Issue Diversification: Which Niche Parties Can Succeed Electorally by Broadening Their Agenda?

Abstract

This work proposes an explanation for nationalist party success based on successful issue competition. Niche parties, it has been argued, gain votes by concentrating on their “owned” issues, such as environmentalism for green parties and mono-culturalism for nationalists. We argue that nationalist parties may increase their vote share by engaging in issue competition with mainstream parties and expanding the diversity of issues emphasized in their platforms. Because of their position and ideology, green parties are not able to engage in such an electoral strategy. Relatedly, no such reward exists for nationalist parties in well-documented majoritarian systems. In party systems with a size typical of proportional systems, we find that as nationalist parties broaden their issue agenda from highly specialized positions, they are able to increase their vote share. Our findings have significant implications for the study of party–voter issue linkages and party competition in fragmented political space.