Parties, Candidates and Citizens On-Line - Åbo Akademi

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normalization are given the coding value 1, and consequently the 0-value corresponds to the conditions likelier to lead to findings of equalization. The problem with dichotomization is, as mentioned, determining when a condition is considered present (Peters 1998: 169-70). This problem is quite evident concerning the election system. This variable is classified as present (coding value 1) if the election system is considered to be mainly plurality, and not present (coding value 0) if the election system is mainly proportional. Problems arise when considering mixed systems in which elements of both plurality and proportional systems occur. In such cases, the variable is coded according to the dominant type. In some countries, such as Germany, Russia and the Ukraine, exactly 50% of the seats are selected using the plurality formula and 50% using the proportional formula (Golder 2004). In these cases, the line between plurality and proportional systems is based on how the two parallel systems interact. If the two systems exist side by side without interconnecting mechanisms, as in Russia and the Ukraine, they are coded as plurality systems 3. If the proportional system is used to correct the outcome of the plurality system, as in Germany, the general election type is considered to be proportional. This is because the proportional part has the slightly bigger influence on the outcome of the election. The second independent variable – history of democracy – is classified as not present for countries in transition or with a democratic history shorter than 15 years (cf. Norris 2004). For countries with a long history of their democratic status, the variable is classified as present. The third variable, country development in terms of both human and technological development, is considered present only if both criteria are met. The country must have both high human development according to its classification in the United Nations’ human development index, and be technologically advanced at the point in time analyzed in this article. The last criterion is based on the proportion of the country’s population with Internet access. A country with over 30% of its population online 4 is considered technologically advanced. As noted by Norris (2001b: 53-4), Internet usage is highly correlated to other forms of information infrastructure and can therefore be used as a summarizing measure. The fourth variable, the media environment, was earlier discussed as consisting of both an off-line and an on-line dimension. In order for the variable to be considered present, one of scenarios 2, 3 or 4, presented earlier in Figure 1 should be found. In scenario 2, both the off-line and on-line media environment is restricted. In scenario 3, the off-line media environment is unrestricted while the on-line equivalent is restricted. In determining whether the on-line environment is restricted, I have taken both government regulations and actual imposed sanctions into account. This explains why Singapore’s online environment is considered restricted while Japan’s equivalent is not. As mentioned in 43
the discussion of the variable, the Singapore government has been active in imposing sanctions (Kluver 2004: 440). The Japanese government has threatened with sanctions but never made any official ruling on matters concerning on-line campaigning (Tkach- Kawasaki 2003). Scenario 4 is viewed as a condition for normalization 5 as web campaigning is becoming increasingly expensive and also dependent on off-line visibility in guiding voters to the web sites (Margolis et al 2003: 58). Consequently, only scenario 1 consisting of a restricted off-line media system alongside an unrestricted on-line environment, is classified as a condition for equalization. The final independent variable, methodology, is considered present if the study in question has used some form of scaled measurement of website contents (cf. Gibson & Ward 2000), and not present if the study used some form of dichotomous measurement or assessment. The dependent variable consists of findings of either normalization or equalization in existing studies. Hypothetically, this means that the variable is subject to the interpretations of the scholars who conducted the study. Therefore, it is necessary to shed light on the basis for these interpretations. This study would suffer in validity if the operationalization of the dependent variable is based on contradictory conclusions from similar data. If such discrepancies exist, the dependent variable should rather be regarded as an independent variable explaining findings of normalization and equalization. This would be troublesome as the inclusion of too many variables in the QCA is difficult and makes the results of the analysis uncertain (Jungerstam-Mulders 2003: 71). Party competition on-line could be depicted as consisting of two dimensions: visibility and on-line performance in terms of website contents (c.f Margolis et al. 1997, 2003; Margolis & Resnick 2000). Without off-line visibility, the usefulness of a website is limited as the general public is unaware of its existence (Carlson & Djupsund 2001: 84-5). One explanation for possible discrepancies in conclusions could depend upon whether the authors realize and measure both visibility and performance. The operationalization and validity of the dependent variable is tested here through a brief QCA of how the authors of the studies of on-line party competition have interpreted their findings concerning visibility and website performance. The analysis of the studies finding normalization yielded the following primitive Boolean expression (where A stands for visibility and B for website performance: capital letters indicate that the condition for normalization is present): F = 1 when Ab+AB+aB Through Boolean reduction, these three terms combined to produce the following final expression: 44
Page 1 and 2: Kim Strandberg Studies of Politics
Page 4: PARTIES, CANDIDATES AND CITIZENS ON
Page 7 and 8: CIP Cataloguing in Publication Stra
Page 9 and 10: Jag vill även ta tillfället i akt
Page 11 and 12: C. Summary & Conclusions ..........
Page 13 and 14: List of tables Article I: Table 1.
