West European Party Systems Research Articles

Generational (re)alignment: emerging issues and new voters in Western Europe

Voting behaviour in Western Europe has become increasingly structured by attitudes towards socio-cultural issues, such as immigration and European unification. This study examines whether generational differences affect this form of realignment. By combining data from the ESS and the CHES, it explores party–voter alignment on specific issues across 17 West European party systems from 2002 to 2020. ‘Age-Period-Cohort’ (APC) analyses demonstrate that younger generations are more strongly aligned than older generations on immigration, LGBTQ+-rights, the environment and left–right placement, but not on the EU and income redistribution. The results also show over-time increases in issue alignment for three of the six issues, but these period effects are more country-specific than the generational differences. Consequently, generational replacement can be expected to increase party–voter alignment on the left–right dimension and (some) new issues.

Green party members and grass-roots democracy: A comparative analysis

When Green parties emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, their political project included a strong commitment to a new type of internal party organization, giving power to the ‘grass roots’. With Green parties having become well established in most West European party systems, has the vision of ‘grass-roots democracy’ survived the party foundation stage? What drives the ongoing or waning commitment to grass-roots democracy? Analysing party membership survey data from 15 parties collected in the early 2000s when many Green parties had for the first time become involved in national government, we find that it is the social movement oriented, pacifist, left-wing membership that is most committed to grass-roots democracy. It is the current involvement in social movements rather than past activity that is most important. Support for grass-roots democracy is also stronger in ‘Latin Europe’ and Greece but weaker in parties which have become established in parliament and government.

Nastawienie do imigrantów a mechanizm powstawania nowych partii politycznych – przypadek Polski

The attitude to immigrants and emerging of new political parties – the case of Poland The immigration is recently the most important issue influencing the fates of European Union member states. Presented article diagnoses the attitudes to immigrants arriving to EU among Polish citizens and examines how the migration crisis can affect the Polish party system according to emerging of new parties approaches. The conducted empirical research shows that majority of Polish voters are against hosting immigrants in their country. However, in contrast to the West European party systems, there is also plenty of relevant Polish parties with negative stance to immigration. Therefore, the immigration cannot be considered as a factor of party system change. Key words: new parties, political parties, party system, immigration, attitude to immigrants

The Populist Challenge

Populism has been on the rise for some time in Europe now, and its rise has been one of the key concerns of Peter Mair. He has linked it to the increasing erosion of the representative function of European party systems. The spectre that haunted him was ‘partyless democracy’, a democratic regime where parties had lost their representative function, which opened the door for unmediated populist protest. While largely sharing his interpretation of the overall structural trends giving rise to the populist challenges in Western Europe, the article is critical of the static character of his assessment. It suggests that there are three forms of ‘protest populism’, all of which may eventually end up transforming the West European party systems in the name of the new structuring conflicts that characterise contemporary European societies. In addition, it proposes to extend the scope of Peter’s argument to the less established democracies of Central and Eastern Europe.

Who emphasizes and who blurs? Party strategies in multidimensional competition

Most studies of party competition consider the presentation of ambiguous positions a costly strategy. This literature, however, does not study party strategies in multiple issue dimensions. Yet multidimensionality may play an important role in parties’ strategic calculus. Although it may be rational for a party to emphasize a certain issue dimension, it may be equally rational to disguise its stance on other dimensions by blurring its position. This article argues that parties employ strategies of issue emphasis and position blurring in various dimensional contexts. Who emphasizes and who blurs thus depends on the actors’ relative stakes in different issue dimensions. The paper makes its case by performing cross-sectional analyses of 132 political parties in 14 West European party systems using Comparative Manifesto Project data, the 2006 Chapel Hill expert survey and the 2009 European Election Study.

New Alliances: Why Mainstream Parties Govern with Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties

This article investigates the recent government participation of a number of radical right-wing populist parties in West European democracies. With the help of coalition formation theories the government coalitions in which these parties have participated are characterised and inferences are made about the reasons for the cooperation between mainstream right and radical right-wing populist parties. The accuracy of these inferences is then examined in more detail by analysing the changing electoral fortunes and party positions of both mainstream and radical right-wing populist parties. These analyses demonstrate that office, policy and votes made mainstream right parties turn to radical right-wing populist parties as new coalition partners and that two important changes in West European party systems have enabled the formation of the new alliances, the first being an electoral shift to the right and the second the convergence of party positions of mainstream right and radical right-wing populist parties.

A New Winning Formula?

