Causes and Consequences of Prime Ministerial Change
Research question/goal:
Prime ministers act at the heart of politics in parliamentary democracies. However, it is yet unclear why some prime ministers stay in office for a decade and others for a couple of months only. Does it even make a difference when a new prime minister enters office? This project investigates when and why prime ministerial (PM) change takes place and what consequences PM change has on voters, parties, governments, and political representation in parliamentary democracies in general. Based on data from European democracies since 1945, the project develops theoretical arguments that explain the timing of PM replacements and the links between PM change, party policy change, and government policy change. Furthermore, the project employs survey experiments to learn how PM change affects what voters think about parties and governments.
Current stage:
Following an intensive review of various branches of literature, we developed more specific research questions. We further advanced our work on approaches to solve remaining puzzles. We also wrote up a grant proposal which we submitted to the German Research Foundation.
Fact sheet
Funding:
MZES
Duration:
2020 to 2024
Status:
in preparation
Data Sources:
Comparative Data on Parties, Elections and Governments, Survey Data
