Making sense of party strategy innovation: challenge to ideology and conflict-mobilisation as dimensions of party competition

Abstract

This article develops a pooled comparative analysis aimed at addressing two of the three overarching research questions of the special issue. It first discuss an ‘end of ideology’ research question: that is, whether party constituencies and party strategy show clear challenges to classic twentieth century ideological alignments. Second, it investigates the type of issue strategy that parties employ in this new ideological environment, expecting mainstream parties to stress a problem-solving approach, while challenger parties should favour a conflict-mobilisation strategy. Finally, the article combines these two fundamental dimensions (ideological consistency; reliance on problem-solving vs. conflict-mobilisation strategies) in order to identify party strategy innovations in current West European elections.     

Parliamentary Questions as an Instrument for Geographic Representation: The Hard Case of Portugal

This article asks whether and why, in a system lacking electoral incentives to cultivate personal votes, MPs might choose to signal to geographic constituents. It explores this question by analysing the number of written parliamentary questions submitted to the Portuguese parliament on two issues – unemployment and crime – between 2009 and 2015, and asking if MPs are more inclined to table questions on specific issues when their districts suffer particularly from related problems. The article finds evidence that constituency‐level problem pressure does matter for the signalling activities of MPs, although policy specialization remains the main driver of their issue emphasis. This finding contributes new knowledge to the ongoing debate on the factors accounting for the representative relationship between MPs and constituents, by drawing attention to the importance of district‐level problem pressure as one of the drivers of issue sponsorship in parliament.     

How economic crises affect political representation: declining party‒voter congruence in times of constrained government

How do economic crises affect political representation in times of constrained government? Our paper shows that among voters salience of economic issues increases during economically harsh times. However, parties respond only to a limited degree to economic shocks, with the result that congruence between parties and voters decreases. We theorise the incentives and disincentives different political parties have in choosing a saliency strategy and we provide evidence on the extent to which congruence depends on the severity of economic shocks and the government/opposition status of the party. We draw on cross-national data to measure issue salience for parties (CMP) and voters (CSES). While our findings clearly indicate a decline of congruence in times of economic crisis, we also find that it remains best for government and office-seeking opposition parties. We substantiate this finding by unpacking the ways in which incumbent and office-seeking opposition parties address the economy in their manifestos.     

Beyond protest and discontent: A cross‐national analysis of the effect of populist attitudes and issue positions on populist party support

Studies on populist parties – or ‘supply‐side populism’ more generally – are numerous. Nevertheless, the connection with demand‐side dynamics, and particularly the populist characteristics or tendencies of the electorate, requires more scholarly attention. This article examines in more detail the conditions underlying the support for populist parties, and in particular the role of populist attitudes amongst citizens. It asks two core questions: (1) are populist party supporters characterised by stronger populist attitudes than other party supporters, and (2) to what extent do populist (and other) attitudes contribute to their party preference? The analysis uses fixed effect models and relies on a cross‐sectional research design that uses unique survey data from 2015 and includes nine European countries. The results are threefold. First, in line with single‐country studies, populist attitudes are prominent among supporters of left‐ and right‐wing populist parties in particular. Second, populist attitudes are important predictors of populist party support in addition to left‐wing socioeconomic issue positions for left‐wing populist parties, and authoritarian and anti‐immigration issue positions for right‐wing populist parties. Third, populist attitudes moderate the effect of issue positions on the support for populist parties, particularly for individuals whose positions are further removed from the extreme ends of the economic or cultural policy scale. These findings suggest that strong populist attitudes may encourage some voters to support a populist party whose issue positions are incongruous with their own policy‐related preferences.     

Framing the revolution: the role of social media in Ukraine’s Euromaidan movement

The role of social media as a tool of mobilization, communication, and organization of social movements has been well documented since the Arab Spring. The public information posted on social media sites also presents researchers with a unique tool to study protests movements from within. The proposed study utilizes the theoretical foundation of issue framing literature and examines the social media framing of the Ukrainian Euromaidan protest movement. The original dataset traces the activities of the users on the social media site Facebook from 21 November 2013 to February 2014. While foreign media sources portrayed the Ukrainian crisis as a geopolitical struggle, the results of our analysis show that the participants of the protest conceptualized their movement in terms of domestic issues and an anti-regime revolution rather than a geopolitical crossroad between the EU and Russia. This study contributes to our understanding of the role social media sites play in the activities of protest movements, such as Euromaidan. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of social media as a tool of issue framing on par with the traditional sources of framing such as mass media and political elites.     

