Patterns Of Party Competition Research Articles

Electoral Reform and Party System Development in Japan and Taiwan: A Comparative Study

This article examines changes in patterns of party competition in Japan and Taiwan following the introduction of mixed parallel electoral systems. National and district level election results demonstrate the consolidation of a two-party system in both countries. Differences in the speed and extent of this development are analyzed.

Tied hands? Italian political parties and Europe

Italian political parties have been involved for almost three decades in a multi-level electoral game encompassing the election of national, supranational and local institutions. The content of the electoral competition has also changed to include not only nationwide, but also sub-national and supranational issues. This article analyses the interaction between Italian parties and the theme of European integration. The aim is to explore the role of contentious European Union matters in domestic electoral competition, specifically at the time of European elections. Such a role is important to understand to what extent the Italian parties politicise the EU issues during EP elections, and to determine the impact of such issues on the Italian party system and on its patterns of policy competition. In particular, the article will explore whether Europe as an issue has been internalised along the main patterns of party competition or has produced a disruptive effect and forms of realignment.

By-Elections in Japan

By-elections have received relatively scarce scholarly attention, and common features identified by existing works largely derive from studies of Western countries with relatively stable patterns of party competition. The following pages contribute to the literature by examining by-elections in the Japanese House of Representatives since electoral reform in 1994. Changing patterns of party competition adds interest to observing by-elections taking place in the context of an evolving two-party system. The paper discusses how results from Japanese by-elections conform to, or deviate from, expectations based on findings from previous studies, in terms of the frequency and direction of seat changes, the turnout rates, the presence of minor party and independent candidates and the timing of by-elections during the legislative period. It then tests the impact of these factors, along with government approval ratings and macroeconomic indicators, on governing party performance in by-elections. The number of candidates, cabinet support and prefecture-level unemployment rates are found to exert a significant influence. Separate analysis is also carried out for by-elections characterized by head-to-head contests between the two major parties.

Managing Change: Party Competition in the New Ireland

Ireland represents a useful case for studying political parties and their strategies as independent variables. In a context of unprecedented social and economic change, party leaders have demonstrated unusual organisational creativity in adopting strategies to manage the political consequences of these changes. While the potential for new issues, cleavages and parties surely exists in this changing environment, and while elections have been hotly contested in the recent era of increasing floating voters and declining party membership, the traditional political parties have maintained their overall electoral dominance through it all. They have done so by systematically removing potentially contentious issues from the domain of electoral politics. This article is about political agency, focusing on the strategic choices of political party entrepreneurs. The current Irish party literature’s emphasis on electoral outcomes fails to appreciate sufficiently the various ways parties adopt strategies along electoral, ideological and organisational dimensions. As a result, the recent literature has understated longer term continuity present in the patterns of party competition.

A Change of Direction: The 2006 Parliamentary Elections and Party Politics in Slovakia

A detailed examination of the 2006 parliamentary elections in Slovakia highlights the evolving pattern of party competition in the country. A transformation of the party political scene in the country has taken place, from one dominated by questions of the character of the political regime, illiberal democracy and nationalism into one in which socio-economic themes are of key importance for political parties to mobilize voters and win elections. Nevertheless, although socio-economic themes are now more salient, other dividing lines that shaped Slovak party politics in the 1990s, especially national appeals, remain significant for smaller, niche parties.

Domestic parties and european integration: the problem of party attitudes to the EU, and the europeanisation of parties

In this article, I address the problem of party attitudes towards European integration and show its relevance for research on Europeanisation. I discuss the interaction between domestic parties and the European issue and propose a framework for the analysis of two alternative arguments: either Europe as an issue has been internalised by party systems and absorbed into the main patterns of party competition or, alternatively, Europe has had a disruptive impact on party systems and even resulted in forms of ‘de-partification’.