Page 16: A. Introduction
Page 19 and 20: 26; Römmele 2003, 9-11). Therefore
Page 21 and 22: these scholarly visions (e.g. Corra
Page 23 and 24: 2003b; Gibson & Ward 2002). Regardi
Page 25 and 26: Some further comments regarding the
Page 27 and 28: for citizens’ participation and p
Page 29 and 30: providing the kind of structure for
Page 31 and 32: To further examine the central comp
Page 33 and 34: Scholars have noted that some of th
Page 35 and 36: • In the third article (Strandber
Page 37 and 38: References Barber, B. 1984. Strong
Page 39 and 40: Lusoli, W. 2005b. “The Internet a
Page 42: B. The articles
Page 45 and 46: Introduction Two specific theories
Page 47 and 48: proportional systems. It is therefo
Page 49 and 50: egulation of political advertising
Page 51: Because the study is case-oriented
Page 55 and 56: Table 1. Operationalizations of the
Page 57 and 58: There were no contradicting cases f
Page 59 and 60: dramatically if a different coding
Page 61 and 62: of democratic status and the usage
Page 63 and 64: References Altheide, D. & Snow, R.
Page 65 and 66: Norris, P. (2003) ‘Preaching to t
Page 67 and 68: Appendix B: studies associated with
Page 69 and 70: ABdE+AbdE = AdE BCdE+BcdE = BdE Fin
Page 71 and 72: 1. Introduction Voter turnout in th
Page 73 and 74: integration [9,10]. A study by Tiil
Page 75 and 76: 3. Data and methodology Our focus o
Page 77 and 78: provided the bulk of the sites and,
Page 79 and 80: YLE, the state-owned Finnish Broadc
Page 81 and 82: 4.4. The on-line candidates: a clos
Page 83 and 84: 4.4.3. What kind of candidates did
Page 85 and 86: sources during the campaign. The qu
Page 87 and 88: The results presented hitherto are
Page 89 and 90: ecome involved in their campaigns.
Page 91 and 92: References [1] H. Schmitt, The Euro
Page 93 and 94: Appendix A. Abbreviated coding temp
Page 95 and 96: Introduction Party communication ha
Page 97 and 98: pursuit of executive office, policy
Page 99 and 100: 2001, 30; Pedersen & Saglie 2005, 3
Page 101 and 102: and efforts into using the web for
Page 103 and 104:
finally, engaging communication 3.
Page 105 and 106:
Finally, concerning the informative
Page 107 and 108:
Nousiainen 1998, 55-59; Sundberg 19
Page 109 and 110:
sophistication index. These parties
Page 111 and 112:
(cf. Strom 1990, 570), and conseque
Page 113 and 114:
identified two groups of parties on
Page 115 and 116:
Notes: 1 As of November 16th 2005,
Page 117 and 118:
Kitchelt, H. 2001. ‘Partisan Comp
Page 119 and 120:
Appendix: Questionnaire scales Labo
Page 121 and 122:
Targeting of specific voter segment
Page 124 and 125:
Article IV On-line Campaigning - An
Page 126 and 127:
Patterns of candidate on-line elect
Page 128 and 129:
elements of interest pluralism (cf.
Page 130 and 131:
The Finnish context As was briefly
Page 132 and 133:
RQ1: How much predicting power do i
Page 134 and 135:
stored locally two weeks prior to t
Page 136 and 137:
Table 2. Logistical regression mode
Page 138 and 139:
Table 4. Candidate website function
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Table 5. OLS multiple regression mo
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Table 6. OLS multiple regression mo
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affiliated party, even in the candi
Page 146 and 147:
than their rivals (Margolis et al.
Page 148 and 149:
References Altheide, David and Robe
Page 150 and 151:
Norris, Pippa (2001a) A Virtuous Ci
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Campaigning Additive index: 1 point
Page 154 and 155:
Article V “Town Hall” Meetings
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Hence, one must question whether th
Page 158 and 159:
(Coleman and Goetze, 2001: 16; Norr
Page 160 and 161:
Barber mentions that it is only whe
Page 162 and 163:
of user preferences. If internet po
Page 164 and 165:
Table 2. Average degree of liveline
Page 166 and 167:
5. Citizen Participation in the deb
Page 168 and 169:
Over time, there is also a slight,
Page 170 and 171:
would significantly enhance our und
Page 172 and 173:
Notes 1 According to the Nua Intern
Page 174:
Kamarck, E. 1999. ”Campaigning on
Page 178 and 179:
C. Summary and conclusions A discus
Page 180 and 181:
perspective, the articles have been
Page 182 and 183:
predicting candidate website functi
Page 184 and 185:
articles in the thesis. In general,
Page 186 and 187:
Finnish voters’ propensity to loo
Page 188 and 189:
they did not appear to “become mo
Page 190 and 191:
organizational, financial […] res
Page 192 and 193:
The real impact of internet politic
Page 194 and 195:
Norris, P. 2003. “Preaching to th
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