Comparative Study of Electoral Systems

The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) is a joint scientific project of national elective studies located around the world. Scientists from participating countries integrate a joint research module into their national by-election surveys. The survey data collected in this way, together with demographic information, variables on voting decisions and data at the electoral district and state level, are brought together in a data set that enables comparative electoral research with a multi-level perspective.

CSES data is made available to the public free of charge. The study is being carried out by the CSES Secretariat, a cooperation between the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan and the GESIS - Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences .

Aims and content of the study

The CSES project was founded in 1994 with two main goals. First, international cooperation between the electoral studies, which until then had been predominantly nationally oriented, should be initiated and promoted. Second, the CSES should provide the opportunity to conduct comparative research on political institutions, especially electoral systems, and their effects on attitudes and (electoral) behavior.

CSES data contain variables on three levels. The first level consists of so-called micro-variables, which contain the respondents' answers from the national post-election surveys. The second level represents data on election results from the associated constituencies of the respondents. The third level consists of macro variables that contain information about the country-specific context, the electoral system and aggregate data such as economic indicators and democracy indices. This hierarchically ordered data structure (see Figure 1) enables multi-level analyzes.

Diagram 1: Visualization of the multilevel structure

The scientific planning committee develops a new thematic module every five years for the latest edition of the study. The final CSES datasets appear every five years, each time with a new thematic module. This module or topic of the study is developed by the international scientific planning committee before a new data collection begins. In addition to the completed modules, in the years prior to the publication of the final data sets, preliminary publications containing the part of the country studies that have already been collected and processed are issued.

The data for module 1 were collected between 1996 and 2001. Her focus was on the performance of voting systems as a predictor of voting behavior. The module makes it possible to research the influence of electoral rules and institutions on the political understanding and behavior of citizens as well as to examine the types of political and social dividing lines (cleavages) and political attitudes. Furthermore, it enables the attitudes of citizens to democratic institutions and processes to be researched. Module 1 contains data from 39 elective studies conducted in 33 countries.

The data collection for Module 2 was carried out between 2001 and 2006 and is about 'Accountability and Representativeness', i.e. political responsibility and representativeness. It is about the two contrasting perspectives that elections on the one hand have the function of holding governments accountable and on the other hand are a means of ensuring that the interests and views of citizens are represented in democratic processes and decisions. Module 2 contains data from 41 elective studies from 38 countries.

The data collection for Module 3 was carried out between 2006 and 2011. The module enables scientists to research the importance of elections and has a central aspect of electoral research on the topic: the dependence of voting behavior on the options available. Module 3 contains 50 elective courses from 41 countries.

The data collection for Module 4 was carried out between 2011 and 2016 and examines aspects of distribution policy and social security. The main topics are voter preferences in different policy areas, how they are influenced by political institutions and how they affect voting behavior. Module 4 contains 45 elective courses from 39 countries.

The data collection of module 5 will take place from 2016 to 2021 and, on the one hand, will focus on the attitudes of voters to the political elite. On the other hand, attitudes to social 'outgroups', i.e. groups of minorities, are considered. The module thus makes it possible to research which attitudes and which voting behavior voters show in the context of an increase in election campaigns that are thematically directed against the establishment and against minority groups.

A table of the variables for all modules can be found on the CSES website.

In addition, the CSES offers an Integrated Module Dataset (IMD) , which bundles data from the first four individual modules (CSES modules 1-4) in a cumulative and harmonized dataset. Variables that were collected in at least three of the individual CSES modules - up to CSES module 5 - are eligible for inclusion in the IMD. All countries that participated in the CSES are included in the data set.

The CSES IMD includes over 281,000 individual-level cases for 174 elections from 55 states, with voter ratings from over 600 political parties. One of the highlights of the IMD file is the harmonization of party and electoral alliance codes across the CSES modules. The CSES IMD will be released in phases, with an initial release in December 2018 and a second release in October 2019.