Party Potential and the Pattern of Party Competition in the 2003 Swiss Federal Elections

This article explores both the party potential of the five major parties in Switzerland at the 2003 elections and how well the parties actually did in relation to how well they could have done. A party's electoral potential depends on both the probability of the electorate voting for the party and on the probability of individual voters participating in an election. The analysis shows that the SVP and the CVP were successful in mobilising their potential voters in the 2003 elections, while the FDP did almost as badly as they could have done. However, compared to the potential of the FDP or the SP, the overall potential of the SVP is limited. For the SVP, issue specific factors account for the mobilising success. This is especially the case for its stands against the EU and asylum seekers. The CVP profited from the Ruth Metzler effect, who was a key figure in the 2003 CVP campaign.

The Social Bases of Political Divisions in Post-Communist Eastern Europe

To what extent are the social bases of political divisions in former communist societies consistent with those observed in Western democracies? This review critically examines theoretical and empirical work on social cleavages in East European, post-communist societies. It considers the initial wave of hypotheses concerning the structuring of party support in the region and examines empirical evidence on the patterning of the social bases of political preferences that have accrued subsequently, as well as the somewhat sparser attempts at explaining the processes through which these patterns emerge and change. It points to the omissions and weaknesses of the analyses so far conducted and concludes that the post-communist era has seen the emergence of social bases to politics that are like those in the West and that help shape variations in patterns of party competition in these societies.

Europeanisation and Internationalisation: The Case of the Czech Republic

This article explores changes in party competition and coalition-building patterns in the Czech Republic that underpinned its twin transition to democracy and a market economy in the 1990s and early 2000s. It charts the domestic political landscape that underlined the Czech Republic's evolution from a communist state to a modernising political economy under relatively benign global and regional conditions. A key objective is to map the new internal political space that led to the deepening of the Czech Republic's integration into the global economy as well as to explain the ways in which internationalisation has transformed that political space over time. Internationalisation relates to the expansion of global markets, institutions and norms, a process that gradually reduces the purely domestic aspects of politics. Although progressively more aspects of domestic life become responsive to external processes, internationalisation does not necessarily imply global convergence (a term closer to 'globalisation'), at least in the short to medium terms, when domestic responses tend to vary across political sectors, institutions and time. We refer to Europeanisation as a process of domestication of European Union (EU) policy directives, recommendations and standards by states acceding to the EU. Our interest is to evaluate the particular response of the Czech Republic, and the sources of that response. In particular, we seek to: (1) identify changes in patterns of party competition; (2) outline the implications of coalitional patterns for policies and outcomes regarding internationalisation more generally, and Europeanisation in particular; and (3) assess the challenges that Czech leaders face in the changed global political and economic environment of the early twenty-first century.

Changing Patterns of Party Competition in Austria: From Multipolar to Bipolar System

The Austrian party system has entered a new phase since the controversial ÖVP-FPÖ coalition came into office in February 2000. The party system literature offers two contradicting expectations about party system mechanics in multi-party systems without relevant extremist parties: competition structured by party alliances and strictly competitive relations between government and opposition parties (as suggested by <citeref rid="b30">Sartori 1976</citeref>) versus competition structured by individual parties and some mix of competition and co-operation and perhaps even power-sharing in extra-governmental arenas between government and opposition parties (as suggested by <citeref rid="b3">Dahl 1966</citeref>). Our empirical analysis of party system competitiveness in the electoral, parliamentary and other arenas (in particular, the corporatist arena) between 2000 and 2003 shows that the relations between the government and opposition parties were strictly competitive (i.e. of a zero-sum character) in the electoral arena. Likewise, there was no trading between government and opposition in the parliamentary arena. Finally, the government substantially increased its impact on the official sites (i.e. arenas controlled by the government) and used fire and hire methods more than any of its predecessors to build up its positions in public sector institutions. The opposition parties, in turn, perceived the government parties as a bloc and were united in their goal of undermining the government parties' majority. Yet, while relations between the government and opposition parties remained highly competitive throughout the entire period, relations between the parties on each side of the government-opposition divide became more fluid, partly for tactical considerations and partly for reasons of genuine preferences. In sum, the post-2000 Austrian party system is a weak version of a two-bloc system.

