This discussion paper describes a specific approach to content analysing multilevel party manifestos building on a methodology that was originally developed in the context of the Manifesto Research Group (MRG). Since 1979, the MRG has been collecting and coding national-level election programs...

The ruling by the German Constitutional Court in the famous “Ludin” headscarf case permits the federal states (Bundesländer) to rearrange the treatment of religious symbols in public space (i.e. schools) and to adjust the complex relationship between state and religion in Germany. Based on...

Many studies show that political participation at the individual level is fragmented, multidimensional and non-cumulative, but comparison of 22 nations in Europe shows that different kinds of social and political participation at the country level are cumulative, unidimensional. The result is a...

Democracy is feasible in multinational states. Substate nationalism in Europe has grown stronger, not weaker, during the last decades. And this has taken place because of democracy and not in spite of it. The cohabitation of democracy and nationalism is guaranteed by the establishment of...

In this article we examine the role of right-wing parties in framing and mobilizing national identity against European integration. Using a multi-level analysis and combining individual-level and contextual data, we analyze public support for European integration within the Western European...

This paper is an exploratory analysis of the efficacy of parliamentary representation as a means to moderate ethnic conflict in new democracies. We agree with many others that the interests of an ethnic minority group are better protected when the group has access to decision makers, can block...

Das Auftreten neuer Parteien hat viele westeuropäische Parteiensysteme in den letzten 30 Jahren nachhaltig verändert. Insbesondere der Erfolg rechtspopulistischer Parteien wird als kritisches Symptom für den Zustand der Demokratien angesehen. Welche Ursachen und Erklärungen gibt es für...

The external communication of the European Union (EU) suffers from the fact that the flow of information from the Europe of institutions to the Europe of citizens has until now had little success in inspiring popular political participation. This problem can be related to the politics of...

Um Menschenwürde und die Freiheit des Individuums zu wahren, muss jedem Menschen die Chance gewährt werden, am Zustandekommen politischer Entscheidungen zu partizipieren. Im transzendentalen Tausch erkennen Individuen gegenseitig an, dass sie ein rationales, wohlüberlegtes Interesse am Zugang...

This paper takes up the familiar question of how one can explain support for European integration. One line of explanation builds on trade theory to theorize a calculus of economic costs and benefits. A second explanation draws on cognitive and social psychology to assess how individuals use...