The Impact of Intraparty Electoral Reforms on Party System Nationalization
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Riera, Pedro [1]
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[1] Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Madrid, España
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- Localización: Publius: the journal of federalism, ISSN 0048-5950, Vol. 48, Nº. 2, 2018, págs. 191-216
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
Abundant research demonstrates that electoral rules have an impact on party system fragmentation. Building on these findings, and adopting a dynamic approach, this article investigates the effect of changes of the ballot structure on party system nationalization and shows that this effect is conditioned by levels of ethno-geographic concentration and political decentralization. Specifically, candidate-centered reforms hamper party system nationalization by making parties less likely to obtain similar vote shares across constituencies, whereas party-centered reforms tend to foster it. Moreover, concentration of ethnic groups at the district level or considerable political decentralization exacerbates the impact of candidate-centered changes. These effects are demonstrated through an analysis of an original dataset of electoral reforms and party system nationalization as measured with different indices across fifty-nine democracies and more than five hundred legislative elections.