Toward Conflict or Compromise? How Violent Metaphors Polarize Partisan Issue Attitudes

We know much about how opinion leaders drive mass partisan polarization with position-taking cues but little on how different message types polarize citizens, and who responds most to those messages attributes. This article contributes new insights by investigating how exposure to common violent metaphors interacts with audience personality traits to polarize partisans on issues. Building from research on conflict orientations, we theorize that aggressive rhetoric primes aggression in aggressive partisans, motivating greater intransigence on party positions. As a consequence, aggressive partisans are pulled further apart on issues, thereby reducing prospects for compromise. We find support for our predictions in two large nationally diverse survey experiments conducted in very different political contexts. Our results demonstrate the subtle power of aggression in public opinion and highlight the important moderating role of individual differences in the communication of partisan conflict.     

我国国债发行规模的影响因素

在全球金融危机加深以及我国实体经济下行的背景下,我国实施积极的财政政策,把“扩内需、保增长、调结构”作为当前经济工作的第一要务,2009年全国财政预算赤字为9500亿元,将发行7500亿元的国债和2000亿元的地方债,从绝时数额来看是历年最多的。国债发行要把控制赤字风险和国债规模纳入当前财政发展规划;建立科学的财政支出政策体系,优化财政支出结构;优化国债结构,健全和完善国债运行机制;建立健全偿债基金,确保偿债有充足的资金来源;加强地方债券管理,建立有效防范地方政府债务风险的监管体系。     

东北亚国家安全体系:从双边困境到多边合作的安全路径分析

作为经典国际安全理论的安全困境理论无法充分说明后冷战时代东北亚区域国家安全状态。无论从体系引导型安全困境亦或国家引导型安全困境,都难以找到东北亚各国安全战略差异产生的根本原因。东北亚各国间的安全互动已经形成了一个超越安全困境并以美国为核心的地区国家安全体系。通过对东北亚国家安全体系结构和流动性安全要素的考察可以发现,各国安全战略的不同与其在国家安全体系结构中的位置和对流动性安全要素的控制能力密切相关。这有助于进一步探寻东北亚国家间安全关系从双边困境到多边合作的路径。     

绿色议题联盟与复合安全化实践：美国关键矿产联盟的构建逻辑

随着碳中和共识成为全球气候治理的主流认知,关键矿产作为支撑清洁能源转型的核心要素,对一国在世界低碳秩序转型中能否获得绿色竞争优势具有重要影响。面对中国等新兴大国的绿色崛起,美国对本国在关键矿产供应上的结构性劣势产生了浓重的霸权焦虑和不安全感。为此,美国选择对传统联盟体系进行调整,试图通过构建绿色议题联盟重塑对竞争对手的战略优势。为了解决联盟调整过程中的合法性约束和政策性约束,美国开启了复合安全化实践。其中,美国的安全化话语实践框定了联盟调整的合法性问题,针对国内民众和外部盟友塑造了关键矿产领域的不安全感,明确了议题联盟需要对抗的目标和具体做法。美国的安全化政策实践则在话语实践的基础上推动了与外部盟友之间在关键矿产问题上的政策协调,在双边和多边层面建立了一系列相互嵌套、兼顾多方位需求的合作机制。安全化话语实践和安全化政策实践相互交织,推动了以美国为主导的关键矿产联盟不断成形。然而,美国关键矿产联盟在理念、分歧管理和资源支撑等方面都存在较为明显的缺陷,其效力难以达到美国政府的预期。     

欧共体特定海关事项案述评

2006年11月13日,WTO公布了欧共体特定海关事项案的上诉机构报告。本案是关于贸易法规的执行争议,相关法律条款为GATT1994第10条第3款和DSU第6条第2款。美国在本案中控诉的是欧共体对海关法律的执行不统一。上诉机构最终判定欧共体对带数字视频接口的液晶数字显示器的海关归类违反了GATT1994第10条第3款a项。本案上诉机构对“职权范围”和“系争措施”的分析具有典型意义。