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

Wähler*innen-Wanderungen in Österreich: Ein Rückblick

Author(s)
Julia Partheymüller, Christina Gahn, Julian Aichholzer, Verena Reidinger, Lena Maria Huber
Abstract

In den letzten Jahren kam es zu starken Verschiebungen an Stimmen vor allem innerhalb und weniger zwischen den politischen Lagern. Bei der Nationalratswahl 2019 konnten die Grünen erheblich dazugewinnen, vor allem von Seiten der SPÖ und der Liste Pilz/JETZT. FPÖ-Wähler*innen wanderten insbesondere zur Nichtwahl und zur ÖVP ab. Seit 2017 gewann das Umwelt- und Klimathema stark an Bedeutung, während klassische sozio-ökonomische und sozio-kulturelle Themen an Wichtigkeit verloren. Werner Kogler und Beate Meinl-Reisinger wurden als sympathischer empfunden als ihre Vorgänger*innen. Pamela Rendi-Wagner wurde hingegen als weniger sympathisch angesehen. Peter Pilz und Heinz-Christian Strache verloren stark an Sympathie, während sich die Sympathiewerte für Sebastian Kurz mit leichten Verlusten auf einem konstant hohen Niveau bewegten.

Organisation(s)
Department of Government
Publication date
07-2020
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
506012 Political systems
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/716f5a04-67b1-4db1-ae74-9679319c40c0