Ecologies of ideologies: Explaining party entry and exit in West-European parliaments, 1945–2013

Marc van de Wardt, Joost Berkhout and Floris Vermeulen

European Union Politics, 2017, vol. 18, issue 2, 239-259

Abstract: This study introduces a population-ecological approach to the entry and exit of political parties. A primary proposition of population ecology is that organizational entry and exit depends on the number of organizations already present: that is, density. We propose that political parties mainly experience competition from parties in the same ideological niche (left, centre, right). Pooled time-series analyses of 410 parties, 263 elections and 18 West-European countries largely support our expectations. We find that political parties are more likely to exit when density within their niche increases. Also there is competition between adjacent ideological niches, i.e. between centrist and right-wing niches. In contrast to our expectations, neither density nor institutional rules impact party entry. This raises important questions about the rationale of prospective entrants.

Keywords: Party competition; party entry; party exit; party system change; population ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:18:y:2017:i:2:p:239-259

DOI: 10.1177/1465116516670266

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