Research

Research

In its research and teaching, the Department of Government primarily focuses on comparative and Austrian politics. Its research is concerned with political behaviour, political actors, such as political parties and politicians, political institutions, the processes governed by these institutions, as well as their outcomes. It includes work on political participation, voting behaviour, parties and party competition, coalition politics and Austrian politics in general and is mostly based on rationalist and behavioural approaches.

Our goal is to conduct high-level, internationally competitive research in the area of Comparative Politics with the collaboration of international project partners and research networks. At the Faculty of Social Sciences the department is mainly engaged in the key research area ''Political Competition and Communication: Democratic Representation in Changing Societies'.

The department’s approach places it in the discipline’s empirical-analytical core and is mostly based on quantitative social science methods. To map empirical phenomena accurately, researcher in the department focus on the continuous development of survey design, as well as on the analysis of empirical data by applying the best suited statistical model. The department aims to achieve the best work on Austrian politics and to make important contributions to the international academic literature on Comparative Government and Politics.

An overview of current publications and activities at the department can be found below and on the personal websites of our team.

Publications

News media’s position-taking regarding the European Union

Author(s)
Silke Adam, Beatrice Eugster, Eva Antl-Wittenberg, Rachid Azrout, Judith Möller, Claes de Vreese, Michaela Maier, Sylvia Kritzinger
Abstract

We analyse whether a newspaper's editorial position regarding the European Union is related to its selection decisions in the news section. We ask whether such a synchronization between news and editorials exists, whether it is conditioned by the type of media system and under which conditions it also affects the selection of transnational voices. Our study is based on a quantitative content analysis of the quality press in seven European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom) in the run-up to the 2014 European Parliament elections. Our results support a synchronization between editorials and news, specifically with regard to the selection of national speakers. With regard to transnational speakers, they are selectively chosen by a medium if its editorial position is not supported at the national level. Furthermore, they are used to put forward a portrayal of a political community in accordance with the editorial line.

Organisation(s)
Department of Government
External organisation(s)
Universität Koblenz-Landau, University of Amsterdam (UvA), Universität Bern
Journal
Journal of European Public Policy
Volume
26
Pages
44-62
No. of pages
19
ISSN
1350-1763
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2017.1375546
Publication date
10-2017
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
506012 Political systems
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Sociology and Political Science, Public Administration
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/6fe45967-6246-4eb2-b9d6-36d041c48b48