Régis Dandoy

Chairs: Arjan H. Schakel (Maastricht University), Régis Dandoy (FLACSO / ULB / UCL), Jérémy Dodeigne (FRS-FNRS / ULg / UCL)
Deadine: 20 Nov. 2013

One of the main political transformations in Western Europe since the 1970s has been the growth of regional government and more in particular the number of regional elections. The establishment of a regional electoral arena has meant that parties have to compete in two electoral arenas, a national and a regional arena. A multitier electoral system may confront parties with potential dilemmas with regard to their strategy and ideology especially when the party system includes regionalist parties which prioritize decentralization of authority.  Regionalist parties compete in national elections because this is the electoral arena where decentralization is decided upon. However, with decentralization and the introduction of regional elections, regionalist parties get what they want and they might emphasize that they want to govern the region in its best interest. In other words, in the national electoral arena, regionalist parties are policy-seeking whereas at the regional level they are office-seeking.

But how do these strategies coincide with their ideology? Can regionalist parties credibly combine a radical policy-seeking ideology (e.g. secessionism) at the national level while at the same time pursuing a moderate office-seeking ideology at the regional level? Similarly, statewide parties are confronted to trade-offs with regard to their strategy and ideology as well. Should they trade national office for regional office with regionalist parties? Can statewide parties allow their subnational branches to differentiate from the central party ideology in order effectively compete with regionalist parties in the regional electoral arena?

This panel explores the challenges generated by a multitier electoral system for party ideology and party strategy. We invite papers which compare party ideology and party strategy across electoral arenas. Papers may focus on various aspects of strategy and ideology such as party manifestos, coalition patterns or internal party organization. We are open towards various methodological approaches.