Title: | Political cleavages, party voter linkages and the impact of voters’ socio-economic status on vote-choice in Iceland, 1983-2016/17 |
Author: |
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Date: | 2018-05-30 |
Language: | English |
Scope: | 101-130 |
University/Institute: | Háskóli Íslands University of Iceland |
School: | Félagsvísindasvið (HÍ) School of Social Sciences (UI) |
Department: | Stjórnmálafræðideild (HÍ) Faculty of Political Science (UI) |
Series: | Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla;14(1) |
ISSN: | 1670-6803 1670-679X (eISSN) |
DOI: | 10.13177/irpa.a.2018.14.1.5 |
Subject: | Political cleavages; Party-voter linkages; Socio-economic status; Vote-choice; Kosningar; Kjósendur; Stjórnmálaflokkar; Félagsleg staða |
URI: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/782 |
Abstract:In the research presented in this paper, we analyse whether the structure of the
political cleavage system in Iceland has changed since 1983, as well as whether
the impacts of party-voter linkages and the social structure of the vote have
changed between 1983 and 2016/2017. Based on official data and the Icelandic
National Election Study (ICENES), we find that the rural-urban cleavage and
left-right cleavage, which are reflected in party polarisation on the left-right
spectrum, are as important today as previously. Our main results regarding the
impacts of party-voter linkages and the social-structure of the vote is that the
core bonds of party identification, left-right distances and the social structure
of the vote have weakened over time, whereas the impact of party sympathy
has become stronger. This, we argue, reflects that while there has been a gradual
change in the impact of party-voter linkages and the social structure of the vote,
opening up a space for new parties to succeed, the political cleavage system
has remained intact. The major change has thus occurred in the bond between
voters and parties and not in the structure of party competition in Iceland.
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Rights:This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
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