The Centre for Elections, Media & Parties (CEMaP) brings together a group of scholars who specialise in research on campaigns, elections and political parties.Comparative Political Behaviour & Institutions
Comparative Politics, as a sub-discipline, covers a wide range of political subjects. Some characterise comparative politics as a method or approach to the study of politics whereby processes, institutions, cultures, norms, etc are examined. Within comparative politics, we specialise in electoral behaviour, public opinion and institutions. Topics of interest include campaigns, media, globalisation, federalism and political parties. Another approach in comparative politics is to study in depth the politics of a particular geographic area. The department of Politics at Exeter is representative of both traditions (see Middle East & North African Politics).
Core staff
Vowles, Karp and Banducci have worked together on the New Zealand Election Study (NZES) since 1996. Once characterised by Arend Lijphart as a 'virtually perfect example of the Westminster model of democracy', New Zealand's adoption of a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system in 1996 represented a radical change from a majoritarian to a consensus democracy. Such transitions in stable democracies are rare and provide a unique opportunity to test hypotheses about how electoral rules shape political behaviour. New Zealand's "natural experiment" has attracted a great deal of interest leading many to rely on data from the NZES to help inform current debates about electoral reform in the UK and abroad.
Stevens adds expertise on media, campaigns and political psychology. Beyond this he is also interested in areas of political psychology, including the nature and influence of emotions and the structure and impact of authoritarianism.
Bolleyer’s research on parties, government and opposition and federalism adds an institutional dimension to the political behaviour group.
Details of our publications can be found on our staff pages.
Current research projects
"UK Referendum Survey Experiments". 2011-12. Funded by the British Academy. Principal Investigator Jack Vowles, Co-investigators, Jeffrey Karp, Sara Hobolt (Oxford), Shaun Bowler (UC Riverside), and Todd Donovan (Western Washington).
"Comparative Cross National Research (CCNER)". 2010-14. Funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC). Principal Investigator Jeffrey Karp, Co-investigators, Daniel Stevens, Nicole Bolleyer, Susan Banducci and Jack Vowles.
Completed projects
Details about completed projects are available here.