Old and New Divisions in Polish Politics: Polish Parties' Electoral Strategies and Bases of Support

This article attempts to shed light on the evolving Polish party system and the changing relationship between Polish parties and their voters. It examines both party electoral strategies (whom they were trying to get to vote for them) and their bases of support and electoral profile (who actually voted for them). The focus is on the six parties and groupings that secured parliamentary representation following the September 2001 election: the SLD-UP coalition, PO, Samoobrona, PiS, the PSL and LPR. The article argues that there appears to be one large truly 'catch-all' political grouping on the centre-left, the SLD-UP coalition, that is able to win over a substantial number of voters in virtually every segment of the electorate, including those previously considered 'out of bounds'. There are also two right-wing groupings, the PiS and LPR, with very similar, fairly heterogeneous (and in some ways broadly complementary) socio-economic electoral profiles and electorates that appear to be more ideologically rooted, although this is somewhat clearer in the case of the LPR. At the same time there are three groupings with somewhat more clearly defined socio-economic electoral profiles: the liberal PO, which appears to have basically taken over from the UW, and the agrarian-populist Samoobrona and the PSL, which appeal to similar rural-agrarian electorates. The article also argues that there is clearly some evidence of the old political divisions based on attitudes towards the past and moral-cultural issues giving way to voting based on socio-economic class, as some commentators predicted that they would, but that the extent of this should not be overstated. The old divisions are still there, if only in terms of defining the 'core' left and right electorates. Rather than socio-economic class or interest-based voting (which traditionally structured West European party systems), there appears to be a movement towards a pattern of party competition based on what might be termed 'valence' issues associated with competence and an ability to achieve shared objectives and goals.

Europeanization and Political Parties

Europeanization is a term used to describe the effects of European integration on the politics and policies of its member states as well as the process of enhancing European-level political institutions. Within this growing literature there is no systematic effort to incorporate the role of political parties. However, party analysis has only recently begun to acknowledge the EU as an environment that holds potentially significant consequences for parties. In this article, I attempt to begin systematic research on Europeanization and political parties by presenting a basic framework for analysis. Five areas are singled out: (1) policy/programmatic content; (2) organization; (3) patterns of party competition; (4) party-government relations; and (5) relations beyond the national party system.

The Slow Death of a Governing Party: The Erosion of Conservative Local Electoral Support in England 1979–97

This article first describes the decline in Conservative Party representation in local government over the period 1979–97. It then explores a number of factors to account for the nature and depth of that decline, including: differential abstention; the desertion of heartland voters; tactical voting at local level; and electoral bias. Clearly, the Conservatives' performance at local elections was worse than might have been expected given the party's overall electoral popularity. It appears that Conservative council candidates largely fell victim to the changing pattern of party competition and the apparent ability of rival parties to target seats more effectively. Furthermore, the impact of these factors was compounded by the operation of biases within the electoral system.

Post-communist party systems: competition, representation, and inter-party cooperation

Acknowledgments Introduction Democracy and Party Competition Part I. Theory, Party Systems and the Procedural Quality of Post-Communist Democracy: 1. Historical legacies and strategies of democratization: pathways toward post-communist polities 2. The quality of post-communist democracy: patterns of party competition, interest representation and governance Part II. Setting and Research Strategy: 3. From communist rule to democracy: four central and East European countries 4. Empirical research strategy Part III. The Structuring of Party Competition: 5. Programmatic citizen-elite linkage strategies across post-communist polities 6. Linkage strategies within party systems: diversity among parties Part IV. Political Alignments and Dimensions of Competition: 7. Political divides and alignments: the politicians 8. Electoral constituency alignments: emerging political cleavages? Part V. Political Representation and the Quality of Democratic Governance: 9. Political representation 10. The governability of post-communist democracies: collation politics between passions and policy interests Part VI. Conclusion: 11. The diversity of post-communist democratic governance Appendices Bibliography.

