).

Research Question

Obviously there are various factors influencing the likelihood of people participation in an election. In order to achieve a complete identification of influences on voter turnout, another factor of turnout shall be discovered. This paper concentrates on the effects of media systems on voter turnout. It is based on the work of Hallin and Mancini “Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and politics” published in 2004 (Hallin/Mancini 2004). Thus the research question this paper seeks to answer is “Is there a significant difference between the type of media system proposed by Hallin and Mancini and the degree of voting participation?” All three models differ in their size of media markets, their degree of political parallelism as well as the different kinds of professionalization of the journalists and the role of the state in the media systems. Subsequently there is a possibility of this affects the number of people attending elections. It is expected to find significant differences between the models in their degree of voting participation.

Structure

In the following chapters this paper introduces the categorization of Hallin and Mancini and discusses its findings and also presents the reception of their work. Next the theory and the hypothesis are introduced. Then the methodology is displayed. Bivariate regression analysis will be used in order to analyse the differences regarding the media systems and the voter turnout. After that the findings of the analysis is shown and finally the conclusion drawn from the findings are discussed.