Cleavage Dimensions in Ten West European Countries: A Comparative Empirical Analysis
TL;DR: In this paper, different approaches for identifying empirical cleavage dimensions and concluding that a so-called cleavage-defined approach is most appropriate for identifying and interpreting party dimensions are discussed.
Abstract: The present article discusses different approaches for identifying empirical cleavage dimensions and concludes that a so-called cleavage-defined approach is most appropriate for identifying and interpreting party dimensions. It is further argued that discriminant analysis is a powerful statistical tool for analyzing cleavage dimensions in accordance with a cleavage-defined approach. Using different structural variables that are incorporated in the Lipset-Rokkan model for party cleavages in Western Europe, and two ideological dimensions (called left-right materialism and materialism/postmaterialism) as “input” for the dimensional analyses, data from Norway and the European Community countries (based on Euro-Barometer 16 from 1981) are analyzed and related to the comparative literature on cleavage structure in Western Europe.
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TL;DR: The authors empirically identified an authoritarian-libertarian dimension of value change that captures an important dimension of this shift and demonstrated that the shift from authoritarian to libertarian values is related to growing levels of social and political alienation along a number of key attitudinal dimensions.
Abstract: The plurality of conflicting worldviews that are now found in the Western advanced industrial democracies has created values and belief systems that are markedly at odds with each other, which in turn has projected a whole new set of new politics or culture war issues onto the political agenda. The authors have empirically identified an authoritarian-libertarian dimension of value change that captures an important dimension of this shift. They demonstrate that the shift from authoritarian to libertarian values is related to (a) growing levels of social and political alienation along a number of key attitudinal dimensions; (b) a dramatic shift in positions on the key culture wars issues; and (c) higher participatory levels and more assertive modes of political involvement, yielding asymmetric mobilization around the culture wars issues. The study is based on the 1990 wave of the World Values Survey in the 12 largest and most affluent Western nations.
272 citations
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22 Feb 2010
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that learning and adaptation through fundamental policy innovations are the main mechanisms by which politicians build programmatic parties in Latin American political parties, and show the limits of alternative explanations and substantiates a sanguine view of programmatic competition.
Abstract: Political parties provide a crucial link between voters and politicians. This link takes a variety of forms in democratic regimes, from the organization of political machines built around clientelistic networks to the establishment of sophisticated programmatic parties. Latin American Party Systems provides a novel theoretical argument to account for differences in the degree to which political party systems in the region were programmatically structured at the end of the twentieth century. Based on a diverse array of indicators and surveys of party legislators and public opinion, the book argues that learning and adaptation through fundamental policy innovations are the main mechanisms by which politicians build programmatic parties. Marshalling extensive evidence, the book�s analysis shows the limits of alternative explanations and substantiates a sanguine view of programmatic competition, nevertheless recognizing that this form of party system organization is far from ubiquitous and enduring in Latin America.
223 citations
Book•
31 May 2004TL;DR: The authors studied public opinion and elite attitudes toward immigration in the European Union and found that support from both elite and public opinion has led to the adoption of restrictive immigration policies despite the requirements of open borders.
Abstract: With almost a quarter of the world's migrants, Europe has been attempting to regulate migration and harmonize immigration policy at the European level. The central dilemma exposed is how liberal democracies can reconcile the need to control the movement of people with the desire to promote open borders, free markets and liberal standards. Gallya Lahav's book traces ten years of public opinion and elite attitudes toward immigration cross-nationally to show how and why increasing EU integration may not necessarily lead to more open immigration outcomes. Empirical evidence reveals that support from both elite and public opinion has led to the adoption of restrictive immigration policies despite the requirements of open borders. Unique in bringing together original data on European legislators and national elites, longitudinal data on public opinion and institutional and policy analyses, this 2004 study provides an important insight into the processes of European integration, and globalization more broadly.
205 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the extent to which national policies in the highly internationalised environmental sector are influenced by the policy preferences of political parties and found that not only international integration, economic development and problem pressure, but also aspects of party politics, influence the number of policies adopted.
Abstract: This article analyses the extent to which national policies in the highly internationalised environmental sector are influenced by the policy preferences of political parties. The focus is on policy outputs rather than environmental performance as the central indicator of policy change. Based on a discussion of the relevant theoretical literature competing hypotheses are presented. For an empirical test, a dataset is used that includes information on the number of environmental policies adopted in 18 OECD countries at four points in time between 1970 and 2000. The results show that not only international integration, economic development and problem pressure, but also aspects of party politics, influence the number of policies adopted. The number of environmental measures increases if the governmental parties adopt more pro-environmentalist policy positions. This effect remains robust even when controlling for the institutional strength of governments, the left-right position of parties in government, the inclusion of an ecological or left-libertarian party inside the (coalition) government, and the presence of a portfolio that deals exclusively with environmental issues.
136 citations
Cites background from "Cleavage Dimensions in Ten West Eur..."
...Several studies have demonstrated that in Western democracies environmental protection has some salience (e.g., Knutsen 1989; Rohrschneider 1988, 1993)....
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08 Mar 2015
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01 Jan 1985
TL;DR: The 1983 General Election as discussed by the authors showed that the decline of class voting was due to the lack of housing and insufficient education and occupation of the working class, and this was the case for the majority of the voters.
Abstract: The 1983 General Election. Class and politics. The decline of class voting? Housing. Education and occupation. Neighbourhood, region and vote. Policies. Ideology. Ideological change in the electorate. Ideological change in the parties. Competence and fairness. Conclusions. Appendices. Index.
425 citations