Voters’ Realignment, Party System Change and Political Representation in the European Parliament

Abstract

The European Union faced a wave of crises in the past decade starting with the sovereign debt and Eurozone crises, followed by the migration crisis, which all together resulted in a political legitimation crisis. The EU issue became politicised and the EU political arena became more relevant. In this context, we experienced the rise of radical and populist parties, and watched long established parties crumble to the ground. We are witnessing party system change, and the likes of it we have not seen in generations. Yet, how does this impact the quality of representation? More specifically, to what extent have the recent party system changes altered political representation in the European Parliament (EP)? Were these changes for the better or for worse? Do we experience a higher focus on ideologies and issues rather than on valence politics? Can we talk about a change in the importance of political dimensions for vote choice? Do voters choose now having in mind their ideological congruence more than before? Furthermore, how does this re-alignment based on ideologies influence the re-sorting of national political parties in the European Parliament party groups? Can we see a qualitative improvement of representation in the European parliament? We invite papers utilizing voter and/or party data on European parliament elections.