Personal Campaign Strategies and Political Representation

Research question/goal: 

The crisis of political parties stresses individual representatives as alternative linkages between citizens and the state. This project studies the election campaigns of individual candidates regarding a number of problems that become relevant in this regard. It puts a special emphasis on campaign styles and on the following research questions: How can we systematically describe individualized election campaigns? How do they differ from party driven campaigns? To what degree are we able to observe individualized campaigns in European elections? Which factors foster, which ones hinder the diffusion of individualized election campaigns? Based on a newly developed core questionnaire we coordinate surveys of individual candidates standing for office in national parliamentary elections across Europe and across different incentive structures that might matter to their campaigns

Current stage: 

In 2012 the project concentrated on the preparation of a second round of candidate surveys in the framework of the Comparative Candidate Survey. Supported by the Fritz Thyssen foundation, a second plenary conference of (nearly) all researchers involved was convened at the MZES in January. After a number of papers were presented and discussed, a governing structure was agreed and working groups formed (e.g. on a new micro-questionnaire). During the year, a number of important data sets were made available within the project (e.g. from Sweden and Austria), and additional surveys were conducted (e.g. in the Netherlands).

Fact sheet

Funding: 
DFG, Thyssen Stiftung
Duration: 
2005 to 2013
Status: 
ongoing
Data Sources: 
Survey
Geographic Space: 
Europe

Publications

Books

Behnke, Joachim, Thomas Gschwend, Delia Schindler and Kai-Uwe Schnapp (Eds.) (2006): Methoden der Politikwissenschaft. Neuere qualitative und quantitative Analyseverfahren. Baden-Baden: Nomos. more

Journal Articles

Wüst, Andreas M. (2009): Bundestagskandidaten und Einwanderungspolitik: Eine Analyse zentraler Policy-Aspekte. Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 19, issue 1, p. 77-105. more
Zittel, Thomas, and Thomas Gschwend (2008): Individualised Constituency Campaigns in Mixed-Member Electoral Systems: Candidates in the 2005 German Elections. West European Politics, 31, issue 5, p. 879-1003. more
Zittel, Thomas, and Thomas Gschwend (2007): Individualisierte Wahlkämpfe im Wahlkreis. Eine Analyse am Beispiel des Bundestagswahlkampfes von 2005. Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 48, issue 2, p. 293-321. more
Wüst, Andreas M., Hermann Schmitt, Thomas Gschwend and Thomas Zittel (2006): Candidates in the 2005 Bundestag Election: Mode of Candidacy, Campaigning and Issues. German Politics, 15, issue 4, p. 420-438. more
Gschwend, Thomas, and Henk van der Kolk (2006): Split Ticket Voting in Mixed Member Proportional Systems: The Hypothetical Case of The Netherlands. Acta Politica, 41, issue 2, p. 163-179. more
Wüst, Andreas M. (2006): Wahlverhalten und politische Repräsentation von Migranten. Der Bürger im Staat, 56, issue 4, p. 228-234. more
Zittel, Thomas (2005): Die amerikanische Präsidentschaftswahl von 2004: Szenen eines Kulturkampfes. Geographische Rundschau, 57, issue 1, p. 59-64. more

Book Chapters

Giebler, Heiko, and Andreas M. Wüst (2011): Individuelle Wahlkämpfe bei der Europawahl 2009: Länderübergreifende und ebenenspezifische Befunde. p. 121-152 in: Jens Tenscher (Ed.) Superwahljahr 2009. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag. more
Meffert, Michael F., and Thomas Gschwend (2011): Experimental Triangulation of Coalition Signals: Varying Designs, Converging Results. p. 249-283 in: Bernhard Kittel, Wolfgang J. Luhan, Rebecca B. Morton (Eds.) Experimental Political Science: Principles and Practices. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. more
Gschwend, Thomas, and Thomas Zittel (2011): Machen Wahlkreiskandidaten einen Unterschied? Die Persönlichkeitswahl als interaktiver Prozess. p. 371-392 in: Wählen in Deutschland. Baden-Baden: Nomos. more
Müller, Wolfgang C., Nikolaus Eder and Marcelo Jenny (2010): Demokratiereform: Reformnotwendigkeiten, Reformbereitschaft und Reformpotentiale in Österreich. p. 62–68 in: Susanne Janistyn, Karl Megner (Eds.) Die Margaretha Lupac-Stiftung für Parlamentarismus und Demokratie. Vienna: Springer. more
Wüst, Andreas M. (2009): Zur Sozialisation von Neuparlamentariern im 15. Deutschen Bundestag. p. 328-345 in: Oscar W. Gabriel, Bernhard Weßels, Jürgen W. Falter (Eds.) Wahlen und Wähler. Analysen aus Anlass der Bundestagswahl 2005. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag. more
Zittel, Thomas (2006): Comparative Legislative Behavior. p. 455–473 in: Rod A.W. Rhodes, Sarah Binder, Bert Rockman (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. more

