Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T05:11:57.717Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ethnic party competition beyond the segmented market

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Christina Isabel Zuber
Christina Isabel Zuber*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Cologne, Germany
*
∗Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The outbidding model of ethnic politics focuses on party competition in an ethnically perfectly segmented electoral market where no party appeals to voters across the ethnic divide. The power sharing model retains this assumption, yet tries to prevent outbidding through moderation-inducing institutional design. Empirically, imperfectly segmented electoral markets and variance of ethnic party strategies beyond radical outbidding have been observed. To provide a stepping stone towards a more complete theory of ethnic party competition, this article introduces the notion of nested competition, defined as party competition in an imperfectly segmented market where some — but not all — parties make offers across ethnic divides and where competition in intra-ethnic arenas is nested within an inter-ethnic arena of party competition. The notion of nested competition helps explain why ethnic outbidding is not omnipresent in contemporary multi-ethnic democracies. A moderate position on the ethnic dimension that appears inauspicious from the perspective of intra-ethnic competition can turn into the strategically superior choice once ethnic parties take the whole system of competitive interactions within intra- and inter-ethnic arenas into account. A case study of nested competition for Hungarian votes in the Vojvodina region of Northern Serbia illustrates the conceptual innovations.

Keywords

ethnic party competitionethnic segmentationoutbidding modelVojvodinaHungarian parties
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 40 , Issue 6 , November 2012 , pp. 927 - 944
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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.)

References

Ágoston, András, Leader of DSVM, personal interview. Temerin: 7 Jun. 2010. Print.Google Scholar
Andeweg, Rudy B. “Consociational Democracy.” Annual Review of Political Science 3.1 (2000): 509–536. Print.Google Scholar
Bartolini, Stefano. “Collusion, Competition and Democracy. Part I.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 11.4 (1999): 435–470. Print.Google Scholar
Bartolini, Stefano. “Collusion, Competition and Democracy. Part II.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 12.1 (2000): 33–65. Print.Google Scholar
“Birači se dvoume između DS i SNS.” Danas. 22 April 2010. Print.Google Scholar
Birnir, Jóhanna Kristín. Ethnicity and Electoral Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009. Print.Google Scholar
Bochsler, Daniel. “The party system of Serbia”. Party Politics in the Western Balkans. Eds. Stojarová, Vera and Emerson, Peter. London and New York: Routledge, 2010. 99–118. Print.Google Scholar
Bochsler, Daniel, and Szöcsik, Edina. “Where dissident Hungarian minority leaders look for success: Building bridges in Slovakia, or demarcating a Hungarian motherland in Romania?” Paper presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions, Münster, 22–27 March 2010.Google Scholar
Bús, Ottó, Member of the Vojvodina parliament for SVM, member of SVM presidency, personal interview. Novi Sad: 13 May 2010.Google Scholar
Caspersen, Nina. Contested Nationalism. Serb Elite Rivalry in Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s. Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010. Print.Google Scholar
Chandra, Kanchan. “Ethnic Parties and Democratic Stability.” Perspectives on Politics 3.2 (2005): 235–252. Print.Google Scholar
Coakley, John. “Ethnic Competition and the Logic of Party System Transformation.” European Journal of Political Research 47.6 (2008): 766–793. Print.Google Scholar
Downs, Anthony. “An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy.” The Journal of Political Economy 65.2 (1957): 135–150. Print.Google Scholar
Dunleavy, Patrick, and Ward, Hugh. “Exogenous Voter Preferences and Parties with State Power: Some Internal Problems of Economic Theories of Party Competition.” British Journal of Political Science 11.3 (1981): 351–380. Print.Google Scholar
Elvegyi, Ákos, Member of DZVM presidency, personal interview. Sombor: 10 Jun. 2010.Google Scholar
Franzmann, Simon. T. “Competition, Contest, and Cooperation: The Analytic Framework of the Issue Market.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 23.3 (2011): 317–343. Print.Google Scholar
Golder, Sona N. “Pre-Electoral Coalition Formation in Parliamentary Democracies.” British Journal of Political Science 36.2 (2006): 193–212. Print.Google Scholar
Gormley-Heenan, Cathy, and Macginty, Roger. “Ethnic Outbidding and Party Modernization: Understanding the Democratic Unionist Party's Electoral Success in the Post-Agreement Environment.” Ethnopolitics 7.1 (2008): 43–61. Print.Google Scholar
Hale, Henry E. The Foundations of Ethnic Politics. Separatism of States and Nations in Eurasia and the World. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
Hopkin, Jonathan. “Political Decentralization, Electoral Change and Party Organizational Adaptation: A Framework for Analysis.” European Urban and Regional Studies 10.3 (2003): 227–237. Print.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: U of California P, 1985. Print.Google Scholar
Horváth Ódry, Márta, Vice-president of DZVM, personal interview. Sombor: 10 Jun. 2010.Google Scholar
Komšić, Jovan. Dileme demokratske nacije i autonomije. Ogledi o političkoj tranziciji u Srbiji. Beograd: Službeni glasnik 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Kovács, Elvira, Member of Serbian Parliament for SVM, member of SVM presidency, personal interview. Belgrade: 12 May 2010.Google Scholar
Laver, Michael. “Policy and the Dynamics of Political Competition.” American Political Science Review 99.2 (2005): 263–281. Print.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend. “Consociational Democracy.” World Politics 21.2 (1969): 207–225. Print.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend. Democracy in Plural Societies. A Comparative Exploration. New Haven: Yale UP, 1977. Print.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend. “Consociational Theory: Problems and Prospects. A Reply.” Comparative Politics 13.3 (1981): 355–360. Print.Google Scholar
Maglai, Jenő, Member of SVM presidency, personal interview. Subotica: 6 Jun. 2010.Google Scholar
Meguid, Bonnie M. Party Competition between Unequals. Strategies and Electoral Fortunes in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Paul, Evans, Geoffrey, and O'Leary, Brendan. “Extremist Outbidding in Ethnic Party Systems is not inevitable: Tribune Parties in Northern Ireland.” Political Studies 57.2 (2009): 397–421. Print.Google Scholar
“Nikolić oformio poslanički klub.” B92 online, 8 Sep. 2008. Web. 9 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa. Driving Democracy: Do Power-Sharing Institutions Work? New York: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
Orlović, Slaviša. Politički život Srbije: Između partokratije i demokratije. Belgrade: Službeni glasnik, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
“Pajtić obećao evropsku Vojvodinu.” Blic online, 17 Jul. 2008. Web. 27 October 2011.Google Scholar
“Pastor: LSV birače doživljava kao budale.” Radio 021 online, 13 Sep. 2011. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.Google Scholar
Posner, Daniel N. “The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi.” American Political Science Review 98.4 (2004): 529–545. Print.Google Scholar
Protsyk, Oleh, and Garaz, Stela. “Politicization of Ethnicity in Party Manifestos.” Party Politics. Published online before print on 10 Jun. 2011, doi: 10.1177/1354068811398058. Web. 3 Nov. 2011.Google Scholar
Provincial assembly decision on the election of deputies of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Official journal of APV 12/2004, 20/2008, 5/2009, 18/2009, 23/2010 i 1/2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. <http://www.skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs/?s=aktAPV010&j=EN>..>Google Scholar
Rabushka, Alvin, and Shepsle, Kenneth. A. Politics in Plural Societies: A Theory of Democratic Instability. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill, 1972. Print.Google Scholar
Rác Szabó, László, Leader of GSM, personal interview. Subotica: 3 Jun. 2010.Google Scholar
Republički zavod za statistiku (2003) “Popis stanovnistva, domačinstava i stanova u 2002” [Census of population households and housing 2002]. Web. 1 Jul. 2010. <http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/axd/Zip/VJN3.pdf>..>Google Scholar
SCAN Agencija za istraživanja i razvoj d.o.o. (2009). Istraživanje javnog mnenja, Vojvodina oktobar 2009. Stranačke preferencije. Stavovi o nadležnostima Vojovodine. [SCAN Agency for research and development. Public opinion research. Vojvodina October 2009. Party Preferences. Stands on the competences of Vojvodina] Novi Sad, November 2009. Print.Google Scholar
Setyerov, Zorán. Vice president of PMN, personal interview. Subotica: 3 Jun. 2010.Google Scholar
Sisk, Timothy D. Power Sharing and International Mediation in Ethnic Conflicts. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace, 1996. Print.Google Scholar
Stroschein, Sherrill. “Measuring Ethnic Party Success in Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine.” Problems of Post-Communism 48.4 (2001): 59–69. Print.Google Scholar
Todosijević, Bojan. “Serbia.” The Handbook of Political Change in Eastern Europe. Eds. Berglund, Sten, Ekman, Joakim, and Aarebrot, Frank H. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2004. 493–543. Print.Google Scholar
Tóth, Tamás, Member of the Serbian parliament for DS, member of DS central and provincial steering committee, personal interview. Belgrade: 11 May 2010.Google Scholar
Tsebelis, George. Nested Games. Rational Choice in Comparative Politics. Berkeley and Los Angeles: U of California P, 1990. Print.Google Scholar
Walter, Barbara F. Committing to Peace. The Successful Settlement of Civil Wars. Princeton New Jersey: Princeton UP, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Steven I. Votes and Violence. Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
“Zajednički koncept autonomije stranaka Vojvođanskih Mađara.” [Common Autonomy Concept of the Parties of Vojvodina Hungarians]. Official website of SVM. Web. 12 Aug. 2010.Google Scholar
“Zakon o izmenama i dopunama Zakona o izboru narodnih poslanika.” [Law on the changes and additions to the Law on the election of members of parliament]. Web. 19 March 2012. <http://www.parlament.gov.rs/upload/archive/files/lat/pdf/zakoni/2004/pdf_004_333-04_Lat.zip>..>Google Scholar
“Zakon o utvrđivanju nadležnosti autonomne pokrajine Vojvodine.” [Law establishing the competences of the autonomous province of Vojvodina]. Web. 2 Mar. 2010 <http://www.parlament.gov.rs/content/cir/akta/akta_detalji.asp?Id=700&t=Z#>..>Google Scholar
“Zakon o teritorijalnoj organizaciji republike Srbije, 29.12.2007.” [Law on the territorial organization of the Republic of Serbia], Službeni glasnik: 129–07. Web. 30 May 2010. <http://www.parlament.gov.rs/content/lat/akta/akta_detalji.asp?Id=466&t=Z#>..>Google Scholar
Zuber, Christina Isabel. Beyond Outbidding. Ethnic Party Strategies in Serbia, Party Politics, published online before print on 25 Jul. 2011. DOI: 10.1177/1354068811410368. Web. 3 Nov. 2011.Google Scholar