Are Politics Local?: The Two Dimensions of Party Nationalization around the World
Cambridge University Press, 10/12/2017
EAN 9781108415132, ISBN10: 110841513X
Hardcover, 310 pages, 23.5 x 15.8 x 2.1 cm
Language: English
Are politics local? Why? Where? When? How do we measure local versus national politics? And what are the effects? This book provides answers to these questions, within an explicitly comparative framework, including both advanced and developing democracies. It does so by using a statistically-based and graphical account of party nationalization, providing methodology and data for legislative elections covering scores of parties across dozens of countries. The book divides party nationalization into two dimensions - static and dynamic - to capture different aspects of localism, both with important implications for representation. Static nationalization measures the consistency in a party's support across the country and thus shows whether parties are able to encompass local concerns into their platforms. Dynamic nationalization, in turn, measures the consistency among the districts in over-time change in electoral results, under the presumption that where districts differ in their electoral responses, local factors must drive politics. Each of the two dimensions, in sum, considers representation from the perspective of the mix of national versus local politics.
Part I. Describing, Measuring, and Comparing the Two Dimensions
1. Dimensions of party nationalization
static and dynamic
2. A typology of party nationalization
3. Measuring static and dynamic nationalization
4. Applying the model
patterns of static and dynamic nationalization
Part II. Explaining Party Nationalization
5. Explaining static and dynamic nationalization
6. Institutions, ethnic heterogeneity and party nationalization
a statistical analysis
Part III. Implications
Nationalization as an Explanatory Variable
7. Regionalism, accountability, and party nationalization
8. The role of party nationalization on party unity and retrospective voting
9. The role of party nationalization on collective action and dissent among co-partisan legislators
roll call voting and bill co-sponsorship
Part IV. Conclusion
10. Summary and Conclusions.