In an updated version of his well-known work on the radical right, Kitschelt attributes the persistent success of this type of party to a new winning formula. Where the radical right first campaigned on a neo-liberal and authoritarian programme, it now presents a more centrist economic position. The article tests this idea through a reconstruction of the positions of the French Front National, the Flemish Vlaams Blok and the Dutch Lijst Pim Fortuyn, and establishes that some, but not all, radical right parties make use of the new winning formula. Moreover, innovative analysis of the positions of radical right parties in West European party systems reveals that Kitschelt's theory needs to be improved on several points, most notably when it comes to the definition of concepts and the operationalization of dimensions.

Competition and Coalescence in European Party Systems: Social Democracy and Christian Democracy Moving into the 21st Century

Party systems in Europe have been in transition since the 1990s. New parties have emerged and appear more successful in gaining representation in parliament and government than before. Conversely the established party families in many postwar West European party systems - Social Democracy and Christian Democracy in particular - seem to have lost ground. We argue that an ideological convergence is developing between these two party families towards the ‘centre of gravity’ of their respective party systems. This may help to explain why ‘new’ parties of the Left and the Right have competed more successfully since the 1990s: they have bypassed Social and Christian Democratic parties in terms of both Left/Right and Progressive/Conservative dimensions and differences. These developments are explored by analysing party programmes. It appears that many Social and Christian Democratic parties are indeed often moving closer to each other. In fact, we conclude that being in the centre of a party system or in government is hardly an electoral asset any more in most West European polities.

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.

The politics of opposition and European integration in Scandinavia: Is Euro‐scepticism a government‐opposition dynamic?

Scandinavian party competition has incorporated divisions over European integration to a greater degree than most West European party systems, but with considerable variation in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. From a comparative politics perspective this raises questions about the relatively high salience of Euro‐scepticism in Scandinavian politics, the differences between the three cases and changes over time. The central argument in this article is that Europeanisation of party politics ‐ the translation of issues related to European integration into domestic party politics ‐ is driven by the dynamics of long‐ and short‐term government‐opposition competition, and the key driver of change is party strategy. Whether at the centre or extremes of the party system, Euro‐scepticism is a product of party competition — and is, both in its origins and development, ‘the politics of opposition ‘.

Electoral Volatility in Brazil

The study of electoral stability or volatility in Latin America calls attention to profound differences between most Latin American party systems, which are quite volatile, and West European party systems, which remain comparatively stable notwithstanding a trend toward greater volatility in recent decades. The examination of Latin American party systems poses interesting questions about why they differ so markedly from West European systems along this important dimension and what the consequences are for democracy. This paper focuses on volatility in one country, Brazil, in order to examine these issues. I make four arguments: that the Brazilian party system was moderately volatile during Brazil's first democracy (1946-64); that the party system has been highly volatile since 1982; that Brazil's volatility is much higher than that in the advanced industrial democracies; and finally, that the high volatility of the post-1985 period was caused by a combination of structural and institutional factors inimical to strong ties between citizens, political elites and parties, and further boosted by the dismal economic results of 1987-94.

A Touchstone of Dissent: Euroscepticism in Contemporary Western European Party Systems

Abstract. With the recent acceleration of the integration process of the European Union there has been a rise in political parties expressing either scepticism or outright criticism of the nature of the integration process. Using a four–fold differentiation between single issue, protest, established parties and factions within parties, the first part of the article presents an overview of Euroscepticism within EU member states and Norway. This reveals the diversity of sources of Euroscepticism both in ideology and in the types of parties that are Eurosceptical but with a preponderance of protest parties taking Eurosceptical positions. The second part of the article is an attempt to map Euroscepticism in West European party systems through a consideration of ideology and party position in the party system. The conclusions are that Euroscepticism is mainly limited to parties on the periphery of their party system and is often there used as an issue that differentiates those parties from the more established parties which are only likely to express Euroscepticism through factions. Party based Euroscepticism is therefore both largely dependent on domestic contextual factors and a useful issue to map emergent domestic political constellations.

Does Center Equal Middle?

The concept of center parties has been stretched so far that it can no longer serve as a defining characteristic. The multiplication of center parties, and the migration of other parties towards the center, has left the academic literature without the proper methodological tools to identify, define and classify an increasing number of the parties in most party systems today. I propose a delineation of the concept, differentiating between ideological center parties and spatial middle parties. Related terms such as center label parties, median parties and pivotal parties are addressed in presenting a new conceptualization and classification of the center and center parties. Examples of each type are subsequently presented and elaborated in the context of the Italian and Dutch party systems. The new concepts are then analyzed and discussed within a comparative perspective of West European parties and party systems.

