IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eeupol/v13y2012i2p219-245.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Complexity in the European party space: Exploring dimensionality with experts

Author

Listed:
  • Ryan Bakker
  • Seth Jolly
  • Jonathan Polk

Abstract

Does the n -issue space in domestic European polities reduce to one, two, or more dimensions? How do these dimensions relate to each other? More broadly, how does dimensionality vary across countries? We attempt to advance our understanding of political contestation in Europe by mapping the dimensionality of the political space across 24 countries using Chapel Hill expert survey (CHES) data. We test how well different models of the European political space fit the CHES data and find that three-dimensional models best fit the data in all countries. However, there is considerable cross-national variation in how the three dimensions relate to one another. Given this, we present a new measure of dimensional complexity that captures the degree to which these three dimensions are related. In so doing, we improve our understanding of the complexity of the political space in European countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryan Bakker & Seth Jolly & Jonathan Polk, 2012. "Complexity in the European party space: Exploring dimensionality with experts," European Union Politics, , vol. 13(2), pages 219-245, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:13:y:2012:i:2:p:219-245
    DOI: 10.1177/1465116512436995
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1465116512436995
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1465116512436995?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simon Hix & Abdul Noury & Gérard Roland, 2006. "Dimensions of Politics in the European Parliament," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(2), pages 494-520, April.
    2. Hooghe, Liesbet & Marks, Gary, 2009. "A Postfunctionalist Theory of European Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 1-23, January.
    3. Stanislav Kolenikov, 2009. "Confirmatory factor analysis using confa," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(3), pages 329-373, September.
    4. Anthony Downs, 1957. "An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65, pages 135-135.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abel Bojar, 2016. "The Electoral Advantage of the Left in Times of Fiscal Adjustment," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 103, European Institute, LSE.
    2. Jong A Pin, Richard & Lam, 2017. "Political Preferences of (Un)happy Voters," Research Report 17003-EEF, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    3. Kirill Zhirkov, 2014. "New Political Issues, Niche Parties, And Spatial Voting In Multiparty Systems: Immigration As A Dimension Of Electoral Competition In Scandinavia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 12/PS/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    4. Rothengatter, Marloes, 2016. "Insights in cognitive patterns : Essays on heuristics and identification," Other publications TiSEM 5f812a9d-8968-48b8-8d1b-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Ryan Bakker & Seth Jolly & Jonathan Polk, 2018. "Multidimensional incongruence and vote switching in Europe," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 267-296, July.
    6. Laméris, Maite D. & Jong-A-Pin, Richard & Garretsen, Harry, 2018. "On the measurement of voter ideology," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 417-432.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jelle Koedam, 2021. "Avoidance, ambiguity, alternation: Position blurring strategies in multidimensional party competition," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(4), pages 655-675, December.
    2. Odran Bonnet & Alfred Galichon & Yu-Wei Hsieh & Keith O’Hara & Matt Shum, 2022. "Yogurts Choose Consumers? Estimation of Random-Utility Models via Two-Sided Matching [Unobserved Product Differentiation in Discrete-Choice Models: Estimating Price Elasticities and Welfare Effects," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(6), pages 3085-3114.
    3. Damien Bol & Philipp Harfst & André Blais & Sona N Golder & Jean-François Laslier & Laura B Stephenson & Karine Van der Straeten, 2016. "Addressing Europe’s democratic deficit: An experimental evaluation of the pan-European district proposal," European Union Politics, , vol. 17(4), pages 525-545, December.
    4. Antonio Merlo & Áureo de Paula, 2017. "Identification and Estimation of Preference Distributions When Voters Are Ideological," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(3), pages 1238-1263.
    5. Hartlapp, Miriam & Lorenz, Yann, 2012. "Persönliche Merkmale von Führungspersonal als Politikdeterminante: Die Europäische Kommission im Wandel der Zeit," Discussion Papers, Schumpeter Junior Research Group Position Formation in the EU Commission SP IV 2012-501, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    6. Do Won Kim, 2020. "Populism Amidst Prosperity: Dimensionality, party competition and voter preference in the era of populism: The case of England, 2010-2017," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 160, European Institute, LSE.
    7. Patrick Haack & Michael D. Pfarrer & Andreas Georg Scherer, 2014. "Legitimacy-as-Feeling: How Affect Leads to Vertical Legitimacy Spillovers in Transnational Governance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 634-666, June.
    8. James Lo, 2018. "Dynamic ideal point estimation for the European Parliament, 1980–2009," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 229-246, July.
    9. Ryan Bakker & Seth Jolly & Jonathan Polk, 2018. "Multidimensional incongruence and vote switching in Europe," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 267-296, July.
    10. Erika van Elsas & Wouter van der Brug, 2015. "The changing relationship between left–right ideology and euroscepticism, 1973–2010," European Union Politics, , vol. 16(2), pages 194-215, June.
    11. Jae-Jae Spoon, 2012. "How salient is Europe? An analysis of European election manifestos, 1979–2004," European Union Politics, , vol. 13(4), pages 558-579, December.
    12. Megan E. Hansen & William F. Shughart & Ryan M. Yonk, 2017. "Political Party Impacts on Direct Democracy: the 2015 Greek Austerity Referendum," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 45(1), pages 5-15, March.
    13. Degan, Arianna & Merlo, Antonio, 2009. "Do voters vote ideologically?," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(5), pages 1868-1894, September.
    14. Eitan Tzelgov, 2014. "Cross-cutting issues, intraparty dissent and party strategy: The issue of European integration in the House of Commons," European Union Politics, , vol. 15(1), pages 3-23, March.
    15. Christopher Hare & Keith T. Poole, 2015. "Measuring ideology in Congress," Chapters, in: Jac C. Heckelman & Nicholas R. Miller (ed.), Handbook of Social Choice and Voting, chapter 18, pages 327-346, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Danilo Di Mauro & Vincenzo Memoli, 2021. "The Role of Public Opinion in EU Integration: Assessing the Relationship between Elites and the Public during the Refugee Crisis," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1303-1321, September.
    17. Hermann Schmitt & Alberto Sanz & Daniela Braun & Eftichia Teperoglou, 2020. "It All Happens at Once: Understanding Electoral Behaviour in Second-Order Elections," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 6-18.
    18. Bade, Sophie, 2011. "Electoral competition with uncertainty averse parties," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 12-29, May.
    19. Christophe Crombez, 2004. "Introduction," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 16(3), pages 227-231, July.
    20. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 2002. "Political economics and public finance," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 24, pages 1549-1659, Elsevier.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:13:y:2012:i:2:p:219-245. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.