Several recent studies explore how American politicians represent the policy views of subconstituencies within the electorate. We extend this perspective to 12 West European democracies over the period 1973–2002 to examine how mainstream parties responded to electoral subconstituencies. We find that parties were highly responsive to the views of opinion leaders, i.e., citizens who regularly eng...

This study examines the role of autocratic ruling party strength in democratic transitions. While impact on regime stability is extensively studied, we know much less about how influences prospects for democratization during Proceeding from recent studies that suggest incumbents often choose to democratize a position rather than weakness, I discuss specific attributes strong organizations wield...

Do “niche” parties—such as Communist, Green, and extreme nationalist parties—adjust their policies in response to shifts in public opinion? Would such policy responsiveness enhance these parties’ electoral support? We report the results of statistical analyses of the relationship between parties’ policy positions, voters’ policy preferences, and election outcomes in eight Western European democ...

The Front National is the prime example of anti-systemic and populist party in France. But 2000s, La France Insoumise on far left also developed a rhetoric that could fall into this category yet without sharing ideology far-right party. Reinvestigating previous studies, we may ask if concept make sense to understand populism France? Thus following systemic field analysis, study variations disco...