Data Bases and Statistical Systems: Political Behavior and Elections

The article reviews the global landscape of national and cross-national survey-based infrastructure programs of more or less regularly collecting data on political behavior and citizenship. Two developmental trajectories are distinguished. National election studies were strongly inspired by the American National Election Studies; their global proliferation eventually gave rise to cross-national programs like the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. The Eurobarometer and the American General Social Survey spurred the development of replicative data collection programs on nonelectoral participation and citizenship. This development culminated in the creation of programs like the World Values Survey and the European Social Survey