J Scott Matthews – författare

Conventional models of voting behavior depict individuals who judge governments for how the world unfolds during their time in office. This phenomenon of retrospective voting requires that individuals integrate and appraise streams of performance information over time. Yet past experimental studies short-circuit this 'integration-appraisal' process. In this Element, we develop a new framework for studying retrospective voting and present eleven experiments building on that framework. Notably, when we allow integration and appraisal to unfold freely, we find little support for models of 'blind retrospection.' Although we observe clear recency bias, we find respondents who are quick to appraise and who make reasonable use of information cues. Critically, they regularly employ benchmarking strategies to manage complex, variable, and even confounded streams of performance information. The results highlight the importance of centering the integration-appraisal challenge in both theoretical models and experimental designs and begin to uncover the cognitive foundations of retrospective voting.

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.