The Inequality Roots of Weak Partisan Attachment: Evidence from Denmark

• In Event: Political Economy of Advanced Capitalism

Abstract

Strong and stable party systems are generally considered important for political stability and the quality of policy-making. A key element of party system stability is a certain level of partisan attachment among at least part of the electorate. Previous research has explored the causes of the erosion of partisan attachment. However, we know little about which structural factors shaped partisan attachment during the time of political parties' original formation. This article argues that the level of inequality during the critical juncture of early party formation can have profound impact on partisan loyalty after democratic transitions. An unequal distribution of agricultural land should decrease the incentive and ability of early political parties representing rural interests to build strong party organizations and partisan loyalty. Consequently, areas characterized by historical high levels of land inequality should show less support for these parties after democratic transitions. This article investigates these issues using new data on land inequality in Denmark in the early 20th century. In Denmark, party formation took place under a limited franchise and very high levels of land inequality, both of which were fundamentally reformed by a rapid franchise extension followed by substantial land reforms in the first two decades of the 20th century. However, even after the extension of the franchise and the land reforms, the agrarian Liberal Party, which emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century to represent rural interests, did much poorer electorally in rural areas with historical high levels of land inequality compared to other rural areas. The beneficiaries of the agrarian Liberal Party's relative weakness in areas previously characterized by high land inequality seem to have been both the moderate and extreme left as well as the far-right, which suggest that previously unequal distribution of land might leave a polarizing mark on the national party system. The results suggest that political and economic structures during critical junctures of early party system formation can have longer lasting impact on partisan attachment, and thus the aggregate structure and stability of the national party system, even after these structures have been fundamentally reformed.

Author

• Lasse Aaskoven, University of Essex