Elections in Times of Crisis: Southern European Cases

This paper analyzes the effects of four variants of the Great Recession on electoral behavior. In Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain national elections were held between late 2011 and early 2013, not only under different economic situation but also within distinctive political environments. The four elections provide an opportunity to compare the impact of economic voting within vis-à-vis other short-term and long-term factors. The comparative exercise will also take into consideration the conditions by which alternation in the government took or not place in the four cases, the pattern of continuity and change in the party system, the involvement of Europe in the blame attribution for the crisis. The empirical analysis is based on post-electoral surveys which were undertaken in each of the Southern European countries.