Shape Party Research Articles

The spatial dimension of political dissent – Centre-periphery dynamics in Sweden

This article introduces the concept of centre-periphery dynamics, emphasising the multifaceted distribution of political power and resources between central and peripheral areas within a polity. The study examines how these dynamics influence party-political dissent in Swedish local governments. Drawing on data from a comprehensive survey of councillors across Sweden's 290 municipalities, it analyses whether political dissent vary across policy areas such as taxation, refugee reception, and public service locations. The findings indicate that while centre-periphery dynamics does not influence conflict levels in most areas, they significantly affect dissent regarding location of public services. Conflicts are more likely to escalate in municipalities with a larger portion of the population residing outside the administrative centre and spread across a wider area. These results suggest that centre-periphery dynamics play a crucial role in shaping party dissent, particularly on issues relevant to territorial politics, and that the level of dissent primarily depends on the capacity of disadvantaged groups to mobilise and advocate for their interests.

From Speech to Feed: How Parliamentary Debates Shape Party Agendas on Social Media‌

AbstractSocial media has become an increasingly important tool for parties to set issues on the political agenda. However, its rapid rise raises questions about the role of traditional venues such as parliaments. This study hypothesizes that parties strategically choose to initiate issues in parliamentary debates instead of on social media to establish dominance through real‐time discussions. Consequently, only after these issues are introduced and debated in parliament do parties use digital platforms like social media to reinforce them on the political agenda. Analyzing over 430,000 parliamentary speeches and 240,000 Facebook posts by parties in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, and the UK, from 2010 to 2022, the study reveals that issues discussed in parliamentary debates—primarily those raised by opposition parties—typically do not initially emerge on social media but only attract online attention after being introduced in parliament. These findings offer new insights into the strategic decisions of parties in agenda‐setting.

Divergent views of party positions: How ideology and own issue position shape party perception through convergence and divergence processes

The current research explores how respondents’ ideology influences their perception of political parties’ stances on various issues. Additionally, we examine how three distinct indicators of ideological strength—congruence between ideology and party affiliation, level of education, and engagement in political activities—affect these perceptions. Our empirical analyses rely on data from the 1968–2012 Cumulative American National Election Study dataset, which captures respondents’ views on the stances of US political parties regarding ten key issues. We find that, after controlling for respondents’ own issue positions, (i) perceptions of the positions held by the opponent party are strongly influenced by respondents’ ideologies, and (ii) this influence is more pronounced among individuals with stronger ideological convictions, as indicated by the three aforementioned indicators. Conversely, when examining perceptions of one’s favored party, ideology demonstrates a weak and inconsistent effect across the three markers of ideological strength. We discuss theoretical frameworks that may elucidate these findings, their implications for understanding political polarization, and we acknowledge limitations related to the dataset’s characteristics.

On the Association of Attitudes Towards NATO and Weapon Deliveries for Ukraine with Vote Intentions in Germany

ABSTRACT Studies have shown that foreign policy events can sway voting intentions. While initial analyses have explored Germany’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its foreign policy implications, public perspectives on this matter remain relatively unexplored, despite visible consequences like soaring energy and food prices, and concerns about escalating the war. To address this gap, the article delves into how Germans’ attitudes towards NATO’s role in the Russian invasion and the supply of weapons to Ukraine impact their voting intentions. Drawing on GLES data, our research reveals that rejecting further weapons deliveries significantly increases support for the radical-right AfD. Conversely, endorsement of such deliveries sees increased support for the Greens, FDP, and CDU/CSU. No significant effects are observed for the SPD and the Left Party. Notably, attitudes towards NATO and weapons play a role in the likelihood of supporting a new party associated with former Left Party politician, Sahra Wagenknecht. Crucially, these effects persist even when considering socio-demographic and ideological factors, underscoring the pivotal role of these issues in shaping party competition.

Polarisation or convergence? How the economy shapes party policy positions

ABSTRACT A well-studied hypothesis in the political economy literature is that economic globalisation leads to the convergence of economic policies because of increasing international constraints. However, little is known about how parties adapt their policy positions during economic crises. This paper investigates parties’ policy shifts in economically harsh times. It highlights the important distinction between long-term trends (e.g., economic integration) and relatively short-term economic fluctuations when studying party competition. During economic downturns parties have an incentive to intensify the debate on economic policies and emphasise their distinct policy positions. In other words, parties strategically position themselves on salient issues. The empirical analysis combines party manifesto data with macro-economic indicators and survey data from 28 European countries between 1980 and 2021. The findings show that party polarisation increases when the economy is in decline, and positions converge during economic recovery. Further analyses explore the mechanism and reveal an indirect effect: parties adjust their policy positions in reaction to changing voter priorities and grievances in times of economic distress. Overall, the article contributes to a larger literature on party competition and political responsiveness by showing that external shocks, such as economic crises, influence the diversity of political offers among established parties.

