The notion that voting is a civic duty has long been at the heart of citizenship norms. Elections are usually seen as key mechanisms for linking citizens and politicians, ensuring that citizens’ views are represented in government and offering a way to hold government accountable (Przeworski et al. 1999). Given their central role in representative democracies, elections provide one of the main opportunities for exercising democratic citizenship. However, several developments are challenging the role of elections as a central mechanism in democratic systems. In many advanced democracies, citizens’ opinions and political preferences appear to be polarizing and radicalizing (Iyengar &Westwood, 2015). The recent rise of populist parties is indicative of citizens taking more radicalized political positions, both to the left and right (Kriesi, 2014; Norris, 2005). We will explore whether Canada or Quebec are likely to follow this path.

Researchers involved: Laurie Beaudonnet, André Blais, Marc André Bodet, Éric Bélanger, Ruth Dassonneville, Arnaud Dellis, Claire Durand, Patrick Fournier, Elisabeth Gidengil, François Gélineau, Allison Harell, Mebs Kanji, Richard Nadeau, Dietlind Stolle,  Roxane de la Sablonnière

Research projects:

• Voting, civic duties, and social pressures – André Blais 
• Le rôle des normes sociales injonctives dans la participation électorale: le cas des présidentielles américaines de 2016 – Roxane de la Sablonnière 
• Canadian Election Study (CES) – Patrick Fournier, Éric Bélanger, Allison Harell, Peter Loewen, Stuart Soroka, Dietlind Stolle
• Issue ownership, parties’ strategies, and citizens’ electoral behaviour: Comparing British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Québec – Richard Nadeau, Éric Bélanger
• The power of polls? A cross-national experimental analysis of the effects of campaign polls on the vote decision process and choice – Patrick Fournier 
• La fiabilité des sondages pré-électoraux: la réduction du coût de la participation électorale selon les préférences politiques – Arnaud Dellis
• The role of citizens in democratic accountability – Elisabeth Gidengil, André Blais, Marc André Bodet, Patrick Fournier, Dietlind Stolle 
• The Quebec election Study – Mebs Kanji
• Étude de l’impact de l’économie sur le comportement des électeurs et le résultat des élections – Richard Nadeau, Éric Bélanger, Martial Foucault, François Gélineau
• The impact of local campaigning on turnout and effective number of parties – Marc André Bodet, François Gélineau

Completed projects:

• Making Electoral Democracy Work (MEDW) – André Blais (responsable), Christopher Achen, Martial Foucault, Elisabeth Gidengil,Thomas Gscwhend, François Gélineau, Hanspeter Kriesi, Jean-François Laslier, Louis Massicotte, Karine Van der Straeten
• How Latin America Votes: the Michigan model applied to presidential voting in Latin America – Éric Bélanger, François Gélineau, Michael Lewis-Beck, Richard Nadeau
• Mieux prédire les élections par une approche intégrée – Claire Durand, Ruth Dassonneville
• Parties, citizens, and the effects of dealignment – Ruth Dassonneville 
• Sens du devoir et participation électorale – Marc André Bodet, François Gélineau
• Les partis et les électeurs au Québec et en Écosse: une étude comparée – Éric Bélanger, Richard Nadeau
• Étude du comportement électoral des Canadiens lors d’élections provinciales – Marc André Bodet, François Gélineau
• Autre(s) Europe(s): politization and structure of citizens’ attitudes on EU – Laurie Beaudonnet
• Explaining Aboriginal Turnout in Canada – Allison Harell
• L’effet patrimoine: une dimension négligée du comportement électoral – Martial Foucault, Richard Nadeau