Party Unity, Success, Representation and Ideology in Europe

Abstract

Parties are in the core of European politics at all levels of representation, be it local, national or European. We aim to investigate how different institutional and structural factors influence parties to succeed in elections and to behave like unitary actors in parliament. We also look at the ideology as a determinant of parties’ electoral success. Is it so that left parties are more successful nowadays in Europe or is there a new demand for extreme right politics? In order to be successful parties create linkages with citizens, linkages which vary across issues, values or symbols. The more parties are able to propose consistent policies, and clear positions on the important issues which can be spotted by the voters, the better the representation of the citizens will be. Also the more united the party will be in its behaviour (voting on the floor), the better the representation of its voters. These are some of the hypothesis that we want to test. Do parties pose as united actors in order to win elections and after that the dissension within the party manifest openly? Do they change their ideology in order to be successful or is their success mainly determined by the institutional constraints? How is the size in the Parliament affected by the electoral system dimensions? Following these questions, our analysis looks at parties from Western and Central Eastern Europe aiming to bring a clear comparative view on these issues.

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