The Internet and Internal Party Democracy 1 Hans Geser

arty-guided rientations of municipal politicians in Switzerland

In a study comprising about 8000 members of Swiss municipal executive boards, it was analyzed to what degr on the left right scale were based on self logical standing of respective parties). Using multivariate linear regressions, it was found both couplings w nounced on the left side on the political spectrum than on the center and to the right. Party guidance correlates positively community si...

Sociology of the Internet Computers and Computer Networks as Catalysts of Intraorganizational Decentralization

Comparing Political Executives Recruited by Proportional and Majoritarian Rules of Election Evidence from Swiss Communities

Hans Geser Zürich, July 2012 Abstract On the basis of survey data including about 50% of all members of Swiss municipal executives, it is found that election rules (proportional vs. majoritarian) have manifold impacts on the communal party systems and executive recruitment processes as well as the behavioral dispositions of the incumbents, the activities of the board as well as its position in ...

Sociology in Switzerland Politik und Parteien im Wandel Educated, Urbanized – and Narrow-minded? A Comparative Analysis of Political Ideology in Local Parties

This paper aims to explore the strength and causal determinants of ideological thinking within political parties. The degree of “ideologization” includes two dimensions: “horizontal couplings”, as they are manifested in intercorrelations between different beliefs or opinions; and “vertical couplings” as they appear in the degree to which specific beliefs are related to more abstract concepts li...

Digital rank-and-file: party activists’ perceptions and use of the Internet

Political parties are in a phase of transition in advanced industrial democracy. A declining, socially restricted membership, decreasing levels of activism, and a shift towards more individualistic modes of political engagement threaten the secular role the party have played in modern democracy. The development of the Internet in a period of organisational change for parties has meant that it q...