The aim of this module is to introduce students to the study of electoral behaviour. This field is quite broad and so the course will focus on individual and institutional influences on electoral choice. Individual influences examine how people reason about voting and politics more generally and why people vote and if they do so, why they choose one party or candidate rather than another. Aggregate influences look at the type of election focusing, for example, on whether it is a national or local election, the electoral system in operation and a number of other institutional characteristics of political systems. The focus will be on examining theoretical explanations of voting in light of the evidence from studies of elections in Britain and in other advanced democracies.
- Module Supervisor: Roi Zur