// DISSERTATION PROJECT

Individual Campaign Positions of District Candidates for the German Bundestag 2009-2017

In modern democracies, candidates are the linking element between parties and voters. During the campaign, they constitute the public face of the party. In times of declining party identification and personalization of politics, individual candidates become more important than ever. A growing literature on ‘non-spatial’ candidate campaign attributes investigates campaigns with regard to campaign focus in terms of party vs. person, usage of campaign means, campaign finances and how much effort candidates put into their campaigns. However, we know very little about actual policy positions that candidates take in their individual campaigns.

Using data from a candidate vote advice application for the German Bundestag elections 2009, 2013 and 2017 (response rate >84% for all candidates, >81% for elected candidates), my dissertation project tries to narrow this gap. Taking a neo-institutionalist perspective and based on concepts from the principal-agent theory, the project evolves around the following questions: Which principals (voters, local party, supra-local party) do candidates target in their individual campaign positions and what influence do personal policy goals have? How does electoral position taking relate to the aforementioned ‘non-spatial’ campaign attributes? Is there an effect of electoral positions in candidate campaigns on voting behavior in parliamentary roll-call votes? Moreover, how do electoral chances affect all of these relationships?

Answers to these questions extend our knowledge about strategic candidate behavior and determinants of party unity in the electoral arena as well as in the parliamentary arena. These insights can help us to monitor democratic deficits that may result from the decline of party labels as cognitive short-cuts for voters as consequence of partisan dealignment.

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// ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

Education

since 05/2017

Doctoral Candidate at the Professorship of Empirical Political Science (Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sieberer), University of Bamberg and member of BAGSS

2014 - 2017

M.A. in Political Science with focus on Comparative Politics, University of Bamberg

2010 - 2014

B.A. in Political Science, University of Bamberg

Academic Experience

since 10/2016     

Research assistant at the Professorship of Empirical Political Science/University of Bamberg

04/2016 – 08/2016       

Student assistant at Zukunftskolleg/University of Konstanz

10/2011 - 03/2016

Student assistant at the Chair for Comparative Politics/ University of Bamberg

2010 - 2011 

Student assistant at the Bamberg Center for Empirical Research (BACES)

Awards and Scholarships

2012 – 2016

Student scholarship of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

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// RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS

Peer Reviewed Publications

Hohendorf, Lukas; Saalfeld, Thomas und Ulrich Sieberer (2020): Veto power fosters cooperative behaviour: How institutional incentives affect voting agreement between government and opposition parties in the German Bundestag. West European Politics, online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2020.1739868

Hohendorf, Lukas; Saalfeld, Thomas und Ulrich Sieberer (2020): Oppositional Strategies Between Cooperation and Conflict. An Analysis of Opposition Party Voting in the German Bundestag, 1949-2013. In Sebastian Bukow, Uwe Jun (Hg.): Continuity and Change of Party Democracies in Europe. Wiesbaden: Springer VS (Politische Vierteljahresschrift Sonderhefte), pp. 309-342. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28988-1_11

Tesch, Falko and Lukas Hohendorf (2018): Do Changes in Bar Opening Hours Influence Violence in the Night? Evidence from 13 Bavarian Towns. Journal of Drug Issues 48(2), 295–306.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042617753146

Other Publications

Hohendorf, Lukas and Tesch, Falko (2018): Staatlich verordnete Nachtruhe. Wirkung von Sperrstunden. Katapult 10. https://katapult-magazin.de/de/artikel/artikel/fulltext/staatlich-verordnete-nachtruhe/

Research Grants

02/2020 – 11/2020

2000€ Research grant by the Standing Committee for Research and Junior Researchers (FNK) at University of Bamberg (Project „The development of German party competition im Wandel 2013 bis 2019”; together with Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sieberer)

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// CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS

Hohendorf, Lukas (2021): ‚Cheap talk or travelling rebelling? Party loyalty in individual campaigns and in parliamentary votes in the German mixed member system’, paper prepared for the ECPR General Conference 30. August – 03. September 2021 online.

Schmuck, David, and Lukas Hohendorf (2021): ‚Does party loyalty in roll call votes influence re-nomination in parliamentary democracies?’, paper prepared for the ECPR General Conference 30. August – 03. September 2021 online (presented by co-author).

Schmuck, David, and Lukas Hohendorf (2020): ‘Does Party Loyalty in Roll Call Votes and Parliamentary Speeches Influence Re-Nomination in Parliamentary Democracies?’, paper prepared for the ECPR General Conference 24.-28. August 2020 online.

Hohendorf, Lukas (2019): ‘Is all party politics local? District responsiveness in individual electoral campaigning during the German Bundestag elections 2013 and 2017’, paper prepared for the ECPR Standing Group on Parliaments conference ‘Advances in the Empirical and Theoretical Study of Parliaments’ 26.-28. September 2019 Konstanz, Germany.

Hohendorf, Lukas, Thomas Saalfeld, and Ulrich Sieberer (2019). ‘Veto power induces cooperative behavior: How institutional incentives structure opposition behavior in the German Bundestag’, paper prepared for the ‘Workshop on Anxieties of Democracy in Europe and North America’ 07.-09. March 2019 Bamberg, Germany (presented by co-author).

Hohendorf, Lukas (2018): ‘Lost on the way? Explaining deviations between parliamentary and extra-parliamentary positioning in the German Bundestag’, paper prepared for the ECPR Joint Sessions 10.-14. April 2018 Nicosia, Cyprus.

Hohendorf, Lukas, Thomas Saalfeld, and Ulrich Sieberer (2017). ‘Oppositional Strategies Between Cooperation and Conflict. An Analysis of Opposition Party Voting in the German Bundestag, 1949-2013’, paper prepared for the DVPW Conference ‘Issue Change and Future Viability of Party Democracy in Europe’, 13.-14. October 2017 Düsseldorf, Germany.

Lösche, Sophia and Lukas Hohendorf (2016): ‚Der 8. Mai in Bamberg: Erinnerungskultur zwischen Befreiung und Niederlage‘, talk held at freie uni bamberg on 07. July 2016 Bamberg, Germany.

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// EXPERIENCE

Teaching experience

Winter Term 16/17 Proseminar "Introduction to Comparative Politics"
Summer Term 2017 Proseminar "Introduction to Comparative Politics"
Winter Term 17/18 Proseminar "Introduction to Comparative Politics"
Summer Term 2018 Proseminar "Introduction to Comparative Politics"
Winter Term 18/19 Advanced undergraduate Seminar "Party Positions during Electoral Campaigns and in Parliament - Spatial Models of Party and Governmental Research"
Winter Term 18/19 Proseminar "Introduction to Comparative Politics"
Summer Term 2019 Proseminar “Introduction to Comparative Politics”
Winter Term 18/19 Undergraduate seminar “Transforming Party Competition - 'new politics' and political identites in the 21st century”
Summer Term 2020 Master seminar "The 'new cleavage' in Western Party competition: Cultural backlash or class politics in disguise?" (english)
Winter Term 2020/21 Undergraduate seminar "Parties and institutions in the German governmental system"
Winter Term 2020/21 Master seminar “Introduction to Statistics for Social Science” (english)
Summer Term 2021 Undergraduate seminar “The new cleavage: Political attitudes and parties in post-industrial Europe”
Summer Term 2021 Master seminar “Introduction to Statistics for Social Science” (english)
 

Teaching certificates

2020

Certificate in University Teaching of the Bavarian Universities, Basic level