Party Realignment: Ethnic Identity versus Egocentrism among Malaysian Voters

This study investigates the dynamics of voting intention concerning party realignment among voters in Malaysia using a Theory of Reasoned Action-based model. It delves into the roles of attitudes and subjective norms in shaping party preferences and aligns with quantitative methodology. A comprehensive self-administered survey questionnaire engaged 450 participants from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the Batang Kali State Constituency to elucidate party realignment complexities. They are chosen using stratified random sampling, based on a race proportion of 5:1:1. The findings reveal that voter attitudes wielded a more significant impact than subjective norms associated with ethnic identity. This outcome underscores the pivotal role of attitudes in influencing decision-making, while the influence of subjective norms remains limited. The research highlights the subjective norm's role in a multicultural context, clarifying that it is not the primary catalyst for party realignment. Instead, personal beliefs (people's egocentric behaviour) play a substantial role in shaping voter attitudes. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay between subjective norms (ethnic identity), attitudes (egocentrism), and party realignment within Malaysia's diverse social landscape. Moreover, they hold significant implications for formulating effective political strategies and government policies within a multicultural society.

The Russian threat and the consolidation of the West: How populism and EU-skepticism shape party support for Ukraine.

Support for Ukraine against Russian aggression has been strong across Europe, but it is far from uniform. An expert survey of the positions taken by political parties in 29 countries conducted mid-2023 reveals that 97 of 269 parties reject one or more of the following: providing weapons, hosting refugees, supporting Ukraine's path to European Union membership, or accepting higher energy costs. Where the perceived threat from Russia is most severe, we find the greatest levels of support for Ukraine. However, ideology appears to be far more influential. The level of a party's populist rhetoric and its European Union skepticism explain the bulk of variation in support for Ukraine despite our finding that many strongly populist and European Union-skeptical parties take moderate pro-Ukraine positions when in government.

Does regulation matter? Trajectories of party organizational change in Western Europe (1970-2010)

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to verify whether a relationship exists between partly laws and party organizational change. While the prevailing contextualist perspective enhances the weight of social, economic and technological factors in shaping party change, we maintain that the intensity of party regulation plays a major role in this respect. Based on some basic assumption of Organizational Institutionalism, the article adopts the rationale of the Political Parties Database (PPDB): we thus conduct an in-depth empirical analysis of three core party organisational dimensions (Resources, Representative Strategies, Structures), over a total of nineteen parties in four Western European democracies (Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK), from 1970s to 2010s. Our empirical findings show that, while a growing number of party laws have been introduced in the countries under consideration, their impact on party organizational convergence is far from univocal: we thus provide different possible explanations of these results.

Long-Term Strategic Thinking, Cost Considerations, and the Partisan Politics of Ghent

It has long been established that the presence of the so-called “Ghent systems” of unemployment insurance greatly enhances unionization rates. This paper investigates the political determinants of the choice for and against the introduction and continuation of these systems. Based on a diachronic analysis of three paradigmatic cases, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden, and two shadow cases, Germany and Britain, it shows that all major actors were well aware of their organizational effect during the first half of the 20th century. At the same time, it shows that long-term strategic thinking only played a major role in shaping party attitudes toward “Ghent” in countries where the prevailing party system ensured that its introduction produced clear partisan “winners” and “losers.” In all other countries, cost considerations were central in shaping party views on Ghent. The analysis shows how cost considerations can explain both bourgeois party support for its introduction and left-party support for its discontinuation.

After Dobbs: The Partisan and Gender Dynamics of Legislating on Abortion in Congress

Abstract I examine the partisan and gender dynamics that shape Congressional policymaking on abortion since the early 1990s. I demonstrate how the movement of abortion from an issue that split the parties to a litmus test that defines what it means to be a Democrat or Republican has impacted policymaking. I highlight the increasingly central role female lawmakers play in crafting policy and shaping party messaging. Throughout this period, Democratic women are the most aggressive proponents for abortion rights and have expanded their influence over the party’s agenda. Meanwhile, Republican women were divided on the issue through the early 2000s and had limited influence on the party’s decision making. Since the Tea Party wave of 2010 brought more pro-life women to office, Republican women are pivotal players and will influence the direction of party strategy and legislating in the Post-Roe environment.

