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Electoral participation. A comparative analysis
Book Notes
133
Scammon's compilations of the election returns at national as well as constituency (or regional) level. The recent books on the British General Election in 1979 and the American Elections in 1980 are really outstanding as contributions to the political science field: rather than merely reporting on an election they have become fully-fledged collaborative studies of the politics of the country concerned.
Gerald Pomper with colleagues, The Election of 1980. Reports and Interpretations, (Chatham, N J: Chatham House Publishers, Inc. 1981), x i i i + 199 pp. With admirable speed the team at Rutgers University has again prepared a highly readable and informative report on an American election, comprising an account o f the nominations and the campaign as well as analyses of opinion trends, voting patterns and an appraisal of the political significance of the election of President Ronald Reagan. The volume also includes a chapter on the congressional elections.
A. Ranney, The American Election of 1980, see entry for H. R. Penniman. Richard Rose (editor), Electoral Participation. A Comparative Analysis, (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, Sage Studies in Contemporary Political Sociology, 1980), 358 pp. The title may suggest that this book is concerned with the comparative study o f turnout in elections. In fact, however, the word 'participation' is used in its wider sense and involves a broad range o f aspects o f mass political behaviour. Aside from the first c h a p t e r - - w h i c h indeed is concerned with voting turnout in thirty d e m o c r a c i e s ~ n d a chapter (by Arend Lijphart) on electoral behaviour in countries with language as an important political cleavage, most of the contributions to this volume cannot really be labelled as comparative in approach or analysis. They comprise topics as varied as, e.g., the new party system in Spain, political cleavages in Israel and the social bases of voting behaviour in Denmark. Each o f these chapters is highly readable, though, and if they do not converge in any comprehensive comparative analysis, they do at least provide the student of comparative electoral behaviour with a selection of interesting nation studies.
M. Steed and J. Curtice, From Warrington and Croydon to Downing St., see entry for Matthew Oakshott.
Henry Valen, Valg og Politikk---et samfunn i endring, (Oslo: NKS-Forlaget, 1981), 421 pp. (Translation o f title: Elections and P o l i t i c s - - a changing society.) This is a book about trends in electoral behaviour in Norway from the late 1950s up to the general election in 1977. The stress is laid, however, on changes in the society and in the mass electorate towards the end of the 1970s. The book is based on a vast data material generated by national interview surveys conducted in connection with the Storting elections throughout the period from 1957 to 1979. Much of the data from the earlier surveys have been used already in several studies of electoral behaviour by Henry Valen, Stein Rokkan, Willy Marinussen and others. However, Henry Valen's new book does more than just bring the previous studies up to date. A long research process has come to fruition in the form of an authoritative study o f electoral behaviour and public opinion on political issues throughout an era in which both Norwegian society and Norwegian politics have undergone significant changes. At the beginning of that era, Labour was still the dominant party and Norway was a prime example o f a country with 'frozen' political cleavages. By the end o f the 1970s, societal change and new issues (such as the EEC issue) had undermined the electoral base of the Labour party and reshuffled the party system.
133
Scammon's compilations of the election returns at national as well as constituency (or regional) level. The recent books on the British General Election in 1979 and the American Elections in 1980 are really outstanding as contributions to the political science field: rather than merely reporting on an election they have become fully-fledged collaborative studies of the politics of the country concerned.
Gerald Pomper with colleagues, The Election of 1980. Reports and Interpretations, (Chatham, N J: Chatham House Publishers, Inc. 1981), x i i i + 199 pp. With admirable speed the team at Rutgers University has again prepared a highly readable and informative report on an American election, comprising an account o f the nominations and the campaign as well as analyses of opinion trends, voting patterns and an appraisal of the political significance of the election of President Ronald Reagan. The volume also includes a chapter on the congressional elections.
A. Ranney, The American Election of 1980, see entry for H. R. Penniman. Richard Rose (editor), Electoral Participation. A Comparative Analysis, (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, Sage Studies in Contemporary Political Sociology, 1980), 358 pp. The title may suggest that this book is concerned with the comparative study o f turnout in elections. In fact, however, the word 'participation' is used in its wider sense and involves a broad range o f aspects o f mass political behaviour. Aside from the first c h a p t e r - - w h i c h indeed is concerned with voting turnout in thirty d e m o c r a c i e s ~ n d a chapter (by Arend Lijphart) on electoral behaviour in countries with language as an important political cleavage, most of the contributions to this volume cannot really be labelled as comparative in approach or analysis. They comprise topics as varied as, e.g., the new party system in Spain, political cleavages in Israel and the social bases of voting behaviour in Denmark. Each o f these chapters is highly readable, though, and if they do not converge in any comprehensive comparative analysis, they do at least provide the student of comparative electoral behaviour with a selection of interesting nation studies.
M. Steed and J. Curtice, From Warrington and Croydon to Downing St., see entry for Matthew Oakshott.
Henry Valen, Valg og Politikk---et samfunn i endring, (Oslo: NKS-Forlaget, 1981), 421 pp. (Translation o f title: Elections and P o l i t i c s - - a changing society.) This is a book about trends in electoral behaviour in Norway from the late 1950s up to the general election in 1977. The stress is laid, however, on changes in the society and in the mass electorate towards the end of the 1970s. The book is based on a vast data material generated by national interview surveys conducted in connection with the Storting elections throughout the period from 1957 to 1979. Much of the data from the earlier surveys have been used already in several studies of electoral behaviour by Henry Valen, Stein Rokkan, Willy Marinussen and others. However, Henry Valen's new book does more than just bring the previous studies up to date. A long research process has come to fruition in the form of an authoritative study o f electoral behaviour and public opinion on political issues throughout an era in which both Norwegian society and Norwegian politics have undergone significant changes. At the beginning of that era, Labour was still the dominant party and Norway was a prime example o f a country with 'frozen' political cleavages. By the end o f the 1970s, societal change and new issues (such as the EEC issue) had undermined the electoral base of the Labour party and reshuffled the party system.