Constraints on Party Policy Change [Paperback]

An empirical analysis of party policy shifts in ten Western European democracies shows that these constraints differ across parties and thus affect the parties position-taking differently.Political scientists are quite good at predicting optimal policy positions that - under the given circumstances - allow parties to get maximal payoffs in terms of policy, office or votes. What we do not know is whether parties are actually able to take these positions or whether they are constrained to do so. This book attempts to narrow this gap. The major argument is that parties do not choose policy positions from scratch and that they cannot freely change their policy platforms. Rather, voters lacking perception of changing party platforms and intra-party factors constrain parties when shifting their policy positions. An empirical analysis of party policy shifts in ten Western European democracies shows that these constraints differ across parties and thus affect the parties position-taking differently. Considering this variation is important to derive more precise predictions for parties policy platforms and for our understanding of party behaviour in general.ContentsList of Figures and Tables ixAcknowledgements xiiiPart I. Party Competition and TimeChapter One: Constraints on Shifting Party Policy Platforms 3Chapter Two: Linking Parties and Time 15Chapter Three: Measuring Party Policy Shifts 29Part II. Voter Perception and Party Policy ShiftsChapter Four: The Voters Perception of Party Policy Shifts 57Chapter Five: Causes and Consequences of Voters Perceived Party Policy Shifts 75Chapter Six: Voter Perceptions of Party Policy Shifts: An Empirical Analysis 97Chapter Seven: How Voter Perceptions Affect Party Policy Shifts: An EmpiricalAnalysis 135Part III. Parties Internal Structure and Party Policy ShiftsChapter Eight: How Parties Internal Structure Affect Party Policy Shifts 169Chapter Nine: Parties Internal Structure and Party Policy Shifts: An EmpiricalAnalysis 1l3