scholarly journals Stealth democracy and the support for new and challenger parties

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastián Lavezzolo ◽  
Luis Ramiro
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Party System ◽  
System Change ◽  
European Countries ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
Electoral Change ◽  
Attitudinal Dimension

In the wake of the 2008 Great Recession, new and challenger parties have enjoyed electoral gains in some European countries. Political and economic disaffection have been pointed out as the main drivers of their electoral support. This article proposes voter’s stealth democracy attitudes, as defined by Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, as an additional driving force to account for this electoral change. We examine the case of Spain with a survey conducted after the far-reaching transformation of the party system, which has led to the emergence of two new parties:Ciudadanos(on the center-right) andPodemos(on the radical-left). We find that stealth democracy attitudes are positively related to the support for the former and negatively related to the support for the latter. Additionally, we provide evidence of this relationship being conditional on voters’ ideology. The study illustrates how an unexplored attitudinal dimension contributes to party system change, and how the relevance of these attitudes might go beyond the temporary political discontent caused by the economic crisis.

Populist Parties in Lithuania: Curious Case of Party Order and Justice and its Leadership

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mindaugas Jurkynas
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Leadership Selection ◽  
Political Careers ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Selection Rules ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
The Face

AbstractThe article discusses conceptualisation of populism, Lithuania’s party system and electoral dynamics and their relation to the sustainability of populist parties. Special attention is given to Party Order and Justice, a former populist and protest party, and its leadership, namely to the issues related to scope and competencies of a leader’s intra-partisan power, leadership selection rules and history, development of leaders’ political careers and their electoral activity. The L ithuanian party system now exhibits moderate fragmentation without centrifugal tendencies. Voter volatility is still relatively high, yet the share of new parties has dropped to zero. The protest and populist parties in Lithuania went into the margins of political establishment. Popularity of the Order and Justice party has long been connected to the formerly impeached president Rolandas Paksas. His long-term leadership in the face of plummeting electoral support and an emphasis on his political martyrdom resulted in poor electoral performances, ensuing internal squabbles and his departure. Party Order and Justice’s internal regulations, however, remained favourable to strong leadership.

The Party System

2021 ◽  
pp. 520-538
Author(s):  
Conor Little ◽  
David M. Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
System Change ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Incremental Change ◽  
System P ◽  
Electoral Change ◽  
Irish Case ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Future Path ◽  
Opening Up

This chapter focuses on the attributes and development of the Irish party system, describing its structure and where it sits in comparative perspective. As well as examining party size and ideology, the chapter applies Peter Mair’s conceptualization of the party system as the structure of competition for control of the executive to the Irish case. In doing so, it explores the relationship between electoral change and party system change, arguing that the systemic changes that have been emerging since the 2011 election are an extension of a longer-term trend in the opening up of the Irish party system. This incremental change was accelerated by the economic crisis that began in 2008 and its aftermath. The chapter suggests that the Irish party system is potentially at a critical juncture: a moment of uncertainty that provides opportunities for agency (by voters, party leaders, and others) to shape a durable future path.

Parties and party system change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lise Storm
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
System Change ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Coalition Structures ◽  
Measure Change ◽  
Effective Number Of Parties ◽  
Number Of Parties ◽  
The Arab Spring

This chapter examines parties and party system change across the MENA countries since December 2010. The discussion begins with a brief overview of party systems in the region on the eve of the Arab Spring, thereby providing a quick introduction to the selected cases as well as a benchmark against which to measure change. Party system change is determined via indicators such as the effective number of parties, party system fragmentation, electoral volatility and the entry of new parties into the system. The analysis of the indicators of party system change is coupled with a discussion of empirical data on the political environment during and in the immediate aftermath of the elections, including issues such as regime classification, rotation of power, coalition structures, prohibited parties, and societal cleavages. The author explains how - despite the fact that some old regimes fell and elections were held - the traditionally dominant or hegemonic political parties stayed preeminent in a number of MENA countries. Finally, this chapter shows what party system change tells us about the prospects for democracy some five years after the outbreak of the Arab Spring.

Belgium: From Highly Constrained and Complex Bargaining Settings to Paralysis?

