2. Representation Gaps: Partisan Competition and Popular Preferences

• In Event: The Coalitional Dynamics of Distributive Politics in the Knowledge Economy

Abstract

The electoral politics of the western democracies are in turbulence as longstanding parties lose their grip on electorates and a variety of radical now compete effectively with them for votes. How are these developments to be explained? The answer lies partly in the deep discontent generated by economic and cultural developments that have many people feeling left behind. Alongside these economic and cultural explanations, this paper explores a more political explanation, namely the possibility that failures of representation may also be inspiring such discontent. For this purpose, across eight developed democracies, we examine how citizens and political parties have moved in a two-dimensional electoral space between 1990 and 2010 with special attention to the movement of occupational groups. We find confirmation for some of the contentions in the literature about electoral behavior, but surprising findings about the movement of citizens, whose views shifted left on economic issues while parties moved right on them, and a significant representational gap in the south-west quadrant of this electoral space where there are virtually no parties but about a fifth of the electorate, predominantly of manual workers, are located. This research confirms suspicions that large segments of the electorate have good reason to feel that no one in established politics has been listening to them.

Authors

• Peter A. Hall, Harvard University

• Georgina Evans, Harvard University