Countries in the CSES

	Module 1	Module 2	Module 3	Module 4	Module 5
Albania Albania		2005
Argentina Argentina				2015
Australia Australia	1996	2004	2007	2013	2019
Austria Austria			2008	2013	2017
Belarus Belarus	2001		2008
Belgium Belgium	1999,1999	2003
Brazil Brazil		2002	2006,2010	2014	2018
Bulgaria Bulgaria		2001		2014
Canada Canada	1997	2004	2008	2011,2015
Chile Chile	1999	2005	2009		2017
Croatia Croatia			2007
Czech Republic Czech Republic	1996	2002	2006,2010	2013
Denmark Denmark	1998	2001	2007
Estonia Estonia			2011
Finland Finland		2003	2007,2011	2015
France France		2002	2007	2012	2017
Germany Germany	1998	2002, 2002	2005,2009	2013	2017
United Kingdom United Kingdom	1997	2005		2015
Greece Greece			2009	2012,2015	2015
Hong Kong Hong Kong	1998,2000	2004	2008	2012	2016
Hungary Hungary	1998	2002			2018
Iceland Iceland	1999	2003	2007,2009	2013	2016, 2017
Ireland Ireland		2002	2007	2011	2016
Israel Israel	1996	2003	2006	2013
Italy Italy		2006			2018
Japan Japan	1996	2004	2007	2013
Kenya Kenya				2013
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan		2005
Latvia Latvia			2010	2011,2014
Lithuania Lithuania	1997				2016
Mexico Mexico	1997,2000	2003	2006,2009	2012,2015
Montenegro Montenegro				2012	2016
Netherlands Netherlands	1998	2002	2006,2010
New Zealand New Zealand	1996	2002	2008	2011,2014	2017
Norway Norway	1997	2001	2005,2009	2013	2017
Peru Peru	2000,2001	2006	2011	2016
Philippines Philippines		2004	2010	2016
Poland Poland	1997	2001	2005,2007	2011
Portugal Portugal	2002	2005	2009	2015
Romania Romania	1996	2004	2009	2012,2014
Russia Russia	1999, 2000	2004
Serbia Serbia				2012
Slovakia Slovakia			2010	2016
Slovenia Slovenia	1996	2004	2008	2011
South Africa South Africa			2009	2014
Korea South South Korea	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016
Spain Spain	1996,2000	2004	2008
Sweden Sweden	1998	2002	2006	2014
Switzerland Switzerland	1999	2003	2007	2011
Taiwan Taiwan	1996	2001,2004	2008	2012	2016
Thailand Thailand	2001		2007	2011
Turkey Turkey			2011	2015	2018
Ukraine Ukraine	1998
United States United States	1996	2004	2008	2012	2016
Uruguay Uruguay			2009

A frequently updated table of the participating country studies for the modules can be found on the CSES website.

Data access

CSES data is public and accessible free of charge. They are published without a temporary embargo, so they are made available to all researchers and the public at the same time. The data is available in several formats, including the file formats of frequently used statistical software such as Stata , SPSS , SAS and R. The data can be downloaded from the CSES website and via the GESIS database catalog. The data can be viewed directly in the browser using the GESIS online analysis tool ZACAT.

Organizational structure and financing

The CSES Secretariat

The CSES Secretariat coordinates the CSES project in close cooperation with the primary researchers of the national election studies. The employees in the CSES project are employed at GESIS - Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences and at the University of Michigan in Ann-Arbor (USA). The CSES secretariat is responsible for the data integration and harmonization of the individual studies into the overall CSES study. It is also responsible for adding constituency and macro data, for data documentation and for checking data quality. It also maintains the CSES website, promotes the project, is available to data users if they have any questions and organizes conferences and project meetings.

The Scientific Planning Committee, the primary researchers, and the CSES Plenary Meeting

Scientific planning, study design and questionnaire development are the responsibility of the Planning Committee, an international association of leading scientists in political science, sociology and survey methodology. The Planning Committee is appointed before the start of a new study module. The user community nominates new members who are appointed to the Planning Committee by the plenary meeting. The plenary meeting consists of primary researchers from the national electoral studies involved in the CSES. People from outside the Planning Committee can also contribute ideas for new study modules. More information about the Planning Committee, its members, planning reports and the work of previous Planning Committees can be found on the CSES website. A list of national primary researchers working on CSES can be found on the CSES website.

Funding and support

The work of the CSES Secretariat is funded by the US National Science Foundation , the GESIS - Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences and the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan . CSES continues to be supported by the participatory election studies and other organizers who organize the planning meetings and conferences, as well as many organizations directly involved in the CSES national election studies.

The GESIS Klingemann Prize

The GESIS Klingemann Prize is awarded every year to the best scientific research work (article, book, dissertation or other scientific work) that was carried out with the CSES in the previous year. The prize is donated by the GESIS - Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences and is in honor of Professor Dr. Hans-Dieter Klingemann, an internationally renowned political scientist and one of the founding fathers of the CSES. Works nominated for the award are required to use the CSES intensively in their analyzes and to have been published - online or in print - in the year before the award of the award.