2021 ◽  
pp. 81-123
Author(s):  
Lieven De Winter ◽  
Patrick Dumont
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
European Countries ◽  
New Parties ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Monitoring Devices ◽  
Coalition Bargaining

While Belgium undoubtedly had the most complex coalition bargaining system in Western Europe during the period 1946–1999, it has become much more difficult for parties to form federal governments ever since. Contrary to a number of European countries, government formation complexity did not peak due the emergence of brand-new parties, nor of any new cleavage. Rather, in Belgium the main ingredients pre-existed: party system fragmentation—which was already high since unitary parties had split along linguistic lines—skyrocketed as the mainstream parties around which post-war coalitions were formed further declined in size, confronting some (in)formateurs with up to ten coalitionable parties. Their task has been further complicated by the growing saliency and Flemish radicalization of the community cleavage which led to the rise of the independentist N-VA, whose positions remain unacceptable for any French-speaking party. As a result, Belgium has often been left without a fully empowered government, the partisan composition of coalitions broke away from previous patterns, and the coalition compromise model, which was already solidly entrenched in the consociational norms and practices since the 1960s, was further elaborated. Coalition partners keep tabs on each other through compromise mechanisms and policy-monitoring devices such as long and detailed coalition agreements, the enhanced role of the inner cabinet composed of the PM and the vice-PMs of each coalition party, and strictly enforced coalition discipline in legislative matters. But, given the increasingly unbridgeable divides between Flemish- and French-speaking parties, the deadlock observed could well lead to the demise of Belgium.

scholarly journals A fuzzy set approach to economic crisis, austerity and public health. Part I. European countries’ conformity to ideal types during the economic downturn

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (18_suppl) ◽  
pp. 41-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Saltkjel ◽  
Mari Holm Ingelsrud ◽  
Espen Dahl ◽  
Knut Halvorsen
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Fuzzy Set ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Welfare Generosity

Aims: This is the first part of a two-part paper that takes an explorative approach to assess crisis and austerity in European countries during the Great Recession. The ultimate aim of this two-part paper is to explore the “crisis–austerity” thesis by Stuckler and Basu and assess whether it is the interplay between austerity and crisis, rather than the current economic crisis per se, that can led to deterioration in population health. In Part I of this paper we offer one way of operationalizing crisis severity and austerity. We examine countries as specific configurations of crisis and policy responses and classify European countries into “ideal types.” Methods: Cases included were 29 countries participating in the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) surveys. Based on fuzzy set methodology, we constructed two fuzzy sets, “austerity” and “severe crisis.” Austerity was measured by changes in welfare generosity; severe crisis was measured by changes in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth. Results: In the initial phase of the Great Recession, most countries faced severe crisis combined with no austerity. From 2010–2011 onward, there was a divide between countries. Some countries consistently showed signs of austerity policies (with or without severe crisis); others consistently did not. Conclusions: The fuzzy set ideal-type analysis shows that the European countries position themselves, by and large, in configurations of crisis and austerity in meaningful ways that allow us to explore the “crisis–austerity” thesis by Stuckler and Basu. This exploration is the undertaking of Part II of this paper.

The Party System

2020 ◽  
pp. 211-229
Author(s):  
Christoffer Green-Pedersen ◽  
Karina Kosiara-Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
New Parties ◽  
People's Party ◽  
The Core ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
The Social ◽  
Internal Coherence ◽  
The One

The earthquake election in 1973 could have been the beginning of the end of the Danish party system, which was very stable up to that point. However, more than 45 years later, the core of the Danish party system is still the one that was formed in the early twentieth century. The core of party competition is on the left-right dimension between the four old parties. The Social Democrats and the Social Liberals are on the centre-left side, with the Liberals and the Conservatives on the centre-right side. However, several related developments challenge this core. The four old parties have lost electoral support to new parties. The Danish People’s Party in particular has become a central actor in the Danish party system. New issues like immigration also challenge the internal coherence of the blocs. In terms of party organization, the Danish political parties have undergone a development similar to that of many other Western countries. Party membership has declined significantly, but not disappeared, and public funding plays a central role today. The new parties have also come to resemble the old ones in terms of internal structure.

