The Comparative Politics of Ideology and Social Support

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel brings together scholars studying the conceptualization, measurement, and effects of party or leader ideology and social support. They use novel data to investigate the consequences of ideology and social support on public policy, regime survival, and political representation. Ansell and Lindvall probe the effects of government ideology and regime type on historical public service provision. Dahlum, Knutsen, Rasmussen, and Wig test the importance of social support identity and size for the survival of autocratic regimes. Herre explores the effects of ideology and social support across regimes on economic policy. And Lehmann investigates how citizens’ preferences are represented by political parties before and after elections. The panel thereby contributes to our understanding of how ideologies of politicians and whose social or electoral support they have influences politics.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 11: Comparative Politics

Chair

• Candelaria Garay Harvard University

Discussant

• Tore Wig University of Oslo

Individual Presentations

• Regimes, Governments, and the Historical Development of Public Services - Ben William Ansell, University of Oxford; Johannes Lindvall, Lund University

• The Identity and Size of Support Coalitions and Autocratic Regime Survival - Sirianne Dahlum, Peace Research Institute Oslo; Carl Henrik Knutsen, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo; Magnus Bergli Rasmussen, University of Oslo; Tore Wig, University of Oslo

• Ideologues, Social Supporters, and Economic Policy across Regimes - Bastian Herre, University of Chicago

• Who Gets Heard in Plenary Debates? Median Voter Versus Median Party Supporter - Pola Lehmann, Berlin Social Science Center