Conference Presentations

Wüst, Andreas M. (2011): Party and Group Representation? Issue positions and responsiveness of parliamentary candidates in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. [Dreiländertagung "Politische Integration", Basel, January 13th to January 14th, 2011] more
Müller, Wolfgang C., Nikolaus Eder and Marcelo Jenny (2009): Party Democracy and Individualized Constituency Campaigning: Candidate Strategies and Behavior in the 2006 Austrian Elections. [Conference: Candidates in Constituency Campaigns from a Comparative Perspective. Is Collectivist Representation in Established Party Democracy under Stress?, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, October 02nd to October 03rd, 2009] more
Zittel, Thomas (2009): Legislators and their Representational Roles. Rational Calculus or Habits of the Heart? and Local Campaigns in the German 2005 Elections: Motivations, Structures and Effects. [2009 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), Toronto, September 03rd to September 06th, 2009] more
Wüst, Andreas M. (2008): Candidate Nomination in Germany and Europe: Patterns and Evaluation. [Primaries or Nominating Committees? The Crisis of Nominations in Israeli Political Parties, Netanya, November 16th, 2008] more
Wüst, Andreas M., and Thomas Gschwend (2007): Die Bedeutung von Umfragen im Wahlkampf. [Moderne Politikvermittlung - Neue Wahlkampfformen in der Demokratie, Berlin, May 04th, 2007] more
Gschwend, Thomas, and Thomas Zittel (2007): Individualisierte Wahlkämpfe im Wahlkreis: Eine Analyse am Beispiel des Bundestagswahlkampfes von 2005. [Wahlen und Repräsentation im politischen System der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Köln, March 26th, 2007] more
Wüst, Andreas M. (2007): Bundestagskandidaten und Einwanderungspolitik: Eine Analyse zentraler Policy-Aspekte. [Jahrestagung des AK Wahlen und politische Einstellungen der DVPW, Main, July 12th, 2007] more
Wüst, Andreas M. (2007): Die deutschen Parteien, ihre Kandidaten und der Wählermarkt. [Zwischen Wählermarkt und Werteorientierung: Parteien und Programme im Wandel der Zeit, Wildbad Kreuth, June 14th to June 15th, 2007] more
Gschwend, Thomas (2006): Are Modern Politics still Party Politics?. [Inaugural Conference of the Comparative Candidates Study (CCS), Bad Dürkheim, October 06th to October 08th, 2006] more
Zittel, Thomas, and Thomas Gschwend (2006): Der Bundestagswahlkampf von 2005 und Kollektive Repräsentation: Ein kurzer Auftakt zum langen Abschied. [Gemeinsame Tagung der DVPW-Arbeitskreise "Politik und Kommunikation", "Wahlen und Einstellungen" und "Parteienforschung", Berlin, July 19th to July 20th, 2006] more
Gschwend, Thomas, and Henk van der Kolk (2006): Forecasting the Number of Split-Ticket Voters in Parliamentary Systems. [Conference of the Center for American Political Studies, Harvard University, on “Democracy, Divided Government, and Split-Ticket Voting”, Harvard, May 26th to May 27th, 2006] more
Zittel, Thomas, and Thomas Gschwend (2006): Personalisierte Wahlkämpfe im Wahlkreis. Eine Analyse des Bundestagswahlkampfes von 2005. [3-Länder-Tagung "Politik und Persönlichkeit" der ÖGPW - SVPW - DVPW, Vienna, November 30th to December 02nd, 2006] more