This bold venture into democratic theory offers a new and reinvigorating thesis for how
democracy delivers on its promise of public control over public policy. In theory, popular …

This article examines changes in the electoral relevance of traditional social cleavage
groups in eight West European democracies, where electoral relevance is defined as group …

Electoral volatility is much higher in new than in advanced democracies. Some scholars
contend that weak partisan ties among the electorate lie behind this high volatility. Political …

The popularity function literature has traditionally focused on incumbent government
support, even under coalition governments. Here, we shift the focus from the government to …

Intra-party groups influence parties' policy priorities. However, scholars have yet to map the
pathways with the greatest impact. We argue that party congresses serve as venues for …

A perennial question for students of democracy is the extent to which government policies
align with voter preferences. This is often studied by comparing median voter opinion on a …

A preface is supposed to tell the reader why a book was written and what it is about. The
“why” in this case is not so easy to answer, however. Cognitive psychologists say that many …

Historical policy reputations influence voters' perceptions of parties' electoral campaigns. In
the face of their recent experiences in office, government parties' thoughtfully crafted …

This paper provides a unified theoretical and empirical analysis of three longstanding
explanations for the consistent loss of support for the President's party in midterm …

Party system size has significantly increased in virtually all advanced democracies over the
post-WWII period, signaling changes in the functions of political parties and the nature of …