Abstract
Focusing on the three preceding elections to the European Parliament, this contribution means to challenge the traditional understanding that the concept of Europeanization has not yet reached the stage of national party systems. Contrary to earlier studies, we find that both the significant rise of successful EU-issue parties and the resulting erosion of the arena-issue inversion favour the Europeanization of domestic party systems throughout EU member states.
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Notes
- 1.
Next to the format of party systems, Mair has originally also analysed possible changes to the mechanics of party systems, i.e. “the modes of interaction between the (relevant) parties”. Since a thorough analysis of both factors is beyond the limited scope of this study, it seems reasonable to take a look at the format first and interpret the underlying assumptions. For information on party system mechanics, see Mair (2000).
- 2.
Mair (2000) chose to focus on national elections, arguing that parties only have an impact on the national party system if they take part in national elections. We decided to focus on European elections. First of all, since the early 2000s the political importance of EP elections has increased, despite the fact that they are still widely considered second-order. Second, we believe that trends of Europeanization will first be visible in elections at the EU level. We do, however, refer back to the repercussions on national party systems later in the text.
- 3.
The Brexit Party has not published an official party manifesto.
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Hoppe, A., Schmälter, J. (2020). What’s New in the EP? EU-issue Parties and the Europeanization of National Party Systems. In: Kaeding, M., Müller, M., Schmälter, J. (eds) Die Europawahl 2019. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-29277-5_12
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