Political Representation in Portugal: the Years of the Socialist Majority, 2005- 2009
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Political Representation in Portugal: The Years of the Socialist Majority, 2005- 2009 André Freire (ed.) José Manuel Leite Viegas (ed.) January 2015 Technical Details Title: Political Representation in Portugal: the years of Socialist majority, 2005-2009 Editor: André Freire Co-editor: José Manuel Leite Viegas First edition: March 2015 ISBN: 9789892053967 Edition: editor Composition: Tânia Dias Cover: Tânia Dias Electronic Format/PDF E-book version at: www.leyaonline.com/pt www.amazon.co.uk Contents Table of contents………………………………..…………i List of figures .................................................................. viii List of tables ...................................................................... xi Hermann Schmitt Forward……………………………………………….....xv André Freire Acknowledgements…………………………………….xxii 1. André Freire Introduction ................................................................. 1 References ................................................................... 34 Notes ......................................................................... 429 PART ONE 2. Conceição Pequito Teixeira and André Freire Decline, transformation and confidence in parliaments: A longitudinal and comparative perspective ................................................................. 40 Introduction ................................................................. 40 The triumph of the democratic regime and the erosion of public support for political institutions .............................................................. 41 Between institutional centrality and functional decline: An equivocal opposition? ......................... 43 From trust in the democratic institutions to trust in parliament ............................................................... 50 Institutional trust and political culture ................ 53 Institutional trust and social capital .................... 54 Institutional trust and specific support ................ 56 Dependent variable: trust in national parliaments ....... 58 Independent variables, hypotheses and interpretations ......................................................... 63 i Attitudinal correlates of trust in the Portuguese parliament ............................................................... 72 Final considerations .................................................... 75 References ................................................................... 77 Notes ......................................................................... 429 3. Carlos Cunha and Filipa Seiceira News media, citizens and parliament in Portugal: The continued e-democracy gap and lessons from the Obama experience ..................................... 82 Portuguese deputies and the use of information and communication technologies: Means for the access and transmission of information .................. 85 Future trends? .............................................................. 97 Final notes ................................................................. 107 References ................................................................. 109 Notes ......................................................................... 429 4. José Manuel Leite Viegas and Susana Santos The participation of citizens and parliamentarians in voluntary associations ......................................... 115 Associationism: a web of connections for a stronger civil society ........................................................... 115 Objectives, hypotheses and methodology ................. 122 Citizens and voluntary associations: comparative and evolutionary analyses..................................... 126 Citizens and parliamentarians: a comparative analysis ................................................................. 132 Education and participation in voluntary associations ................................................... 132 Left/right ideological identity and associative participation .................................................. 134 ii Party identification and associative participation .................................................. 138 Conclusions ............................................................... 145 References ................................................................. 148 Notes ......................................................................... 429 PART TWO 5. André Freire and Ana Belchior Ideological representation in Portugal: Congruence between deputies and voters in terms of their left-right placement and its substantive meaning ................................................ 153 Introduction ............................................................... 153 Data and methods ...................................................... 157 Theory, measures and hypotheses………………….158 Deputy-voter congruence in terms of left-right self-placement....................................................... 161 Deputy-voter congruence in terms of issue preferences ............................................................ 164 The structure of determination of left-right self-placement among deputies and voters ........... 173 The meaning of left-right to deputies and voters ...... 177 Conclusions ............................................................... 180 Appendix: Questions on issue positions ................... 185 References ................................................................. 187 Notes ......................................................................... 429 6. Ana Belchior and André Freire Political representation in Portugal: Congruence between deputies and voters in terms of policy preferences ............................................................... 192 Policy issue representation: Literature discussion .... 194 Research goals and hypotheses ................................. 196 Data and methods ...................................................... 201 The structure of policy preferences ........................... 202 iii Policy congruence between voters and deputies ....... 206 Explaining voters’ and deputies’ policy preferences ............................................................ 218 Conclusions ............................................................... 223 References ................................................................. 227 Notes ......................................................................... 429 7. Catherine Moury and Luís de Sousa Assessing voter and elected representative support for Europe: The case of Portugal ............ 231 Research questions and hypotheses .......................... 234 First hypothesis: deputies are more in favour of European integration than citizens are ....... 236 Second hypothesis: political elites hold more extreme views about Europe than citizens do .. 236 Third hypothesis: left-wing party camps display a more congruent positioning about Europe than right wing ones ............................ 237 Fourth hypothesis: the distance between voters and their representatives’ views on the European Union will decrease with the voters’ party attachment and fifth hypothesis: the distance between voters and their deputies’ views about the European Union will decrease together with the voters’ political interest ................................... 237 Sixth hypothesis: the distance between voters and their representatives’ view about the European Union will decrease together with the degree of political positioning unity amongst the deputies of a similar party camp ..................... 238 Setting the scene: Portuguese party system .............. 238 How conflicting are the opinions of voters and deputies on the subject of Europe? ....................... 244 Data .................................................................... 244 Comparing elite and citizens .............................. 245 iv Comparing deputies and their supporters by party ................................................................. 250 Explaining the divide ................................................ 253 Conclusion ................................................................. 260 References ................................................................. 262 Notes ......................................................................... 429 PART THREE 8. André Freire and Manuel Meirinho Institutional reform in Portugal: From the perspective of deputies and voters ......................... 268 Introduction ............................................................... 268 Electoral reforms: between complexity and the difficulty of change............................................... 271 Proposals for electoral reform in Portugal: an overview ............................................................... 275 Voters’ attitudes towards the political system .......... 278 Political reform and voter discontent with the political system ..................................................... 283 Deputies’ and voters’ perspectives on the main principles for electoral rules ......................... 291 Deputies’ perspectives over desirable solutions for electoral reform ....................................... 297 Concluding remarks .................................................. 301 References ................................................................. 307 Notes ......................................................................... 429 9. Michael Baum and Ana Espírito-Santo Portugal’s 2006 quota/parity law: An analysis of the causes for its adoption .....................................