Der Präsident der GESIS

: Prof. Dr. Hans Rattinger, der neue GESIS-Präsident

Forschungsschwerpunkte

Politische Einstellungen
Politische Verhalten
Politische Ökonomie
Politische Methodologie

Beruflicher und wissenschaftlicher Werdegang

Studium der Politikwissenschaft, Geschichte, Anglistik und Soziologie an der Universität Freiburg; Promotion und Habilitation an der Universität Freiburg. Wissenschaftlicher Assistent an der Universität Freiburg; seit 1980 Universitätsprofessor für Politikwissenschaft an der Universität Bamberg; seit 2008 Lehrstuhl für Vergleichende Politische Verhaltensforschung an der Universität Mannheim Und Präsident von GESIS.

Hans Rattinger war Mitglied des Gründungsausschusses des RatSWD. Er war Mitglied des Vorstandes bzw. Beirats der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft (DVPW, 1997-2006) und Mitbegründer (1986) und langjähriger Vorsitzender von deren Arbeitskreis Wahl- und Einstellungsforschung. Er ist stellvertretender Vorsitzender der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Wahlforschung (DGfW) und führte zu den Bundestagswahlen seit 1994 große drittmittelgeförderte Wiederholungsbefragungen durch. Seit 2007 ist er Mitglied der Zensuskommission der Bundesrepublik zur Volkszählung 2011.

Auslandsaufenthalte

Postdoctoral Fellow an der Harvard University (1974-75); Gastprofessuren an der University of Toronto (1987-88) und der Georgetown University (1988-89, 1991-94).

Ausgewählte Veröffentlichungen:

with M. Zaengle and R. Zintl: Mandatsverteilungen im Europaeischen Parlament nach der Direktwahl: Eine Simulationsstudie, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 1978

with D. Oberndoerfer and K. Schmitt, Ed., Wirtschaftlicher Wandel, religioeser Wandel und Wertwandel: Folgen fuer das politische Verhalten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 1985

with P. Heinlein, Sicherheitspolitik in der oeffentlichen Meinung: Umfrageergebnisse fuer die Bundesrepublik Deutschland bis zum "heißen Herbst" 1983, Berlin: Wissenschaftlicher Autoren-Verlag 1986

with J.W. Falter and K.-G. Troitzsch, Ed., Wahlen und politische Einstellungen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Neuere Entwicklungen der Forschung, Frankfurt: Peter Lang 1989

with O.W. Gabriel and W. Jagodzinski, Ed., Wahlen und politische Einstellungen im vereinigten Deutschland, Frankfurt: Peter Lang 1994 (2nd edition 1996)

with J. Behnke and C. Holst, Außenpolitik und oeffentliche Meinung in der Bundesrepublik: Ein Datenhandbuch zu Umfragen seit 1954, Frankfurt: Peter Lang 1995

with J. Maier and M. Maier, Methoden der sozialwissenschaftlichen Datenanalyse: Arbeitsbuch mit Beispielen aus der Politischen Soziologie, Munich: Oldenbourg 1999

with J. van Deth and E. Roller, Ed.,Die Republik auf dem Weg zur Normalitaet? Wahlverhalten und politische Einstellungen nach acht Jahren Einheit, Leverkusen: Leske+Budrich 2000

with J.W. Falter and O.W. Gabriel, Ed., Wirklich ein Volk? Die politischen Orientierungen von Ost- und Westdeutschen im Vergleich, Leverkusen: Leske+Budrich 2000

with Z. Juhász, Die Bundestagswahl 2005: Neue Machtkonstellation trotz Stabilität der politischen Lager (Aktuelle Analysen 41), München: Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung 2005

with M. Steinbrecher and S. Huber, Turnout in Germany: Citizen Participation in State, Federal, and European Elections since 1979, Baden-Baden: Nomos 2007

with T. Faas, J. Maier and Z. Juhász, Einführung in die Politische Soziologie, Munich: Oldenbourg (forthcoming 2007)

Wichtigste Projekte

Models of voting behavior

In this project the explanatory power of various competing models of voting behavior (social background, personality traits, long-term party attachments, issue orientation, candidate orientation, and rational choice) was compared and evaluated. Data collection consisted of performing a panel-survey in Germany, with three waves (1990, 1991, and 1992) in West Germany and two waves (1991 and 1992) in East Germany. Given this dynamic nature of the data-base, comparisons among models were focused not only on the separate cross-sections, but also on changes of individual voting behavior over time. Theoretically based explanations of electoral volatility thus were a major result from this research. The project was pursued in collaboration with researchers from the Free University of Berlin and the Armed Forces University in Munich.
Duration: 1990-1993
Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, about 300.000 Euro

Integrated and united: A quest for citizenship in an ever closer Europe (INTUNE)

This project investigates the content, development and determinants of European identities in a comparative and comprehensive framework. Identity, representation, and scope of governance are the key concepts that organize the theoretical approach. Analyses of mass opinion are complemented by the study of political elites, of administrative elites, and by media content analysis. The project involves over 40 researchers from over 20 European countries. Apart from extensive secondary data analysis original comparative surveys, both at the mass and the elite level, will be fielded. The Bamberg principal investigator (Prof. Rattinger) is active in the mass opinion working group and also is a member of the steering committee for the entire project. The project website is www.intune.it.
Duration: October 2005 - September 2009
Funding: European Union (Sixth Framework Program), about 70.000 Euro (Bamberg share of the overall budget of about four million Euro)

The German election of 2005: A lost victory? The dynamics of voter preferences between the federal elections of 2002 and 2005

The German federal election of 2005 was called in May, and it was held one year early in September. The Christian sister parties of CDU and CSU allegedly started into the campaign with a huge lead in the polls, but then in September came in with their second worst results since 1949. Their own massive mistakes over the course of the campaign were often cited as reasons for this rapid decline by commentators and political scientists. On the other hand, however, a look at the strength of the two major political blocks in Germany shows them to be almost unchanged from the 2002 election to three years later. This very high aggregate stability creates the suspicion that there really has not been that much short-term massive change in people's political preferences. An alternative explanation for the strong decline of the union parties from spring to fall of 2005 is that the normal fluctuation of partisan sympathies over the electoral cycle has been heavily accelerated by calling early elections less than four months before they finally were held. The objective of this project therefore is to evaluate to what extent these two explanations - a campaign gone bad or a normal swing back to the government in power over the last months of the legislative term - is better suited to explain what happened to the CDU/CSU in 2005. Time series data will be used in this investigation as well as the 2002-2005 panel survey data collected within another project (“From close reelection to defeat?”).

Duration: February 2007 - January 2009
Funding: Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung, about 50.000 Euro