Political parties, electoral competition and democratic regimes in the post-pandemic world

Abstract

As a consequence of recent substantial societal changes in European Union Member States, such as the crisis of cleavage politics, declining political participation, voting re-alignments and volatility, political parties are no longer recognized as (the sole) legitimate actors for mediating political representation (Heidar & Wauters, 2019; Hutter & Kriesi, 2019). Their role in democratic regimes is changing (Andeweg and Farrell 2017) and the patterns of electoral competition are also fast evolving. But how this kind of dynamics have been affected by the pandemic? According to which models parties now compete in elections in a post-pandemic world? What role do they play in recent processes of democratic backsliding and regime change? And how they provide linkage between citizens and the state in post-pandemic democracies ? This panel welcomes both theoretical and empirical papers exploring the question of political parties' role in contemporary democracies.

Title	Details
Competing on commitment: How parties strategically make election pledges to gain credibility among the electorate	View Paper Details
Party Congress Conflict as Prelude to Party Splits?	View Paper Details
Ambiguity as a strategy or as the result of bargaining? The effect of party's heterogeneity on ambiguity.	View Paper Details
Same, same but different: Exploring issue dialogue and framing strategies across election campaign communication channels in Germany (2009-2021)	View Paper Details
Political Instability vs. Democratic Backsliding: The Dual Role of Parties in Bulgaria	View Paper Details