Widmer
Fakultäten » Philosophische Fakultät » Politikwissenschaft, Institut für » PD Dr. Thomas Widmer » Widmer
Current research project
| Title / Titel | Voting Behavior in the Zurich Cantonal Parliament, 2011 – 2015 | ||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||
| Original title / Originaltitel | Abstimmungsverhalten im Zürcher Kantonsrat 2011-2015 | ||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | There have been few analyses of voting behavior in cantonal parliaments to date. Since 2007, however, the Zurich cantonal parliament has employed an electronic voting system. Though this makes it possible to examine the voting behavior of individual parliamentarians over time, such information has thus far not been used for political science analysis. The proposal here, therefore, is to systematically analyze this electronically recorded data during the 2011 - 2015 legislative session. Concepts and methods previously developed for analyzing parliamentary behavior will be used for evaluating the data. The primary focus is on analyzing the maintenance of party discipline (or ‘upholding the party line’) within parliamentary factions. In other words, the focus is on the ‘coherence’ of voting behavior among members of parliamentary party groupings. The key question is what can explain notable deviations or difficulties in maintaining the party line. The existing literature suggests divergence could be due to individual characteristics of the parliamentarians, aspects or characteristics of the particular issues at hand, or to factors inherent to the parliamentary party groups themselves. Other issues raised in previous research on parliaments will also be addressed. |
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| Publications / Publikationen | Bütikofer, Sarah/Widmer Thomas (2012): Das Abstimmungsverhalten des Zürcher Kantonsrats 2011-2015. Jahresbericht Amtsjahr 2011/2012. Zürich: Institut für Politikwissenschaft. http://www.ipz.uzh.ch/institut/mitarbeitende/staff/widmer/dokumente/KR-ZH_JB1_vdef_20120921.pdf |
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| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | Zurich Cantonal Parliament; Zürcher Kantonsrat; Parlament; parliament; Abstimmungsverhalten; voting behavior; Zürich; Zurich | ||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
Other Public Sources (e.g. Federal or Cantonal Agencies) Zürcher Kantonsrat |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | May 2011 to Sep 2015 |