Party Movements, Environmental Pollution, and Electoral Systems

• In Event: How Electoral Rules Shape Parties & Party Systems

Abstract

External pressures and institutions alter political parties’ ideological positions. We examine the impact of the interactive relationship between environmental problems and electoral systems on party movements. On the one hand, we argue that stronger environmental problems provide incentives for all parties to move to more green positions. On the other hand, the party system is divided. Environmental-positive parties (such as greens) move to more green positions while environmental-skeptical parties (such as populists) take positions on anti-green/economic growth-positive positions if environmental pressure becomes more important. Our analysis of individual party level data confirms the first argument. But this is only true for parties in an appropriate institutional framework. Cox (1990) shows that electoral systems per se provide centrifugal and centripetal incentives for political parties. Therefore, both factors interact with each other, thereby jointly shaping party positions. We show that increasing environmental pollution only enact an ideological move towards more green positions when they compete in a proportional electoral systems. Our results on the joint effect of environmental pollution and electoral institutions suggest that only under proportional electoral systems parties take positions closer to the green ideological margins. If majoritarian systems are used, parties stay on their former ideological position independently of the environmental pollution extent.

Authors

• Sven Kosanke

• Detlef Jahn, University of Greifswald