Why Do Parties Change Position? Party Organization and Environmental Incentives

What motivates parties to change their positions? Earlier studies demonstrate that parties change their position in response to environmental incentives, such as voter shifts. Yet, this work also suggests that parties differ in their responses. What accounts for this variation? We argue and empirica...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Schumacher, Gijs, Vis, Barbara, de Vries, Catherine
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2013
País:España
Institución:IE
Repositorio:Repositorio IE
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.ie.edu:20.500.14417/4042
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381613000145
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14417/4042
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1017/s0022381613000145
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:59 Ciencia Política::5905 Vida política::5905.06 Partidos políticos
ODS 10 - Reducción de las desigualdades
Descripción
Sumario:What motivates parties to change their positions? Earlier studies demonstrate that parties change their position in response to environmental incentives, such as voter shifts. Yet, this work also suggests that parties differ in their responses. What accounts for this variation? We argue and empirically substantiate that differences in party organization explain the divergent responses of parties to environmental incentives. By means of a pooled time-series analysis of 55 parties in 10 European democracies between 1977 and 2003, this study demonstrates how the party organizational balance-of-power between party activists and party leaders conditions the extent to which environmental incentives (mean voter change, party voter change, and office exclusion) drive party-position change. The study’s findings have important implications for our understanding of parties’ electoral strategies as well as for models of representation.