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

Conclusion: Explaining Nuclear Policy Reversals

Author(s): Wolfgang Claudius Müller, Paul W. Thurner, Christian Schulze
Abstract: This chapter follows a three-track strategy. First, it evaluates the hypotheses presented in Chapter 2 drawing on the book’s seven country case studies. Second, it extends the scope of analysis to all of Western Europe, also drawing on short analytical narratives of the nuclear energy trajectory in the remaining West European countries (Appendix to this chapter). The chapter distinguishes four groups of countries in terms of nuclear energy policy reversals and discusses the commonalities and differences between the countries in each group. Third, the chapter turns to quantitative analysis. On the most general level the analyses in this book demonstrate that nuclear energy policy is not the outcome of technocratic decision-making or the result of a confrontation between a pro-growth cartel of the established parties and economic interests versus the anti-nuclear movement, Green parties, and critical citizens. Rather the issue has become incorporated in the competition between the mainstream parties that have proved remarkably flexible in adapting their positions and policy-making if government office was at stake. In the final section the chapter provides an outlook and highlights the factors that will be important for the future of nuclear energy in Western Europe and the world.
Organisation(s): Department of Government
External organisation(s): Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Pages: 286-360
No. of pages: 75
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198747031.003.0012
Publication date: 2017
Peer reviewed: Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012: 506010 Policy analysis, 506012 Political systems, 506014 Comparative politics
ASJC Scopus subject areas: General Social Sciences
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
Portal url: https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/813db788-1f39-4be6-a011-6842ef73e33e

Research

Research

Political Institutions

Political Representation

Party Competition

Infrastructural Projects

Political Behaviour

Cooperations

Publications

Conclusion: Explaining Nuclear Policy Reversals

Other Publications