Over the past 40 years, countries around the globe have experienced both domestic and international challenges to their national governments and national political parties. In Europe and other parts of the world, national politics have been transformed by processes of regionalization and decentralization, whereby regional differences in policy preferences have become more salient, substantial administrative, political and fiscal competencies have been transferred to subnational regions, and directly elected regional parliaments have been created. For many of these countries, these domestic processes have been accompanied by the strengthening of supranational institutions, with the deepening of the European Union.  This simultaneous consolidation of subnational and supranational powers has introduced new challenges and contradictions to political parties. 

The papers on this panel examine the tensions, but also the opportunities for political parties and politicians caused by the creation and strengthening of these multiple dimensions of politics.  The papers by Meguid and Zuber explore the electoral strategies and policy options that parties and politicians pursue in light of decentralization and greater regional autonomy.  De Miguel similarly examines the electoral strategies of political parties and party nationalization, but this time in light of the challenges of regional economic diversity.  Lastly, Jolly and Toubeau and Wagner focus on the effects of the multilevel environment on parties’ electoral fortunes, exploring the role of geography and multiple levels of governance on voters’ behavior.