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Political sophistication in Central and Eastern Europe: How can parties help?

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Sebastian Popa

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Abstract

This article investigates how parties can influence the level of political sophistication their supporters have. Although the importance of parties in providing their supporters with political information was first suggested in early studies of voting behaviour, this level of analysis has been omitted from individual studies of political sophistication. Focusing on the political environment of post-communist societies, where parties played a key role in helping citizens understand politics, I theorize both a direct and an indirect path through which parties can contribute to the level of sophistication of their supporters. Using cross-national data from the Eurequal 2007 project on 13 post-communist countries, I show three characteristics related to parties' motivation to mobilize the electorate against the status quo that have an impact on individual level political sophistication.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Popa SA

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Party Politics

Year: 2015

Volume: 21

Issue: 3

Pages: 440-455

Print publication date: 01/05/2015

Online publication date: 07/06/2013

Acceptance date: 01/06/2013

Date deposited: 01/12/2017

ISSN (print): 1354-0688

Publisher: Sage

URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068813487104

DOI: 10.1177/1354068813487104

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