Party Government and Voters
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Publication date
2020-09-17
Authors
van der Brug, Wouter
Harteveld, Eelco
van Slageren, Jaap
Editors
Rohrschneider, Robert
Thomassen, Jacques
Advisors
Supervisors
Document Type
Part of book
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taverne
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the extent to which voters fulfil the requirements of the ‘party government model’ to be represented meaningfully. The main requirements are that (1) a single ideological dimension structures their attitudes; (2) voters know the positions of parties on this dimension; and (3) this dimension structures their party choice. The main obstacle to representation is that there is little structure in public opinion. The largest differences exist between countries, but we observe surprisingly little change over time and only small differences between generations. The over-time changes are in the direction of less ideological structuration, which is not good news from the perspective of representation.
Keywords
Left–Right, Public opinion, Representation, Voter generations, political socialization, political knowledge, Taverne
Citation
van der Brug, W, Harteveld, E & van Slageren, J 2020, Party Government and Voters. in R Rohrschneider & J Thomassen (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Representation in Liberal Democracies. Oxford University Press, pp. 286-304. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198825081.013.14