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Based on cutting-edge global data, the Research Handbook of Political Partisanship argues that partisanship is down, but not out, in contemporary democracies. Engaging with key scholarly debates, from the rise of right-wing partisanship to the effects of digitalization on partisanship, contributions highlight the significance of political partisanship not only in the present but in the future of democracies internationally.
In an ideal democracy, representatives would entirely reflect citizens’ views, preferences and wishes in their legislative work. However, real-life democracies do not meet this ideal and citizens’ policy preferences and priorities are mirrored only inadequately. This book provides new insights on political representation. It is guided by three questions: what roles should representatives play? Who is actually or should be represented? How are the representatives (or how should they be) connected with the represented? Containing contributions from the perspectives of political theory and philosophy, as well as quantitative empirical studies, the volume demonstrates the need to adapt these established questions to new political realities. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of political representation and parties, political theory, democratic theory, political philosophy and comparative politics.
It has long been realized that democratic governance requires a two-way flow of influence. Governments must be able to respond to what people want and people must be able to react to what governments do. These mechanisms of democratic governance have contributed to two research traditions: one, the responsible party approach, views policy change as a consequence of ‘electoral turnover’; and the other, the dynamic representation approach, views policy change as occurring in ‘rational anticipation’ of electoral repercussions. The aim of this book is to evaluate the state of political representation in contemporary Europe in the light of these two approaches. The chapters present fresh ...
Policy Representation in Western Democracies offers a comparative analysis of policy representation in five Western Democracies: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the US. A leading group of authors examines the impact of belief systems and geographical and institutional characteristics on the match between the policy preferences of the electorate and those of their representatives. The book offers a variety of perspectives on the conceptualization, measurement, and interpretation of congruence between mass and elite opinion. The book also evaluates the consequences of different electoral systems for policy representation.
Identifying a crisis for representative democracy in Western European party systems, this essential book studies the widening gap between political parties’ ideological economic Left–Right rhetoric. Combining in-depth theoretical analysis with empirical research, it addresses whether political party ideologies are converging or diverging, and whether these changes are initiated by the parties themselves, aligned with voter demand, or forced by economic globalization.
As the power and scope of the European Union moves further, beyond traditional forms of international cooperation between sovereign states, it is important to analyse how these developments are impacting upon national institutions and processes of democratic representation and legitimacy in the member countries. The authors in this book identifyfour core processes of democratic governance present in any democratic political system that link societal and state processes of decision-making: opinion formation, interestintermediation, national executive decision-making and national parliamentary scrutiny. From a normative perspective they discuss what impacts this process of Europeanizationhas o...
In election after election for the European parliament there has been a growing ability for voters to deal with Europe, by-passing categories that are still used to think about essentials political issues within individual countries. Europe at the Polls highlights this liberation of the 'European Question' from the old left-right conflicts that have marked political life within the 15 members of the European Union. Across national borders, this study of those elections shows that diverse trends are taking root in homes, towns, and in the workplace, and are reflected in the electoral geography at the level of the European Union. The increasing strength of Green parties, the continued decline of European Communism, and ethno-regionalism are just some of the issues that this book explores with the hope that Europe can begin constructing a real European public space within which a strong link to citizens can be woven.
A comprehensive examination of current issues in voting studies
This text analyses the functioning of modern democracies in terms of two basic principles: political representation and policy congruence between citizens and their representatives. A group of scholars examines if democracy still works today, and how it works, while its functioning is challenged by fundamental changes in society.