Archive d’étiquettes pour : election

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1188 | 257 | Metropolitan votes in authoritarian regimes: The case of Warsaw and Budapest | balázs szabó

As highlighted by electoral geography, the deepening of urban rural divide was the most spectacular spatial aspect of voting behaviour in the post-crisis (-2008) era. The rural electorate of emerging new populist right parties and the urban character of progressive liberal political forces strengthened in most western countries. At first look, the situation is similar in non-democratic countries (e.g. Russia and Turkey); the urban centres have a liberal character while the rural areas seem to be conservative just like in democracies. _x000D_
The paper focuses on the capitals of two countries which took an authoritarian turn after 20-25 years of democratization. The author aims to analyse how the two cities and the party preferences changed in the longer run; namely between 2010 and 2022 in Budapest, and from 2011 until the last elections in Warsaw. The illiberal shift happened 5 years earlier in Hungary than in Poland, and the landslide victory gave more power to the Fidesz than to the PiS. _x000D_
Both Budapest and Warsaw are the most multicultural cities of their countries, but comparing to their western counterparts they are quite homogeneous. _x000D_
The paper intends to analyse the connection between the change of party preferences and urban transformation. The housing construction resulted in the emergence of new neighbourhoods lived by young middle class families. It is to be explored if their political preferences differ from those of the old middle class living in the bourgeois villa quarters. Another question is whether the inhabitants of abandoned pre-war slum areas and deteriorating pre-fab housing estates support the populist right wing, or maybe extreme right parties. Finally, the paper will investigate how the inequalities within cities effect political preferences, whether or not they result in a pattern that is similar to the urban-rural divide.

balázs szabó
Geographical Institute, RCAES

 
ID Abstract: 257

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1188 | | Spatial differences in political behaviour | Balázs Szabó (1); Tamás Kovalcsik (2)

Spatial patterns of voting behaviour have been in the focus of electoral geography for a hundred years; the classical theories of cleavages are more than 50 years old. Analysis of territorial differences of elections is equally important in the stable democracies in North-western countries, in newer democracies, like the ones in Southern and Eastern Europe where there were long periods without free elections, and even in some autocratic regimes with rigged elections. Free and fair or manipulated, the elections are a major source of legitimacy in most countries.
 
One dimension of the continuously important regional differences, the urban-rural divide has become the most important cleavage in the last decade. It explains many aspects of social and political behaviour, thus it is in the focus of attention in election times. The 2016 Brexit referendum and D. Trump’s victory highlighted that the place of residence has a strong effect on the political behaviour. In spite of growing mobility of population and the internet penetration, the urban-rural differences have increased in Europe and North America in a similar way.
New and even newer socio-political processes, like climate change, Covid-19 pandemic, fake news and conspiratorial theories, or the war in Ukraine also influence the election results. Their effect on political behaviour is different among countries, regions and types of settlements.
 
Researchers of political geography are invited to this session regardless whether they focus on the spatial patterns of voting or on the spatial aspects of other kinds of political behaviour. Papers dealing with electoral geography can analyse any (European, national, regional, local) elections at any territorial level (from the comparison of different countries till the exploration of differences between the wards of cities), and also the difference between the results of postal votes and voting polls. Topics like the connection between election results and geographical distribution of constituencies, the gerrymandering and malapportionment can also be addressed.
Articulation of political interests can have other forms than just voting, so analyses of other types of political activity like participation in referendums or protest movements are also welcome. These activities are important parts of political behaviour both in democratic and authoritarian regimes.
The aim of the session is to provide a forum for different approaches to political geography, for scholars dealing with both classic and new processes and using different methods in the research of political behaviour.

Balázs Szabó (1); Tamás Kovalcsik (2)
(1) Geographical Institute RCAES, (2) University of Szeged

 
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