Oscar W. Gabriel Book order

Notwithstanding its contemporary critics, political representation remains at the core of democratic politics. Based on a comparative research project that gathered data from observations, surveys, experiments and expert interviews, this book examines the process and the quality of political representation in France and Germany from a dual perspective. First, it analyzes MPs’ behavior during their district activities. Second, it investigates the perceptions and evaluations of the represented, the French and German citizens. In ten chapters different facets of MPs’ activities as well as citizens’ attitudes are comparatively investigated. The book is relevant for Politics scholars and practitioners at national parliaments to better understand representative democracies, and it may also contribute to improve representation itself.

Among social scientists consensus exists on urbanization as an indispensable aspect of social modernization. During the last century, the process of industrialization was accompanied by a huge wave of migration from rural to urban areas. The formation of big cities, in tum, made up the base for an increase of mass education as well as the spread of mass media. The changes induced by urbanization did not only have a strong impact on the structure of the society, but also did deeply change the way of social life. By the end of the 21st century, again, a close link seems to exist between the socio-economic transformation of the Western world on the one hand, and a new stage in the process of urbanization on the other hand. The service economy having replaced industrial production as the most important domain of economic life essentially needs the social and cultural infrastructure provided by urban or even metropolitan areas. Due to the development of fast and highly efficient systems of mass transportation, processes of social, cultural, and economic exchanges between the different parts of the world, but primarily between metropolitan areas. The development of new media of communication has facilitated the exchange of information of any kind, not only within a society, but, moreover, between societies separated by a large territorial distance from each other.

Mit dem vorliegenden Sammelband setzt die Arbeitsgruppe «Wahlen und politische Einstellungen» der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft (DVPW) die Tradition fort, einer interessierten Öffentlichkeit über ihre Arbeit zu berichten. Präsentiert werden die Ergebnisse zweier Tagungen, die 1994 in Bad Urach und Potsdam stattfanden. Auf beiden Veranstaltungen wurde ein breites Spektrum von Themen der Wahl- und Einstellungsforschung angesprochen. Im Vordergrund des Bandes stehen die Bereiche theoretisch-methodische Grundlagen der Wahl- und Einstellungsforschung, Protestverhalten in westlichen Demokratien, politische Unterstützung sowie Wahlverhalten und Partizipation.