Czech Journal of Political Science

Jan Hruška
Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic
ORCID: 0000-0002-5667-8430
e-mail: jan.hruska@mail.muni.cz

Abstract

Extremely low voter turnout may indicate low interest in public affairs, or even in democracy itself, and is thus often seen as an indicator of the quality of democracy. It also undermines the legitimacy of elections and whole institutions. In the long run, low turnout can be a threat to the preservation of democracy. Using the case of Czech Senate elections, this research examines factors that potentially explain the extremely low turnout we observe during certain types of elections. This study measures the effect of trust in an institution and knowledge of the institution – two factors which have to date received little attention in previous research and which have the potential to explain the differences in electoral turnout between institutions in the same country where traditional theories (such as the Second Order Election Thesis) are insufficient. Using an online survey method that included questions measuring general political knowledge, knowledge of the Senate, and the trust in the Senate, original data representing the population of the Czech Republic aged 18 to 65 (n=2,096) were collected. A logistic regression model analysis reveals that the odds ratio of people voting in Senate elections has a strong positive association with trust in the Senate as an institution. Consequently, future research should develop a more detailed concept of trust in a particular institution and explain how such trust is constituted. This applies not only to Czech Senate elections: a similar effect is evident in European Parliament elections in several EU member states. Although this study fails to show that knowledge of an institution affects voter turnout, it does show that people’s knowledge of the Senate is much lower than their general political knowledge. This study also confirms previous work showing a strong positive association between higher general political knowledge and voter turnout.

Key words

trust in institution; knowledge of institution; political knowledge; electoral turnout; upper chambers; senate elections; electoral behaviour

Kamil Glinka
University of Wrocław, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0002-4983-9697
e-mail: kamil.glinka2@uwr.edu.pl

Michał Klonowski
University of Łódź, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0003-0226-6593
e-mail: miguel.klonowski@gmail.com

Karolina Niemczyk
Jagiellonian University, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0002-9789-4930
e-mail: karolina.niemczyk@onet.eu

Maciej Onasz
University of Łódź
ORCID: 0000-0002-4062-1253
e-mail: maciej.onasz@gmail.com

Abstract

The aim of the article is to illustrate the political consequences of changes in the electoral system for elections to municipal councils in Poland introduced in 2018. For the purposes of the article, the following hypothesis is formulated: the changes in the electoral formula for elections to municipal councils with more than 20,000 inhabitants (excluding CCS), introduced under the 2018 amendment to the electoral law, alters the structure of political competition. The changes include: decreasing the advantage of the victorious election committee over its main rival (CI index), decreasing the number of relevant participants in the struggle for power (ENP index), broadening the extent to which the distribution of seats reflects the preferences of voters (PI index), and decreasing the ‘ownership’ of the most powerful electoral committee (AI index).

Key words

self-government; local election; political competition; election formula; Poland

Štefan Ižák
University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia
ORCID: 0000-0003-2049-5744
e-mail: stefan.izak@ucm.sk

Abstract

The paper discusses the dissemination of conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 vaccines in the Slovak political discourse. The paper analyses the posts of selected Slovak political actors on Facebook. It aims to determine which political actors most often spread conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 vaccines, what image of vaccines these theories create, and whom they present as enemies. The content analysis method is used to achieve these aims; this method helps obtain quantitative and qualitative information about the research sample. During the research, the CrowdTangle application is used. The application monitors and gathers data about selected politicians’ public communication from Facebook. The research shows that in their Facebook posts, conspiracy theories about vaccines are most often used by politicians we can classify as far-right or far-left. Conspiracy theories negatively portray the vaccines and their manufacturers (except for the Sputnik V vaccine). This may ultimately affect people’s willingness to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

Key words

Conspiracy theory; Covid-19; Facebook; Vaccines

Abstract

Agnieszka Stępińska (Ed.): POPULIST POLITICAL COMMUNICATION ACROSS EUROPE: CONTEXTS AND CONTENTS Berlin: Peter Lang GmbH. 2020, 230 pages

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Abstract

Diane M. Zorri, Houman A. Sadri and David C. Ellis: IRANIAN PROXY GROUPS IN IRAQ, SYRIA, AND YEMEN: A PRINCIPAL-AGENT COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS. MacDill: Joints Special Operations University Press. 2020, 154 pages.

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