CAUSES AND CORRELATES OF PROGRAMMATIC PARTY SYSTEM STRUCTURATION: EXPLAINING CROSS-NATIONAL DIVERSITY

2012 ◽  
pp. 169-176
Author(s):  
Herbert Kitschelt ◽  
Kirk A. Hawkins ◽  
Juan Pablo Luna ◽  
Guillermo Rosas ◽  
Elizabeth J. Zechmeister
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Cross National

The post-crisis Irish voter

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
New Parties ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
University Courses ◽  
National Election Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Established Democracies ◽  
Unique Dataset ◽  
Cross National

This is the definitive study of the Irish general election of 2016 – the most dramatic election in a generation, which among other things resulted in the worst electoral outcome for Ireland’s established parties, the most fractionalized party system in the history of the state, and the emergence of new parties and groups, some of these of a ‘populist’ hue. This was one of the most volatile elections in Ireland (and among one of the most volatile elections in Europe), with among the lowest of election turnouts in the state’s history. These outcomes follow a pattern seen across a number of Western Europe’s established democracies in which the ‘deep crisis’ of the Great Recession has wreaked havoc on party systems. The objective of this book is to assess this most extraordinary of Irish elections both in its Irish and wider cross-national context. With contributions from leading scholars on Irish elections and parties, and using a unique dataset – the Irish National Election Study (INES) 2016 – this volume explores voting patterns at Ireland’s first post crisis election and it considers the implications for the electoral landscape and politics in Ireland. This book will be of interest to scholars of parties and elections. It should provide important supplementary reading to any university courses on Irish politics. And it should also be of interest to general readers interested in contemporary Irish affairs.

scholarly journals The effects of district magnitude and social diversity on party system fragmentation in majoritarian systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-326
Author(s):  
Christopher D Raymond
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
Social Diversity ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
National Model ◽  
National Models ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cross National

Cross-national models of party system fragmentation hold that social diversity and district magnitude interact: higher levels of district magnitude allow for greater expression of social diversity that leads to higher levels of party system fragmentation. Most models, however, ignore differences between majoritarian and proportional electoral rules, which may significantly alter the impact of district magnitude, as well as the way in which district magnitude impacts the translation of social cleavages into party system fragmentation. Examining the case of Singapore suggests majoritarian multimember districts limit party system fragmentation, particularly by reducing the degree to which ethnic and religious diversity are translated into political parties. Applying these insights to a standard cross-national model of party system fragmentation, the results suggest that majoritarian multimember districts produce lower levels of party system fragmentation than proportional multimember districts.

scholarly journals Party Systems in Muslim Societies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R. Nugent
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
Party System ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
Cross National

Are party systems in Muslim-majority societies different from those in non-Muslim-majority societies? If so, how—and more importantly, why? Cross-national time-series data demonstrate that party systems in Muslim-majority countries are consistently less competitive, less open, and less institutionalized than party systems in non-Muslim-majority countries. This chapter synthesizes existing theories of party system formation to argue that the traits of party systems in Muslim-majority countries are best explained by both shared experiences and systematic variation in historical developments related to colonialism and the path dependence of institutions, rather than by the political institutions prescribed by Islamic tenets. The chapter concludes by outlining a series of unanswered questions about the differences between party systems in Muslim-majority and non-Muslim-majority societies.

Ethnic Inequality and the Ethnification of Political Parties

2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Huber ◽  
Pavithra Suryanarayan
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Party System ◽  
State Level ◽  
Ethnic Politics ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Ethnic Inequality ◽  
Class Politics ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Income Differences ◽  
Cross National

Why does ethnicity become a salient element of electoral politics in some places but not others? The authors argue that in majoritarian systems, ethnic identity is most salient to electoral behavior when there are high levels of inequality between ethnic groups. Theytest this argument in the Indian states and find that state-level party system ethnification is strongly correlated with economic inequality between groups, a pattern they also find in cross-national data. Theyalso show that in India, when income differences between groups increase, the groups tend to support different parties. The analysis reveals a strong class component to ethnic politics in India, underscoring the possibility that what scholars often view as identity politics can have an element of class politics in disguise.

Representation By Consultation? The Rise of Direct Democracy in Latin America

2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Barczak
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Party System ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
National Comparison ◽  
Cross National

AbstractMost of the countries of South America experienced two notable institutional phenomena during the 1990s: the reform or rewriting of constitutions and the emergence of direct democracy mechanisms. This paper examines the latter process through a cross-national comparison. The introduction of direct democracy mechanisms is typically driven by traditionally excluded political interests. It takes two forms, both involving the failure of representative democratic institutions. In most cases, these traditionally excluded interests win control over the constitutional reform and rewriting process, although this is not a necessary condition for the emergence of direct democracy. Drawing illustrations from 12 cases of constitutional reform, this paper links arguments about direct democracy in the United States and Western Europe, institutional change, neopopulism, and the decline of the party system in Latin America.

scholarly journals Measuring Party System Change: A Systems Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zim Nwokora ◽  
Riccardo Pelizzo
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
System Change ◽  
Direct Measure ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Weak Correlation ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Proper Unit ◽  
Cross National

The term ‘party system’, explained Giovanni Sartori, refers to the pattern of interactions among relevant parties. That pattern can be represented as a type and treated as a proper unit of analysis. When ‘party system’ is defined in this way, it becomes clear that the scholarship lacks a direct measure of ‘party system change’. The Sartori approach to party system change is not the only legitimate way to understand this concept, but it does target an undoubtedly important feature of political systems – namely the stability of interactions among relevant parties. This article develops a new indicator, the index of fluidity, which measures the extent of such stability. Applying the index to Africa, we show that there is significant cross-national variation in fluidity and weak correlation between fluidity and (Pedersen) volatility.

Constituency Diversity, District Magnitude and Voter Co-ordination

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Potter
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
System Size ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
Demographic Diversity ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
Lower House ◽  
Incentive Structures ◽  
Elite Level ◽  
National Analysis ◽  
Cross National

Why are voters in some electoral constituencies able to successfully co-ordinate their balloting decisions on viable party offerings, while those in other constituencies are not? Prior work on voter co-ordination failures has focused on institutional and elite-level explanations. This article demonstrates that characteristics of the voting constituencies themselves – specifically their socio-demographic diversity – can play an important role in shaping voters’ collective ability to co-ordinate around viable party offerings. It synthesizes theories of collective decision making from the field of organizational psychology with theories of institutions as incentive structures to argue that diversity inhibits collective co-ordination in some contexts, but not others. In so doing, the article offers a new causal mechanism that links diversity and district magnitude to party system size. The argument is tested using a cross-national analysis of tens of thousands of voters across lower house elections in twelve countries.

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