Award winners

2019 : Ruth Dassonneville (University of Montreal) and Ian McAllister (Australian National University) (2018). "Gender, Political Knowledge, and Descriptive Representation: The Impact of Long-Term Socialization". American Journal of Political Science, 62 (2), 249-265. doi: 10.1111 / ajps.12353

2018 : André Blais (University of Montreal), Eric Guntermann (University of Montreal) and Marc-André Bodet (University of Laval) (2017). "Linking Party Preferences and the Composition of Government: A New Standard for Evaluating the Performance of Electoral Democracy". Political Science Research and Methods, 5 (2), 315-331. doi: 10.1017 / psrm.2015.78

2017 : Dani Marinova (Autonomous University of Barcelona) (2016). "Coping with Complexity: How Voters Adapt to Unstable Parties". ECPR Press.

2016 : Kasara Kimuli (Columbia University) and Pavithra Suryanarayan (Johns Hopkins University) (2015). "When Do the Rich Vote Less Than the Poor and Why? Explaining Turnout Inequality across the World". American Journal of Political Science, 59 (3), 613-627. doi : 10.1111 / ajps.12134

2015 : Noam Lupu (University of Wisconsin-Madison) (2015). "Party Polarization and Mass Partisanship: A Comparative Perspective". Political Behavior, 37 (2), 331-356. doi : 10.1007 / s11109-014-9279-z

2014 : Richard R. Lau (Rutgers University), Parina Patel (Georgetown University), Dalia F. Fahmy (Long Island University) and Robert R. Kaufman (Rutgers University) (2014). "Correct Voting Across Thirty-Three Democracies: A Preliminary Analysis". British Journal of Political Science, 44 (02), 239-259. doi : 10.1017 / S0007123412000610

2013 : Mark Andreas Kayser (Hertie School of Governance) and Michael Peress (University of Rochester) (2012). "Benchmarking across Borders: Electoral Accountability and the Necessity of Comparison". American Political Science Review, 106 (03), 661-684. doi : 10.1017 / S0003055412000275

2012 : Russell J. Dalton (University of California, Irvine) David M. Farrell (University College Dublin) and Ian McAllister (Australian National University) (2011). "Political Parties and Democratic Linkage. How Parties Organize Democracy". Oxford University Press.

2011 : Matt Golder (Florida State University) and Jacek Stramski (Florida State University) (2011). "Ideological Congruence and Electoral Institutions". American Journal of Political Science, 54 (1), 90-106. doi: 10.1111 / j.1540-5907.2009.00420.x

Further information

More information about the CSES can be found on the CSES website. The latest news can also be found on Twitter (@csestweets) and the CSES Facebook page. Furthermore, the project maintains a CSES blog, in which insights into the work of the CSES project, the researchers associated with the study and their user community are given. The CSES blog presents research that uses the CSES data, introduces international primary researchers and provides information on current developments from the surveys, news from CSES and comparative political science in general.

The CSES bibliography

The CSES bibliography cites scientific research and presentations that use the study. It can be found on the CSES website.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Partial source for text segments via Module 1 to Module 4: Archive link ( Memento of the original from August 15, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , last accessed June 12, 2017 @1@ 2

↑ Partial source of the text segment on M5: [1] , last accessed June 12, 2017

↑ In 1999 two separate electoral studies were carried out in Belgium: one in the Flanders region and one in the Walonia region.

↑ In Germany in 2002 two partial studies with a telephone (CATI) and a written (PAPI) survey were carried out.

↑ The study on the parliamentary elections in Portugal in 2002 was carried out between the end of module 1 and the start of module 2 and includes both modules.

↑ Russia 1999 and 2000: The studies of these two years were part of a panel study that included a survey on the parliamentary election for 1999 and a survey on the presidential election in 2000.

[1] Partial source for text segments via Module 1 to Module 4: Archive link ( Memento of the original from August 15, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , last accessed June 12, 2017 @1@ 2

[2] Partial source of the text segment on M5: [1] , last accessed June 12, 2017

[3] In 1999 two separate electoral studies were carried out in Belgium: one in the Flanders region and one in the Walonia region.

[4] In Germany in 2002 two partial studies with a telephone (CATI) and a written (PAPI) survey were carried out.

[5] The study on the parliamentary elections in Portugal in 2002 was carried out between the end of module 1 and the start of module 2 and includes both modules.

[6] Russia 1999 and 2000: The studies of these two years were part of a panel study that included a survey on the parliamentary election for 1999 and a survey on the presidential election in 2000.