Economic conditions and electoral outcomes : the United States and Western Europe / Heinz Eulau and Michael S. Lewis-Beck, editors.

"Papers ... originally presented at the Shambaugh Conference on Economic Conditions and Electoral Outcomes, sponsored by the Department of Political Science of the University of Iowa and held there in March 1984"--Preface

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Economic conditions and electoral outcomes in trans-national perspective / Michael S. Lewis-Beck & Heinz Eulau -- Public attitudes toward economic conditions and their impact on government behavior / Friedrich Schneider -- Party strategies, world demand, and unemployment in Britain and the United States, 1947-1983 / James E. Alt -- Perceptions of economic performance and voting behavior in the 1983 general election in Britain / Paul Whiteley -- Political change and stability of the popularity function : the French general election of 1981 / Jean-Dominique Lafay -- Economic concerns in Italian electoral behavior : toward a rational electorate? / Paolo Bellucci -- Economics, democracy, and Spanish elections / Thomas D. Lancaster -- Economic effects on the vote in Norway / Arthur H. Miller & Ola Listhaug -- Economic self-interest and the vote : evidence and meaning / Stanley Feldman -- Economics, politics, and the cycle of presidential popularity / Helmut Norpoth -- Voter as juror : attributing responsibility for economic conditions / Mark Peffley -- Retrospective on retrospective voting / D. Roderick Kiewiet & Douglas Rivers -- Economic determinants and electoral outcomes : some personal observation / Marie France Toinet.

Print version record.

Does economics influence elections? How does such influence work? Under what conditions is it more or less likely to occur? These appear to be simple questions, but answering them is difficult. And they may appear to be trivial questions to those who contend that elections in the western democracies are, at best, placebos that disguise the real dynamics of power in societies still mostly characterized by the capitalist mode of production, even if the economy is directed by government. This is an argument we do not propose to address. We do believe that free, popular elections matter and that they make a difference precisely because, at periodic intervals, they set the limits or constraints within which capitalist as well as anticapitalist elites pursue their economic and political goals. To oppose the voice of the people to the people's manipulation by elites, it seems to us, creates an unnecessary dualism. This dualism is not useful because it cannot come to grips with the question of how and why popular electorates respond as they do to more or less elite-managed economies, and how and why elites, in turn, take account of or are responsive to whatever messages they may receive from the electorate.

English.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide