Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T18:14:35.682Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ethno-regionalist Parties in Regional Government: Multilevel Coalitional Strategies in Italy and Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2014

Filippo Tronconi Open the ORCID record for Filippo Tronconi [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the last few decades, ethno-regionalist parties have become leading players in many regional political systems across Europe. This increased representation has opened up new strategic opportunities for these parties, and in particular it has offered them the chance to participate in regional government. Based on a newly compiled data set of 282 governmental formations in Italian and Spanish regions during the period 1945–2011, this study develops and tests several hypotheses regarding the governmental participation of ethno-regionalist parties at regional level. These have been partly drawn from similar studies of ‘outsider’ party families, such as the Green parties or the radical right. A specific focus is then placed on multilevel dynamics, based on the idea that there is a relationship between party strategies at regional and state levels, and in particular on the perception that parties are willing to adopt compatible alliance strategies at the two levels (vertical congruence), at least under certain conditions. Both types of hypothesis (single-level and multilevel) are shown to be plausible when empirically tested on the cases of Italy and Spain. Special attention is given to the conditions under which vertical congruence is used by ethno-regionalist parties as an effective way of minimizing the risks associated with inclusion in governmental coalitions at regional level.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , October 2015 , pp. 578 - 606
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Filippo Tronconi is a Lecturer in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Bologna. Contact email: [email protected].