Political parties and party systems in Africa's illiberal democracies

The article attempts to capture some of the recent trends in Africa since the introduction of multiparty politics. It describes some key features of Africa's fledgling democracies and examines critically the notion of a growing trend of ‘illiberal’ or pseudo‐democracy in Africa. The article goes on to analyse central characteristics of the political parties in these countries, and discuss the types of political parties currently contesting elections in Africa. It examines the emergence of several distinct party systems in the region by analysing the number of parties represented in the legislature, the degree of polarisation, and the patterns of party competition. The article concludes by speculating on the prospects for democratic consolidation in these African countries given the functions that their political parties perform.

Political Elites and Constitutional Change

Despite referendums, the process of constitutional reform will be largely determined by parliament. The attitudes of politicians, particularly Labour MPs, are likely to play a critical role here. Therefore this paper addresses the question whether there is now a consensus in parliament, particularly among Labour MPs, in support of the constitutional reform agenda. The conclusion considers the implications of the analysis for patterns of party competition and for prospects of constitutional reform in Brita in.

Majority rule and the stabilisation of democracy in the Irish free state*

This article analyses the relationship between majority rule and the stabilisation of democracy in the Irish Free State 1922–1937. It questions the conventional equation of single‐party government and a concentrated party system with democratic stability. Rather it argues the while single‐party government was a source of stability, a bi‐polar pattern of party competition was a source of instability. Multi‐party competition under STV was conducive to stabilisation but coalition governments did not emerge because of the majoritarian preferences of the civil war parties. The efficacy of majority rule in resolving the Treaty issue is related to (a) the prior common ground existing between the two sides and, (b) the number of political issues at stake in the Free State.

The 1997 General Election In Scotland: an Analysis of the Results

In recent years there have been marked differences between what happens in general elections in Scotland - in terms both of the campaign and the results and what happens in the rest of the United Kingdom. There arc three main reasons for this. Firstly, the pattern of party competition in Scotland is more complex and more varied than in England. This is mainly due to the presence and electoral impact of the Scottish National Party (SNP) but, in addition, there are several constituencies, especially in the Highlands and Borders, where the Liberal Democrats are serious contenders. Thus, in the 1992 election Labour and the SNP occupied the first two places in 33 constituencies, the Conservatives and Labour in 20, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in 10, the SNP and Conservatives in 6 and Labour and the Liberal Democrats in 2. Secondly, the mass media in Scotland are distinctive. The Scottish (as opposed to UK) press is read by the great majority of voters and coverage of news and current affairs focuses on specifically Scottish concerns, issues and personalities. The same applies to television and radio in Scotland. Thirdly, there is a distinctive Scottish issue - the question of Scotland's constitutional position within the UK - which has dominated coverage of recent campaigns, although it is not clear that it dominates the concerns of the electorate to the same extent. Nonetheless, general election campaigns in Scotland are conducted almost in isolation from what is going on in the rest of the country and the results usually deviate markedly from those elsewhere. Perhaps the most striking feature of the results of recent general elections in Scotland has been the decline in support for the Conservatives, both in absolute terms and relative to their performance in England and Wales. This decline began in the 1959 election and continued through the 1960s and 1970s but it accelerated sharply in the 1980s. In the 1987 election the Conservative share of the Scottish vote reached an all-time low of 24.0%. In

Patterns of Party Competition

This article presents several patterns of partisan competition suggested by an interplay of long-term and short-term forces in the political system. By applying constraints to the forces, one can note the effects on the temporal properties of party competition. Each pattern has an analogue in the political parties literature and a statistical procedure for its identification. Four patterns of party competition are considered: (1) a noncompetitive pattern, (2) a trend pattern, (3) a cyclic pattern, and (4) a Poisson pattern. Using time series data on the occurrence of partisan change events for the U.S. presidency and state governorships, the authors note several expectations of the patterns.