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Decaying Versus Developing Party Systems: A Comparison of Party Images in the United States and West Germany

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  • Klingemann, Hans-Dieter
  • Wattenberg, Martin P.

Abstract

This article examines citizens' attitudes towards the two major parties in the United States since 1952 and in West Germany since 1969 employing open-ended data from each country's National Election Study time series. Despite similar declining trends in party identification in the two countries, it is found that the patterns of change in party images are markedly different. In the United States it is shown that voters have become increasingly neutral towards the two parties as the focus has turned more and more towards the candidates. In contrast, in West Germany voters have come to have a more balanced view of the parties, seeing both positive and negative features of both. Thus in both cases there has been a decline in polarized strong partisanship (‘my party right or wrong’), but for different reasons. In the United States this decline can be seen as a sign of the decay of an ageing and outdated party system; in West Germany it can be seen as the development of realistic and balanced views of a party system which is just reaching full maturity. The implications for analysing party system development in Eastern Europe are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Klingemann, Hans-Dieter & Wattenberg, Martin P., 1992. "Decaying Versus Developing Party Systems: A Comparison of Party Images in the United States and West Germany," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 131-149, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:22:y:1992:i:02:p:131-149_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Patrick Meyer & Fenja M Schophaus & Thomas Glassen & Jasmin Riedl & Julia M Rohrer & Gert G Wagner & Timo von Oertzen, 2019. "Using the Dirichlet process to form clusters of people’s concerns in the context of future party identification," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Ali Abdelzadeh, 2014. "The Impact of Political Conviction on the Relation Between Winning or Losing and Political Dissatisfaction," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(2), pages 21582440145, May.
    3. Alan S. Zuckerman & Malcolm Brynin, 2001. "A Decision Heuristic for Party Identification: New British and German Data and a New Understanding for a Classic Concept," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 268, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Kriesi, Hanspeter, 2001. "Die Rolle der Öffentlichkeit im politischen Entscheidungsprozess: Ein konzeptueller Rahmen für ein international vergleichendes Forschungsprojekt," Discussion Papers, Working Group Political Communication and Mobilization P 01-701, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

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