Ethical party culture, control, and citizenship behavior: Evidence from Ghana

The purpose of this study is to amplify Ghana’s code of conduct, a provision made to control the behavior of political parties, candidates, and supporters in the electoral processes as well as their day-to-day activities. Although existing studies have documented the merits of organizational citizenship behavior such as sacrificial behaviors, little research has explored organizational citizenship behavior in the context of political parties. In this light, we argue that political parties’ external behavioral conformity depends on the parties’ internal behavior checks. We draw on the self-concept theory to elucidate how ethical party culture and party control shape party citizens’ self-concept to define their conforming behavior. Having investigated 404 members of different political parties, we have found that ethical party culture has a positive impact on party citizenship behavior. In addition, party control positively moderates this linkage. Theoretically, we reveal factors that positively influence organizational citizenship behavior and identify ethical organizational culture and control as components of individuals’ self-conception. From a practical standpoint, our study shows the need for political parties to construct ethical party culture and install party controls comprising process, output, and normative controls to nurture and guide party citizenship behavior. The findings can augment the Ghanaian government’s code of conduct by nurturing conforming behaviors via the parties’ internal behavior-shaping mechanisms that consequently promote external conduct consistent with the political parties’ code of conduct.

A digital principal? Substantive representation in the case of the Italian Five Star Movement

ABSTRACT One of the main ‘promises’ that populist parties seek to deliver is to bring politics closer to the ‘people’. While the literature focused mainly on the relationship between voters and those parties, less attention has been given to the role of members’ priorities in shaping parties’ legislative activity. In this paper, we focus on a paradigmatic technopopulist case, the Italian Five Star Movement (FSM): one of the founding trademarks of the party was the involvement of the members in the party activities via a digital platform. FSM’s digital platform included participative digital law-making features, which matched member priorities and élite policymaking. We built an original dataset which comprises the law-making activities of members and parliamentarians from 2013 to 2019. We analysed 2000 law proposals and found that FSM elected representatives’ agenda, albeit partly diverging from that of members, still changed in the direction of member priorities through time.

Zieloni wobec ponownego zjednoczenia Niemiec

The period of German reunification was a very turbulent time for the Green Party. Plagued by internal conflicts and wrong decisions made during the campaign, it seemed to have come to a standstill, letting its competitors overtake it. Why did the Greens fail to take advantage of the period of German reunification, and why did the party’s East German roots have such a huge impact on its subsequent actions in the political arena? The internal war over the ideology that should guide the party in the future and the clarification of the concepts that defined the Green Party’s identity coincided with the most difficult election campaign since the party was founded. The following article touches on intra-party conflicts, the evolution of the Greens’ demands, the ifluence of key figures in shaping party strategy during the period of German reunification and relations between party branches on both sides of the Berlin Wall. It also discusses the situation of the Green Party in East Germany and West Germany before and just after reunification (i.e. after the first Bundestag elections after reunification).

History and the Future of the Hybrid Party Politics in Neoliberal Age: A Case of Pakistan

The causes of rising populism and collapse of the left-right ideological paradigms termed “death of ideology” is important development on election canvas. This trend in recent decades has been described as hybrid party politics. The neo-liberal discourse in hybrid regime shape party politics with free market values, issues of inequality, denial of social justice, and crises of freedom are rampant. Consequently, hybrid party politics perpetuate systemic deprivation and chronic punishment to marginalized sections. The fast penetration of neoliberal and populist elements quickly fused into multi-layered public pedagogy. The common political discourse propounds for quick solutions to seek legitimacy with expanding corporate power constantly. The socioeconomic inequalities consequence of expanding neo-liberal values in all spheres like education and electoral practices have recently started crucially influencing urban socio-political environment that shape populist narratives in electoral arena. Neoliberal-populists leadership promote free market policies that push forward neoliberal populist rhetoric across political parties of different shades. The combination of neo-liberalism and populism thrives on subjects who perceive it solution to their problems. Thus, fast penetrating market-centric subjectivities consider alternative subjectivities outside perimeters of social dignity therefore political inclusiveness becomes subject to connection with power. The educative public pedagogy has been at the base of rising populism unfolding hybrid party politics

How the refugee crisis and radical right parties shape party competition on immigration

AbstractWhile the structure of party competition evolves slowly, crisis-like events can induce short-term change to the political agenda. This may be facilitated by challenger parties who might benefit from increased attention to issues they own. We study the dynamic of such shifts through mainstream parties’ response to the 2015 refugee crisis, which strongly affected public debate and election outcomes across Europe. Specifically, we analyse how parties changed their issue emphasis and positions regarding immigration before, during, and after the refugee crisis. Our study is based on a corpus of 120,000 press releases between 2013 and 2017 from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. We identify immigration-related press releases using a novel dictionary and estimate party positions. The resulting monthly salience and positions measures allow for studying changes in close time-intervals, providing crucial detail for disentangling the impact of the crisis itself and the contribution of right-wing parties. While we provide evidence that attention to immigration increased drastically for all parties during the crisis, radical right parties drove the attention of mainstream parties. However, the attention of mainstream parties to immigration decreased toward the end of the refugee crisis and there is limited evidence of parties accommodating the positions of the radical right.