New populist parties in Western Europe

This article addresses the electoral success of far right political parties in West European party systems and suggests that there is a new type of party ‐ the New Populist. Differentiating between neo‐fascism and the New Populism is instructive in two senses. First, it reveals that the current wave of comparative electoral success is more associated with the New Populism than neo‐fascism. Second, it demonstrates that there are certain parallels between the New Politics and the New Populism thereby suggesting that changes in the contemporary far right may well be telling indicators of changes in West European societies that are deeper set than a simple resurgence of racist and anti‐immigrant sentiment.

Rejoinder to Lancaster

Thomas Lancaster offers an insightful and profound discussion on the necessity of finding appropriate models in the study of newly evolving party systems in Europe. His commentary broadens, rather nicely, the scope and intent of my essay. He recognizes a major problem in the development of a broad body of comparative party systems literature; i.e., finding equilibrium between the generalities of broad-gauged theoretical models and the particulars of in-depth case studies. Professor Lancaster also recognizes another serious problem revolving around the capacity of models to answer and explain fully the nuances of each general context, in our case democratizing party systems in Eastern and Central Europe. While I was concerned primarily with the application of West European party systems models in the study of inchoate party systems of Central and East Europe, he takes my study a step further and suggests we look at not only the analytical value of the seminal West European party systems models, but also consider the application of theoretical frameworks employed in democratic transitions in European polities; e.g., Spain’s transition to democracy. Generally, Professor Lancaster anticipates the potential scope and depth of the academic debate that will evolve over the analytical value and utility of different types of models for the understanding of developing party systems in Central and Eastern Europe.

The search for the centre: Pivot parties in West European party systems

The central question is whether or not in multiparty systems the so‐called parties of the ‘centre’ can be defined and observed in isolation. We start from the assumption that party‐life in the centre‐space of a political system has distinctive features. Centre parties must therefore be conceptualised and analysed as phenomena sui generis and do not belong to either the left‐wing or the right‐wing of a party system. The second assumption is that every party in a parliamentary democracy is a vote seeking and policy guided actor. This means that a centre party depends on its capacity to compete with both ‘wings’ of a party system whilst occupying the centre‐space. It is then capable of becoming the ‘pivot’ of the system: its ‘centrality’ and ‘dominance’ represent ideological distinctiveness and electoral/legislative weight. The cross‐national analysis demonstrates that only a few parties are genuine pivot parties. The paper concludes with a discussion about the issue whether or not the existence of a pivot p...

Political Leadership and Representation in West European Democracies: A Test of Three Models of Voting

Recently the spatial theory of elections has been challenged by critics who dispute the realism of its assumptions and the empirical veracity of its predictions. This paper critically evaluates two theoretical alternatives to the spatial model and subjects these to a series of strategic tests using data from six West European party systems. It is argued that a model of representational policy leadership, which combines insights from the spatial and the theories of voting, best accounts for the observed patterns of voting. Thus, voters prefer parties that offer clear and intense political alternatives, but they turn away from parties that deviate too radically from voters' own stated policy positions. In terms of party strategies, it is demonstrated that spatial theorems, contrary to claims made for the directional theory, hold for all three models of voting. The policy leadership model, however, does explain why parties in multiparty systems tend to be more dispersed than predicted in spatial theory.

New Party versus Old Left Realignments: Environmental Attitudes, Party Policies, and Partisan Affiliations in Four West European Countries

In the past two decades, the tranquility of European electoral politics was disrupted by the rise of new social movements and a number of smaller New Left parties. These developments have initiated a debate over the possibility of a partisan realignment on the basis of New Politics issues. However, past research that tries to assess the probability of a New Politics realignment neglects to incorporate the policy behavior of established parties as a variable in New Politics realignments. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing how parties' environmental policies, mediated by electoral laws, affect the link between environmental attitudes and voters' partisanship. The results suggest that Old Left parties are considerably more able than previously assumed to absorb the environmental challenge. In contrast, new party realignments are less prevalent than previously assumed in West European party systems. The results stress the importance of the interplay between public opinion, party policies, and electoral laws in New Politics realignments.

Introduction: How are West European party systems changing?

(1989). Introduction: How are West European party systems changing? West European Politics: Vol. 12, Understanding Party System Change in Western Europe, pp. 1-2.

A System Perspective on Party System Change

Discussions of party system change may be unsatisfactory if insufficient attention is given to the defining properties of a system. A number of dimensions have to be considered, but - as with `social cleavages' - there can be disagreement as to whether a truly constitutive element is involved. In addition, it is necessary to distinguish the various degrees of change that are possible, and in this respect a study of the process of change is essential. Party system typologies are of little help, so that an alternative in the form of `working models' can be employed. The emphasis in this approach is on the identification of the `core components' of the particular system against which the degree of change can be assessed. An examination of representative West European party systems reveals that these core components show a strong persistence.