Populist Euroscepticism in Iberian party systems

Politics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita Gómez-Reino Cachafeiro ◽  
Carolina Plaza-Colodro
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Party System ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Radical Left

As the introduction to this special issue highlights, the Great Recession, along with the more recent phenomenon such as the refugees’ crisis and the Brexit referendum, has contributed to the success and strengthening of populist Eurosceptic parties across European party systems. The loss of legitimacy of governments and European institutions has opened a window of opportunity for parties expressing anti-establishment positions and populist orientations and criticizing the political-economic arrangements prevailing in Europe. Our study focuses on the rise of a specific left-wing populist Euroscepticism linked with the impact of the Great Recession and austerity measures in Portugal and Spain and the party system transformations. Thus, economic issues, bailouts, and, above all, anti-austerity measures were the main driving forces behind the transformations of Iberian party systems. The increase in populist reactions in both countries after the economic crisis and the implementation of austerity had to do with the transformation of the radical left emphasizing distributive issues in Eurosceptic populist directions. Finally, the analysis shows the distinctiveness of the populist Euroscepticism of the new challenger, Podemos, which illustrates the opportunities afforded with the economic crisis for the rise of new challenger parties exhibiting the contemporary link between populism and Euroscepticism in the radical left.

scholarly journals THE POLITICS OF POPULISM SPREAD AND THE CHANGING IDEOLOGICAL SPACE IN EUROPE

2019 ◽  
pp. 52-59
Author(s):  
Yulian Braychevskyy
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
System Development ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
Ideological Space

Aim: To perform the geographic analysis of the socio-political context of mass spread of populist movements in European countries and to trace its impact on the ideological space in the European region. Methodology: The paper is based upon the historical-geographic overview of the pre-conditions framing the political and party systems development in European countries in the second half of the XXth century, analysis of populism spread dynamics across European states and speculation on the factors conditioning rapid populism spread becoming a major political trend f the recent years. Empirical data on the level of support of the populist parties in European countries is borrowed from the Swedish analytical think-tank TIMBRO, which compiles the authoritarian populism index for European states and provides data on the support level for populist parties of various parts of the political spectrum. We used the methodology of the T.Blair Institute for Global Change for classifying populist political forces in Europe. Results: The article presents the analysis of the key trends and dynamics of the electoral support for populist parties in the number of European states and a historical-geographic overview of the development of the political and party systems in the European countries in the post-War period. Also, it contains the analysis of the contextual factors of populism electoral support, namely those related to the changes in relations between political elites and their base electorate as well as those related to the changes in the external environment of political system development. Academic novelty: The article suggests employing theoretical perspectives of B.Moore (social origins of democratic institutes and evolution of the relations between political elites and their electorates) and S.M.Lipsett-S.Rokkan (development of the major socio-political cleavages in European states) while searching for explanations of the populist parties growing support. That is employing the terms of structural analysis of the party elites, their material, social and value base as well as historical and geographic context of their development. Practical significance: Ukraine faces similar to other European countries challenges of mass populism. The search for efficient strategies of countering this phenomenon requires comprehensive analysis of the European experience as well as comparison of the Ukrainian context and factors determining political party system and ways of electorate mobilization with the analogous features of the political space in the European states.

The Great Recession as a ‘stress test’ of migrant incorporation in Europe. Are Southern European countries really lame ducks?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Ponzo
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
European Model ◽  
Economic Downturns ◽  
Migrant Integration ◽  
Southern European Countries

Abstract Southern European countries are generally portrayed as lame ducks when it comes to migrant integration. In this article, I will analyse some of the reasons that have led to this outcome including potential biases in migration studies. I argue that Southern European countries in fact hold their own specific ways of incorporating migrants which may be equally or even more positive than those of older immigration countries. At the same time, I maintain that they appear rather heterogeneous in this regard, questioning the idea of a single Southern European model. I will test these hypotheses by comparing Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece with some Western European older immigration countries and by observing the trends of migrant incorporation during the Great Recession which started in 2008. The economic crisis is here regarded as both a factor of change and a ‘stress test’ of the actual robustness of migrant incorporation in the target countries. The empirical data are framed in a typology of migrant incorporation modes conceived of as a heuristic tool to conceptualise the processes occurring during deep economic downturns.

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