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
Psychological bases of support for radical right parties
- Author(s)
- Julian Aichholzer, Martina Zandonella
- Abstract
We examine the social–psychological and personality bases of support for radical right parties (RRPs), using cognitive–motivational approaches of ideology. Our comprehensive model includes core ideological variables which mediate personality traits (Big Five) or how individuals engage in social relationships and accommodate novel stimuli. Structural equation models were tested in an Austrian population sample to examine support for a RRP, the FPÖ. Our results suggest that a “perceived immigrant threat” and, in part, social dominance orientation are directly related to RRP support, whereas right-wing authoritarianism has consistent indirect (mediated) impact. Associations with lower Openness to Experience, lower Agreeableness, and to some extent also with Conscientiousness are mediated by the ideological variables. The conclusion discusses how RRPs' success and communication strategies can be linked to basic psychological motivations.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Government
- External organisation(s)
- SORA Institute for Social Research and Consulting
- Journal
- Personality and Individual Differences
- Volume
- 96
- Pages
- 185–190
- No. of pages
- 6
- ISSN
- 0191-8869
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.02.072
- Publication date
- 07-2016
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 506012 Political systems, 501004 Differential psychology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Psychology
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/772a0a10-08f4-4693-93b6-dac0fadea506