Thursday, July 9, 2015: 9:00 AM-10:45 AM
S07 (13 rue de l'Université)
Political scientists consider European Parliament (EP) elections as 'second-order national elections' (Reif & Schmitt, 1980) while the EP itself is considered a peripheral institution in national politics (Raunio, 2002). All in all, European integration seems to have only limited effects on party systems (Mair, 2000, 2006) as well as on party organization (Poguntke et al., 2007). This panel wishes to re-evaluate these assumptions in view of new empirical evidence in a comparative perspective. Arguably, the EU may have important effects on individual national parties and on national party systems (Ladrech 2002, 2005). In this session we will explore this emerging phenomenon in different EU states, considering parties with different stances towards the EU (Conti, 2014).
In fact, for outsider parties, success in EP elections may have important effects on their development in national politics. EP elections may consist of an alternative tribune to these parties to deliver their message to the public and to gain popular legitimacy. Beyond the EP elections, the entry of outsider parties to the EP allow thsese newcomers in politics to obtain various kinds of resources, material as well as symbolic resources (Kauppi, 2005). These resources are of particular importance to parties which suffer from resource scarcity in domestic politics. Hence, the EP institutional arena contributes to sustain these parties as autonomous organizations and to develop their partisan activities 'at home'.
Organizers:
Emmanuelle Reungoat
and
Yoav shemer Kunz
Chair:
Nicholas Startin
Discussant :
Robert Ladrech
See more of: Session Proposals
