Beyond First and Second Order? A new Framework for Reconceptualising Elections

Changes to constitutional arrangements, in particular an increasing number and variety of elections since 1979, means current distinctions between first- and second order- elections (hereafter FOEs and SOEs) are no longer appropriate. Using examples from Britain this paper would contribute to wider international and comparative understandings of the nature and classification of elections. By extending the analysis of elections beyond current measurements of turnout to incorporate the actions of political parties and the media I propose a new framework for classifying elections, exploring wider issues of public engagement. This will lead to policy recommendations designed to improve levels of engagement during times of elections. Despite Rallings and Thrasher’s (2005) assertion that “not all ‘second order’ elections are the same”, Johnston and Pattie (2014) assimilate a variety of elections such as European elections, local elections, police and crime commissioner elections and parish elections as second order, demonstrating that such nuanced differences have not been explored or commonly accepted within the wider academic literature. Such definitions are problematic as they define second-order elections in terms of what they are not (i.e. they are not first order elections; issues of sovereignty, or highly salient elections) rather than against any set criteria. This has lead scholars to overlook these elections (certainly relative to their first order counterparts) assimilating heterogeneous elections and over emphasising the role of voters’ within such elections. Through offering a homogenised approach to elections, based primarily upon the attitudes of voters, existing definitions also overlook the nuanced differences between elections particularly in terms of the salience offered to such elections by political parties and the media. In this paper I attempt to readdress this balance, drawing upon contemporary and historic case studies to argue that the existing category of ‘second order elections’ is akin to conceptual stretching. Rather than continuing this tradition I argue that a new framework, with offers a means of exploring and comparing the salience offered to the elections by national political parties (using data such as party spending on elections) and the media (through analysing the space devoted to each election) is required to overcome this problem of homogenising second order elections. This new framework could offer important insights into political participation and solutions to readdress the problem(s) of declining turnout – something which various electorates have hitherto been blamed for.