How established parties reduce other parties’ electoral support: the strategy of parroting the pariah
In every democracy, established political parties are challenged by other parties. Established parties react in various ways to other parties’ presence. A key hypothesis in the relevant literature is that established parties can decrease an other party’s electoral support by parroting it, i.e., adop...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
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Routledge
2017
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| _version_ | 1797102253523337216 |
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| author | van Spanje, J De Graaf, N |
| author_facet | van Spanje, J De Graaf, N |
| author_sort | van Spanje, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | In every democracy, established political parties are challenged by other parties. Established parties react in various ways to other parties’ presence. A key hypothesis in the relevant literature is that established parties can decrease an other party’s electoral support by parroting it, i.e., adopting its core policy issue position. In this paper we argue, and demonstrate empirically, that this hypothesized effect mainly occurs in the event that a critical prerequisite is in place. Parroting a party decreases its support only if that party is ostracized at the same time. We classify a party as ostracized if its largest established competitor systematically rules out all political cooperation with it. Analyzing 296 election results of 28 West European parties (1944-2011), we find evidence for a parrot effect –however, concerning ostracized parties only. On several occasions established parties have substantially decreased an other party’s support by simultaneously parroting that party and ostracizing it. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:03:19Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:ecf7f20e-728b-4d4d-9c2e-2b7f215c99e2 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:03:19Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:ecf7f20e-728b-4d4d-9c2e-2b7f215c99e22022-03-27T11:21:27ZHow established parties reduce other parties’ electoral support: the strategy of parroting the pariahJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ecf7f20e-728b-4d4d-9c2e-2b7f215c99e2Symplectic Elements at OxfordRoutledge2017van Spanje, JDe Graaf, NIn every democracy, established political parties are challenged by other parties. Established parties react in various ways to other parties’ presence. A key hypothesis in the relevant literature is that established parties can decrease an other party’s electoral support by parroting it, i.e., adopting its core policy issue position. In this paper we argue, and demonstrate empirically, that this hypothesized effect mainly occurs in the event that a critical prerequisite is in place. Parroting a party decreases its support only if that party is ostracized at the same time. We classify a party as ostracized if its largest established competitor systematically rules out all political cooperation with it. Analyzing 296 election results of 28 West European parties (1944-2011), we find evidence for a parrot effect –however, concerning ostracized parties only. On several occasions established parties have substantially decreased an other party’s support by simultaneously parroting that party and ostracizing it. |
| spellingShingle | van Spanje, J De Graaf, N How established parties reduce other parties’ electoral support: the strategy of parroting the pariah |
| title | How established parties reduce other parties’ electoral support: the strategy of parroting the pariah |
| title_full | How established parties reduce other parties’ electoral support: the strategy of parroting the pariah |
| title_fullStr | How established parties reduce other parties’ electoral support: the strategy of parroting the pariah |
| title_full_unstemmed | How established parties reduce other parties’ electoral support: the strategy of parroting the pariah |
| title_short | How established parties reduce other parties’ electoral support: the strategy of parroting the pariah |
| title_sort | how established parties reduce other parties electoral support the strategy of parroting the pariah |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vanspanjej howestablishedpartiesreduceotherpartieselectoralsupportthestrategyofparrotingthepariah AT degraafn howestablishedpartiesreduceotherpartieselectoralsupportthestrategyofparrotingthepariah |