Segnalazione bibliografica. American Journal of Political Science, Volume 55, Number 4, 1 October 2011 , pp. 869-885(17) Autori: Taylor C. Boas; Hidalgo, F. Daniel Hidalgo. Abstract: Direct influence over communication media is a potent resource during electoral campaigns, and politicians have an incentive to gain control of the airwaves to advance their careers. In this article, we use data on community radio license applications in Brazil to identify both the causal effect of incumbency on politicians' ability to control the media and the causal effect of media control on...

Segnalazione bibliografica. American Journal of Political Science, Volume 55, Number 4, 1 October 2011 , pp. 852-868(17) Autori: Michael M. Bechtel; Jens Hainmueller Abstract Dominant theories of electoral behavior emphasize that voters myopically evaluate policy performance and that this shortsightedness may obstruct the welfare-improving effect of democratic accountability. However, we know little about how long governments receive electoral credit for beneficial policies. We exploit the massive policy response to a major natural disaster, the 2002 Elbe flooding in Germany, to provide an upper bound for the short- and long-term electoral returns to targeted policy benefits. We estimate that the flood response increased vote...

D’ALIMONTE, R. D. R. (2012). The Twilight of the Berlusconi Era:Local Elections and National Referendums in Italy, May and June 2001. SOUTH EUROPEAN SOCIETY & POLITICS, 17, 261–279.

CHIARAMONTE, A. C. A. (2012). Dalla Prima alla Seconda Repubblica: 1992-1994. In L. Ricolfi, B. Loera, & S. Testa (Eds.), Italia al voto. Le elezioni politiche della Repubblica (pp. 323–349). TORINO: UTET.

This article analyzes the results of the Italian municipal elections held in May 2011. First, we make a simple count of the municipalities won by the various political blocs, and secondly we make a comparison with the results of regional elections of 2010. We have compared data concerning both the electoral performances of political blocs and those of the political parties who appeared in this election. We also present the results as disaggregated data, both from a demographic standpoint and from a geographical point of view. The analysis shows a clear electoral defeat of the center-right coalition, both in terms of municipalities lost and in terms of percentages of votes obtained. The fact that these two phenomena have occurred especially in the North, its traditional area of electoral strength, makes this defeat particularly significant. The center-left coalition, due to the difficulties of its opponent, gets a good result in terms of number of municipalities won, while not improving its performance in terms of percentages of votes obtained. The centrist coalition, finally, does not get a great performance in terms of votes obtained, but it often proves decisive in forcing the other two coalitions to the second ballot.