How Political Parties Respond

Lawson, Kay; Poguntke, Thomas

doi:10.4324/9780203324226

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The broad changes in West European politics have led to a fairly extensive literature on how these changes affect political parties and their position in contemporary democracies (Mair et al. 2004; Dalton & Wattenberg 2000; Lawson & Poguntke 2005). However, this literature by and large discusses these questions from the angle that declining party membership affects political parties and uses this to evaluate the position of political parties in Western democracies (Allern & Pedersen 2007).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immigration as a political issue in Denmark and Sweden

Green‐Pedersen

Krogstrup

2008

European J Political Res

228

159

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Abstract. Studies of party politics and party competition in West European democracies all point to diversification. Non‐economic issues such as the environment, refugees and immigrants or law and order have become increasingly central to party politics. However, there has been surprisingly little interest in explaining variation across time and countries concerning which issues actually become central to party competition. From the sparse literature, two general answers can be discerned. One is societal, focusing on mass media coverage, public opinion and the development of the policy problems related to the issue. The other focuses on the structure of party competition itself – more precisely on the incentives for different parties in drawing attention to different issues. This study stresses the importance of the latter based on a study of the immigration issue in Denmark and Sweden. Party political attention to this issue in the 1990s has been considerably stronger in Denmark than in Sweden. This can be explained by the different strategic situation of the main stream right‐wing parties in the two countries. Focusing on the immigrant issue easily leads to a conflict with the centre‐right, especially social liberal parties. In Sweden, such a conflict would undermine mainstream right‐wing attempts at winning government power. In Denmark, the Social Liberals governed with the Social Democrats in the 1990s, which made it attractive for the main stream right‐wing parties to focus on the issue in order to win government power based on the support of radical right‐wing parties.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immigration as a political issue in Denmark and Sweden

Green‐Pedersen

Krogstrup

2008

European J Political Res

228

159

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“…1E.g. Dalton (2000) and Wattenberg (2000); Mair et al (2004); Karvonen (2001) and Kuhnle (2001); Cain et al (2003); Gunther et al (2002); Lawson and Poguntke (2005); Luther (2002) and Müller-Rommel (2002); Webb et al (2002).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2003); Gunther et al. (2002); Lawson and Poguntke (2005); Luther and Müller‐Rommel (2002); Webb et al. (2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Growing Importance of Issue Competition: The Changing Nature of Party Competition in Western Europe

2007

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Changes in Western European political parties in general have attracted considerable scholarly interest, whereas changes in party competition have been almost overlooked in an otherwise extensive literature. Using the party manifesto data set, this article documents that party competition in Western Europe is increasingly characterised by issue competition, i.e. competition for the content of the party political agenda.What should be the most salient issues for voters: unemployment, the environment, refugees and immigrants, law and order, the welfare state or foreign policy? This change is crucial because it raises a question about the factors determining the outcome of issue competition. Is it the structure of party competition itself or more unpredictable factors, such as media attention, focusing events or skilful political communication? The two answers to this question have very different implications for the understanding of the role of political parties in today's Western European democracies.P O L I T I C A L S T U D I E S : 2 0 0 7 VO L 5 5 , 6 0 7 -6 2 8

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“…However, it does imply that they cannot afford to concentrate on one issue or adopt the precise demands of a movement for fear of alienating voters since they aim at winning support from the broadest possible set of sectors in society (what Kirchheimer (1966: 192–195) for the case of catch-all parties described as ‘limited integration’ between the party, interests groups and voters) 4 . Parties have developed new forms of interest aggregation, for instance ‘sanitized aggregation’ in which parties incentivize voters to focus on issues that are ‘non-controversial’ and ‘not electorally dangerous’ (Lawson 2004: 261). Thus reacting to pressure from narrow (movement) constituencies is less attractive for non-niche parties and their programmatic platforms will be less close to their civil society environments than niche parties’ platforms.…”

Section: Niche Parties and Social Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Niche Parties and Social Movements: Mechanisms of Programmatic Alignment and Party Success

Blings

2018

Gov. & oppos.

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Niche parties often originate in social movements, yet the latter's role in shaping these parties has received scant attention. I argue that movement roots can help niche parties achieve both vote-and policy-seeking goals by keeping core issues salient, bolstering issue ownership and securing allies in civil society. Employing interviews with movement, as well as Green and Pirate party leaders in Sweden and Germany, I identify three mechanisms (electoral pressure, grassroots linkage, elite orientation) that lead to programmatic alignment. This article extends an emerging research agenda that highlights how social movements shape party politics and offers evidence that niche party-movement interactions open new avenues for political representation counterbalancing mainstream parties' increasing detachment from civil society.Niche parties, political parties that focus on limited programmatic appeals regarding issues that are not easily located alongside the traditional, classdominated left/right dimension (Meguid 2005: 347-348), have received increasing attention. These parties have shaped contemporary European politics in important ways, as exemplified by the 2014 Scottish independence referendum backed by the Scottish National Party. Studies have illuminated the interactions between niche and mainstream parties (Meguid 2008; Pardos-Prado 2015), how voters respond to shifts in niche party positions (Adams et al. 2012) and when parties transition between mainstream and niche profiles (Meyer and Wagner 2013). No systematic attention, however, has been paid to the social movement roots that many niche parties have in common. Green parties originated from environmental movements, regionalist movements surrounded the origins of many ethnoterritorial parties, and more recently movements concerned with copyright, privacy and internet-related issues gave rise to Pirate parties. Parties' roots in and interactions with movements

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How Political Parties Respond

Cited by 17 publications

References 0 publications

Immigration as a political issue in Denmark and Sweden

Immigration as a political issue in Denmark and Sweden

The Growing Importance of Issue Competition: The Changing Nature of Party Competition in Western Europe

Niche Parties and Social Movements: Mechanisms of Programmatic Alignment and Party Success

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