References

Bale, T. and Dunphy, R. (2011), ‘In from the Cold? Left Parties and Government Involvement since 1989’, Comparative European Politics, 9(3): 269–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrio, A. and Barberá, O. (2011), ‘Convergència i Unió’, in A. Elias and F. Tronconi (eds), From Protest to Power: Autonomist Parties and the Challenges of Representation (Vienna: Braumüller): 75–98.Google Scholar
van Biezen, I. and Hopkins, S. (2006), ‘Party Organisation in Multi-Level Contexts’, in D. Hough and C. Jeffery (eds), Devolution and Electoral Politics (Manchester: Manchester University Press): 14–36.Google Scholar
Bolleyer, N. (2012), ‘New Party Organization in Western Europe: Of Party Hierarchies, Stratarchies and Federations’, Party Politics, 18(3): 315–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, I., Klingemann, H.-D., Volkens, A., Bara, J. and Tanenbaum, E. (2001), Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments, 1945–1998 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carty, K. (2004), ‘Parties as Franchise Systems: The Stratarchical Organisational Imperative’, Party Politics, 10(1): 5–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, R.J. (2008), ‘The Quantity and the Quality of Party Systems: Party System Polarization, its Measurement, and its Consequences’, Comparative Political Studies, 41(7): 899–920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Winter, L. and Türsan, H. (1998) (eds), Regionalist Parties in Western Europe (London: Routledge).Google Scholar
De Winter, L. and Dumont, P. (2006), ‘Parties into Government: Still Many Puzzles’, in R.S. Katz and W.J. Crotty (eds), Handbook of Party Politics (London: Sage): 175–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Winter, L., Gómez-Reino Cachafeiro, M. and Lynch, P. (2006) (eds), Autonomist Parties in Europe: Identity Politics and the Revival of the Territorial Cleavage (Barcelona: Institut de Ciencies Politiques i Socials).Google Scholar
Deschouwer, K. (2003), ‘Political Parties in Multi-layered Systems’, European Urban and Regional Studies, 10(3): 213–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deschouwer, K. (2008) (ed.), New Parties in Government: In Power for the First Time (London: Routledge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deschouwer, K. (2013), ‘Party Strategies, Voter Demands and Territorial Reform in Belgium’, West European Politics, 36(2): 338–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, W.M. (1998), Coalition Government, Subnational Style: Multiparty Politics in Europe's Regional Parliaments (Columbus: Ohio State University Press).Google Scholar
Dumont, P. and Bäck, H. (2006), ‘Why so Few, and Why so Late? Green Parties and the Question of Governmental Participation’, European Journal of Political Research, 45(s1): S35–S67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elias, A. and Tronconi, F. (2011a) (eds), From Protest to Power: Autonomist Parties and the Challenges of Representation (Vienna: Braumüller).Google Scholar
Elias, A. and Tronconi, F. (2011b), ‘From Protest to Power: Autonomist Parties in Government’, Party Politics, 17(4): 505–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elias, A. and Tronconi, F. (2011c), ‘Autonomist Parties from Protest to Power: A Comparative Overview’, in A. Elias and F. Tronconi (eds), From Protest to Power. Autonomist Parties and the Challenges of Representation (Vienna: Braumüller): 347–373.Google Scholar
Field, B.N. (2009), ‘Minority Government and Legislative Politics in a Multilevel State: Spain under Zapatero’, South European Society and Politics, 14(4): 417–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harmel, R. and Janda, K. (1994), ‘An Integrated Theory of Party Goals and Party Change’, Journal of Theoretical Politics, 4(3): 259–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinisch, R. (2003), ‘Success in Opposition – Failure in Government: Explaining the Performance of Right-wing Populist Parties in Public Office’, West European Politics, 26(3): 91–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, L. (2004), ‘Hollowing the Center: Managing Territorial Conflict in Belgium’, in N. Bermeo and U. Amoretti (eds), Federalism and Territorial Cleavages (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press): 55–92.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L., Bakker, R., Brigevich, A., De Vries, C., Edwards, E., Marks, G., Rovny, J., Steenbergen, M. and Vachudova, M. (2010a), ‘Reliability and Validity of the 2002 and 2006 Chapel Hill Expert Surveys on Party Positioning’, European Journal of Political Research, 49(5): 687–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, L., Marks, G. and Schakel, A.H. (2010b), The Rise of Regional Authority: A Comparative Study of 42 Democracies (Abingdon: Routledge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Houten, P. (2009), ‘Multi-level Relations in Political Parties’, Party Politics, 15(2): 137–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffery, C. (2009), ‘New Research Agendas on Regional Party Competition’, Regional and Federal Studies, 19(4–5): 639–650.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, R.S. and Mair, P. (2002), ‘The Ascendancy of the Party in Public Office: Party Organizational Change in Twentieth-Century Democracies’, in R. Gunther, J.R. Montero and J. Linz (eds), Political Parties: Old Concepts and New Challenges (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 113–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, M. and Bray, Z. (2006), ‘Renegotiating Sovereignty: Basque Nationalism and the Rise and Fall of the Ibarretxe Plan’, Ethnopolitics, 5(4): 347–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, M. and Wilson, A. (2009), ‘Renegotiating the State of Autonomies: Statute Reform and Multi-level Politics in Spain’, West European Politics, 32(3): 536–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klingemann, H.-D., Volkens, A., Bara, J., Budge, I. and McDonald, M.D. (2006), Mapping Policy Preferences II: Estimates for Parties, Electors and Governments in Eastern Europe, European Union, and OECD 1990–2003 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Lange, S.L. (2008), ‘From Pariah to Power: The Government Participation of Radical Right-wing Populist Parties in West European Democracies’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Antwerp.Google Scholar
Laver, M. (2003), ‘Government Termination’, Annual Review of Political Science, 6: 23–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massetti, E. (2009), ‘Explaining Regionalist Party Positioning in a Multidimensional Ideological Space: A Framework for Analysis’, Regional and Federal Studies, 19(4–5): 501–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massetti, E. and Schakel, A.H. (2013), ‘Between Autonomy and Secession: Decentralization and Regionalist Party Ideological Radicalism’, Party Politics, online first, December, doi 10.1177/1354068813511380.Google Scholar
Mazzoleni, M. (2009), ‘The Italian Regionalisation: A Story of Partisan Logics’, Modern Italy, 14(2): 135–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minkenberg, M. (2001), ‘The Radical Right in Public Office: Agenda-Setting and Policy Effects’, West European Politics, 24(4): 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, W.C. and Strøm, K. (2003) (eds), Coalition Governments in Western Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Olsen, J., Koß, M. and Hough, D. (2010) (eds), Left Parties in National Governments (Basingstoke: Palgrave).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panebianco, A. (1988), Political Parties: Organization and Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Raunio, T. and Mattila, M. (2004), ‘Does Winning Pay? Electoral Success and Government Formation in 15 West European Countries’, European Journal of Political Research, 43(2): 263–285.Google Scholar
Roux, C. (2010), ‘When Politics Matters: Federalism, Italian Style’, in A. Mammone and G.A. Veltri (eds), Italy Today: The Sick Man of Europe (London: Routledge): 60–72.Google Scholar
Ştefuriuc, I. (2009a), ‘Explaining Government Formation in Multi-level Settings: Coalition Theory Revisited – Evidence from the Spanish Case’, Regional and Federal Studies, 19(1): 97–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ştefuriuc, I. (2009b), ‘Government Formation in Multi-level Settings: Spanish Regional Coalitions and the Quest for Vertical Congruence’, Party Politics, 15(1): 93–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strøm, K. (1990), ‘A Behavioral Theory of Competitive Political Parties’, American Journal of Political Science, 34(2): 565–598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tronconi, F. (2010), ‘The Italian Regional Elections of March 2010: Continuity and a Few Surprises’, Regional and Federal Studies, 20(4–5): 577–586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volkens, A., Lacewell, O., Lehmann, P., Regel, S., Schultze, H. and Werner, A. (2011), ‘The Manifesto Data Collection: Manifesto Project (MRG/CMP/MARPOR)’ (Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung), https://manifesto-project.wzb.eu.Google Scholar
Warwick, P.V. (1996), ‘Coalition Government Membership in West European Parliamentary Democracies’, British Journal of Political Science, 26(4): 471–499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warwick, P.V. (1998), ‘Policy Distance and Parliamentary Government’, Legislative Studies Quarterly, 23(3): 319–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woldendorp, J., Keman, H. and Budge, I. (2000), Party Government in 48 Democracies (1945–1998): Composition, Duration, Personnel (Dordrecht: Kluwer).CrossRefGoogle Scholar