From the Standing Group on Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour.

With the support of the ECPR Research Project Grant, we have submitted a proposal for a COST Action titled: “Linking euroscepticism and populism: causes and consequences” that was approved by the COST Committee of Senior Officials, and it will start in October 2025.  

If you are interested in getting involved, please join the Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour in a Comparative Perspective (POVB) SG Business Meeting at the General Conference 2024, scheduled to take place on Wednesday 14 August, 18:15-19:15.

Dear member of the ECPR POVB Standing Group,

Please find below the announcement of the 2023 POVB Best Paper Prize and other news regarding #ecprgc24

2023 POVB Best Paper Prize and Honorary Mention

We are pleased to inform you that the prize for the best paper presented in a panel from the SG on public opinion and voting behaviour in a comparative perspective during the last ECPR General Conference is awarded to:

Elisa Deiss-Helbig (University of Stuttgart) and Isabelle Guinaudeau (Sciences Po) for their paper "From Electoral Pledges to Coalition Agreements: Coalition bargaining and policy payoffs in Germany (2002-2021)"

Congratulations!

We would also like to thank the members of the selection committee Wouter van der Brug (University of Amsterdam), Kees Aarts (University of Groningen), Romain Lachat (Sciences Po) and Hanna Wass (University of Helsinki) for their help and their support.

Below is a short quote from the committee to motivate the decision.

The prize committee, composed of Wouter van der Brug, Kees Aarts, Romain Lachat and Hanna Wass is pleased to award the ECPR Standing Group on Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour in a Comparative Perspective prize for the best paper presented at the 2023 ECPR General Conference to Elisa Deiss-Helbig and Isabelle Guinaudeau for their paper "From Electoral Pledges to Coalition Agreements: Coalition bargaining and policy payoffs in Germany (2002-2021)". In this paper, the authors study which election pledges end up in coalition agreements. The paper was awarded the prize because it does an excellent job in combining political science relevancy and sound theorizing, with a solid research design and skilful analyses of freshly collected data. It is a very clever piece: fresh idea, carefully built and meaningful hypotheses that are well-developed and embedded in the literature, competently executed empirical analysis based on an original data set, convincing and interesting results. It is an excellent piece of work.

In addition, the prize committee is pleased to award with Honorary Mention Jose Maycas (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) for his paper titled: "Is That the Way? The Civic, Political and Social Consequences of Tourist Exposure". According to the Prize Committee: "The jury was surprised and impressed by the creativity of the author, who has tackled a practical problem in local/regional politics by developing a most original approach. The choice of indicators and the choice of methods is convincing. The paper is very promising, but it is still in an early stage. For its creativity it is awarded an Honorary Mention. We encourage the author to further develop this paper and to pay particular attention to the theoretical mechanism linking exposure to tourism to turnout, and to the possibility that the effects are partially driven by changes in the composition of inhabitants (more owners of small shops and hotels)"

Reminder for the call for papers and panels in the #ecprgc24 POVB section

If you want to get useful feedback on your work and also have a chance to win the 2024 POVB Best Paper Prize, you should choose "S10 Changes in Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour in European and National Elections", as the section of your panel and paper proposal (Deadline: 18/01/2024).

Panel proposals for #ecprgc24 by POVB members

Jan Berz plans to submit the following panel proposal:

Panel Title: Crises, Natural Disasters and Voters

Panel Abstract: Crises and natural disasters have progressively affected voters over recent decades. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events and record-breaking wildfires, the Covid-19 pandemic and other crises challenge voters to hold governments to account, maintain political participation and to re-evaluate their attitude towards climate change. This panel features papers that study the consequences of crises and natural disasters for public opinion and the political behaviour of voters. Papers will also explore the comparative influence of different types of crises and natural disasters. By bringing together different perspectives on the consequences of random exogenous events this panel will contribute to a deeper understanding of how crises and natural disasters are shaping political behaviour and public opinion.

If you have an idea for a paper that would fit in this panel, please get in contact with Jan at: berz@soz.uni-frankfurt.de

Kind regards,
Ioannis, Roula and Ruth

We are happy to confirm that the POVB section proposal with 10 panels titled S10 Changes in Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour in European and National Elections for #ecprgc24 (University College Dublin, 12 – 15 August 2024) has been accepted!

When you submit your paper abstracts, keep in mind that starting from this year, all paper presenters are assumed to agree to perform the role of a panel discussant, unless they indicate the opposite by using the corresponding opt-out tick box.

This is a welcome change (in fact, it was suggested by the POVB SG) and will make it easier to secure discussants for all panels. The change will also help us to ensure  that all the presenters in the POVB section get useful and constructive feedback by both the audience and the discussant. In addition, discussants of the POVB section play a crucial role in the selection of the POVB Best Paper Prize, because they select the best paper in their panels! Thus, if you submit a paper proposal in the POVB section, please do not use the discussant opt-out box unless it is absolutely necessary.

Finally, as members of the POVB SG, please remember that among two paper or panel proposals with equal grades on all other criteria, a proposal by POVB members will be preferred over a proposal submitted by non-members.

If you want to get useful feedback on your work and also have a chance to win the 2024 POVB Best Paper Prize, you should choose “S10 Changes in Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour in European and National Elections”,  as the section of your panel and paper proposal (Deadline: 18/01/2024).

Kind regards,
Ioannis, Roula and Ruth