Amanda Bittner - Böcker

Campaign organizers and the media appear to agree that voters' perceptions of party leaders have an important impact in elections: considerable effort is made to ensure that leaders look good, speak well, and that they are up in the polls. In contrast, the academic literature is much more divided. Some suggest that leaders play an important role in the vote calculus, while others argue that in comparison to other factors, perceptions of leaders have only a minimal impact.This study incorporates data from thirty-five election studies across seven countries with varying institutional environments, and takes both a broad and in-depth look at the role of leaders. A few noteworthy conclusions emerge. First, voters evaluate leaders' traits in terms of two main dimensions, character and competence. Second, voters perceive leaders within the framework of a partisan stereotype in which the party label of the leader imbues meaning; more specifically, leaders of Conservative parties are seen to be more competent while Left leaders are seen to have more character. Third, and most importantly, leaders matter: they affect voters' decisions and have a discernible effect on the distribution of votes in an election. Fourth, there are consistent differences in the perception of party leaders according to voters' level of political sophistication. While all voters evaluate party leaders and consider leaders in their vote calculus, the more sophisticated do so the most. This book argues that personality plays an important role in elections, and that in a healthy democracy, so it should.Comparative Politics is a series for students, teachers, and researchers of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.essex.ac.uk/ecpr The Comparative Politics Series is edited by Professor David M. Farrell, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, Kenneth Carty, Professor of Political Science, University of British Columbia, and Professor Dirk Berg-Schlosser, Institute of Political Science, Philipps University, Marburg.

On 2 May 2011, Canadians watched as the Stephen Harper Conservatives won their first majority government. Jack Layton led the NDP to its best performance in history, and Michael Ignatieff and the federal Liberals had their worst showing to date. For most casual observers, this election marked a major shift in Canadian politics. In reality, the country's political landscape and national party system had been changing for quite some time.Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics offers the first comprehensive account of political change in Canada over the past two decades. It explores developments in the political landscape from both historical and contemporary perspectives and speculates on the future of the national party system. By documenting how parties and voters responded to new challenges between 1993 and 2011, this volume enhances our understanding of one of the most tumultuous periods in Canadian political history.

On 2 May 2011, Canadians watched as the Stephen Harper Conservatives won their first majority government. Jack Layton led the NDP to its best performance in history, and Michael Ignatieff and the federal Liberals had their worst showing to date. For most casual observers, this election marked a major shift in Canadian politics. In reality, the country's political landscape and national party system had been changing for quite some time.Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics offers the first comprehensive account of political change in Canada over the past two decades. It explores developments in the political landscape from both historical and contemporary perspectives and speculates on the future of the national party system. By documenting how parties and voters responded to new challenges between 1993 and 2011, this volume enhances our understanding of one of the most tumultuous periods in Canadian political history.

When women in politics interact with reporters, opponents, and constituents, they are forced to confront their parental status. If they have children, they are questioned about their competence in both their public and private lives. If they don't, they face criticism for not understanding or relating to key policy domains. This "damned if you do, damned if you don't" conundrum raises difficult questions about the intersection of gender, parental status, and politics.Mothers and Others examines key areas of citizen engagement with the political system – political careers, the media, and political behaviour – to argue that being a parent is a gendered political identity that influences how, why, and to what extent women (and men) engage with politics. The first major comparative analysis of the role of parenthood in politics, Mothers and Others makes important observations about what we know and what we still need to find out.

Foundations of Canadian Political Behaviour aims to place contemporary Canadian electoral politics in comparative perspective, particularly with respect to its peers among the established democracies of western Europe and North America. The book pays tribute to political scientist Richard Johnston and his diverse contributions to the study of Canadian politics and electoral politics in general.Presenting original empirical research by leading Canadian and international scholars, the volume is organized around the three themes that animate Johnston’s nearly five decades of scholarship: the impact of electoral and party systems on political conflict, change and persistence in the social foundations of party competition, and the role of election campaigns in voting behaviour. Chapters utilize diverse approaches, including quantitative analysis of survey data and electoral statistics, experimentation, systematic analysis of media content, historical narrative, and critical conceptual analyses. The book is anchored in general theoretical concerns; half of the chapters centre on Canadian cases, while half highlight key comparators including the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.