Engendering Political Labour: Findings from a Kerala Village

Literature on Indian politics has largely under-examined the role of the family in shaping party politics with the exception of the studies on dynasticism. There is a paucity of research that looks at the complex ways in which intimate lives and party politics are intertwined. This article contributes to the existing feminist analyses of Indian party politics by conceptualizing politics and political labour in a way that does not exclude the role of the family. It presents the case study of a village in northern Kerala, which has been witnessing heightened political conflicts to show how personal experiences and family disputes get politicized. As domestic and political spheres bleed into each other, political parties become hugely dependent on feminine ideals and women’s everyday labour, affects and sociality to survive electoral competitions. Yet, the patriarchal family and masculinized local party leadership use gender ideologies to celebrate hypermasculine political participation, undervalue women’s labour and limit their political aspirations.

Co-opting the state: how weak parties can make stable party systems

ABSTRACT Conventional understandings of party system institutionalisation assume that institutionalised parties are necessary for interparty competition to stabilise. However, this approach neglects the role of the state in shaping party competition. Using survey data from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, it is shown that weakly institutionalised parties can lead to institutionalised party systems if parties are able to successfully co-opt the state and use state resources to supplement party deficiencies. By developing a relationship that intertwines parties with the state, parties in young democracies do not need to institutionalise for stable party systems to form.

Intersectional candidate nomination: how district and party factors shape the inclusion of ethnic minority men and women in Brussels

While it is axiomatic to note how ethnic minorities and women are both politically underrepresented in Western Europe, the interaction between ethnicity and gender in candidate nomination is seldom articulated. Some suggest that ethnic minority men fare better in the nomination process, while others indicate that ethnic minority women experience a ‘complementarity advantage’ over minority men. This article examines the experiences of Maghrebian-origin male and female candidates by exploring the conditionality of their respective advantages in Brussels local elections. More precisely, we show how contextual factors known to influence the nomination of ethnic minorities in particular parties and districts generate gendered outcomes. Our results show that the Maghrebian concentration in the district, shapes parties’ strategies, and influences the gender imbalance among Maghrebian-origin candidates. We find that men are numerically better represented on socialist, green, and liberal candidate lists in ethnically dense districts. However, Maghrebian-origin women are more likely than their male counterparts to receive visible list positions, regardless of the demographic context. Our findings confirm the conditionality of the so-called ‘complementarity’ advantage for minority women and highlight how contextual factors shape party nomination strategies and generate gendered outcomes for ethnic minority candidates.

When Charisma is no Longer Enough. Insights on Populist Parties’ Leadership from the (Northern) League

Abstract Several scholars of populism have pointed out that populist parties rely very oft en on so-called charismatic leadership (Canovan, 1981; McDonnell, 2015). While the rise of populist parties in Europe in the last decade is quite evident and well-studied, what remains understudied is how this phenomenon interacts with other transformations that are currently shaping parties and party systems in European democracies. In particular, what is the interplay between the rise of populism, political leadership and personalization of politics? This link between populism and leadership could be understood in the light of the change occurring within party organizations, and internal party democratization in particular (Musella, 2015; Pogunkte and Webb, 2007; Karvonen, 2010; Scarrow et al. 2017). Following these studies underlining a close relationship between populism, leadership and inclusive leadership selection methods, in this paper we aim at empirically exploring how the personalization and democratization of organizational patterns affect the role of the leader in populist parties. To what extent does the use of inclusive selection methods of party leaders within populist parties affect the scope of their organizational power and strengthens the party’s personalization patterns? To explore this research question, we focus on a case study, the Lega Nord (LN) in Italy as an empirical illustration and we rely on original survey data, on aggregated electoral data as well as on primary and secondary data on party organizational rules.

Protest Voting in Eastern Germany

In 1989-1990, peaceful protests shook the German Democratic Republic (GDR), ushered in unification, and provided a powerful narrative of people power that would shape protest movements for decades to come. This article surveys eastern German protest across three decades, exploring the interplay of protest voting, demonstrations, and protest parties since the Wende. It finds that protest voting in the east has had a significant political impact, benefiting and shaping parties on both the left and the right of the party spectrum. To understand this potential, it examines how economic and political factors, although changing, have continued to provide favorable conditions for political protest in the east. At particular junctures, waves of protest occurred in each of the three decades after unification, shaping the party landscape in Germany.