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Local parties – disrupting or invigorating local democracy?

Comparative Politics
Elections
Local Government
Political Parties
Party Systems
P257
Antonio Tavares
Research Center in Political Science (CICP) – UMinho/UÉvora
Gissur Erlingsson
Linköping Universitet
Gissur Erlingsson
Linköping Universitet

Abstract

Across several European democracies, political parties that run exclusively for local elections have grown in number and strength in recent decades (e.g., Reiser and Holtmann, 2008). Several scholars have lamented the fact that this has, for too long, been an understudied and overlooked phenomenon, not least given the support these parties receive, and the role they sometimes come to play, in local politics (e.g., Wallman Lundåsen & Erlingsson 2023; Otjes 2020; Tavares et al. 2020; Reiser 2008). Although a somewhat neglected issue, there is nevertheless no shortage of hypotheses or speculation as to why this development has taken place. There are variations on the theme, but a recurring thread is that the success of local parties is associated with growing disenchantment with political parties (e.g., Reiser & Holtmann 2008). This explanation echoes common themes in the broader literature on why new parties emerge and succeed at the national level: new parties tend to emerge in response to the failure of established parties to perform in one way or another (e.g., Hug 2001; Hauss and Rayside 1978; Lawson and Merkl 1988). This panel seeks to explore these changes to local party systems, including variations in their prevalence across municipalities of different sizes and the urban-rural divide, longevity and survival rates and effects on voter turnout and citizen monitoring of their activities.

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