Party Competition and Policy Outcomes in Multilevel Systems

Research question/goal: 

The aim of this project is to analyse the determinants and implications of party competition in the regional sphere in European multilevel systems. In doing so, the project addresses three main research questions. First, do parties on the sub-national level respond to the structural characteristics and ideological orientations of the regional electorate when formulating their election manifestos? In a second step, the project will deal with the question of what impact European regional policy and funding, the different types of regional authority, the patterns of national party competition and the programmatic profiles of sub-national parties have on the outcome of the coalition formation and portfolio allocation processes at the regional level. Third, the project seeks to analyse the impact of regional governments and their partisan composition on policy outputs. To answer these questions, the project builds on theories relating to party competition and government formation in multilevel systems and the principal-agent approach. To test our hypotheses, we use a data set that covers information on issue saliencies and policy positions of political parties at the regional and the national level in nine European states.

Current stage: 

The project team has expanded the data collection by including further programmatic documents from recent sub-national elections in the European countries under study, i.e. Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The collected documents of political parties were uploaded at the online archive www.polidoc.net, which is updated continually with the support of the MZES Data & Methods Unit. On the basis of the collected party manifesto data, we are currently working on a new edition of the book “Parteienwettbewerb in den deutschen Bundesländern“ (“Party competition in the German states”) and—together with colleagues from the Universities of Bremen, Frankfurt and Hamburg—on a grant proposal that aims to expand the data collection for Germany and also cover the period since 1949.

Fact sheet

Funding: 
EU
Duration: 
2011 to 2020
Status: 
ongoing
Data Sources: 
Survey Data, Social Structural Data, Election Manifestos and Coalition Agreements, Budgetary Data
Geographic Space: 
Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom

Publications

Journal Articles

Bräuninger, Thomas, Marc Debus, Jochen Müller and Christian Stecker (2019): Party Competition and Government Formation in Germany: Business as Usual or New Patterns?. German Politics, 28, issue 1, pp. 80-100. more
Debus, Marc, and Thorsten Faas (2019): Die hessische Landtagswahl vom 28. Oktober 2018: Fortsetzung der schwarz-grünen Wunschehe mit starken Grünen und schwacher CDU. Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen, 50, issue 2, pp. 245-262. more
Gross, Martin, and Marc Debus (2018): Does EU regional policy increase parties' support for European integration?. West European Politics, 41, issue 3, pp. 594-614. more
Debus, Marc, Jale Tosun and Marcel Maxeiner (2017): Support for Policies on Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment among Parties and Coalition Governments. Politics & Policy, 45, issue 3, pp. 338-371. more
Gross, Martin, and Tim Niendorf (2017): Determinanten der Bildung nicht-etablierter Koalitionen in den deutschen Bundesländern, 1990 – 2016. Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, 11, issue 3, pp. 365-390. more
Bäck, Hanna, Marc Debus and Heike Klüver (2016): Bicameralism, Intra-party Bargaining, and the Formation of Party Policy Positions: Evidence from the German Federal System. Party Politics, 22, issue 3, pp. 405-417. more
Bäck, Hanna, Marc Debus and Jale Tosun (2015): Partisanship, Ministers and Biotechnology Policy. Review of Policy Research, 32, issue 5, pp. 556-575. more
Tosun, Jale, Andreas Fleig and Marc Debus (2015): Bürger, Parteien und die Energiewende: Eine Analyse am Beispiel des hessischen Energiegipfels. Der moderne Staat: dms; Zeitschrift für Public Policy, Recht und Management, 8, issue 1, pp. 153-171. more
Klingelhöfer, Tristan, and Jochen Müller (2015): Consociational and rational coalitions: Norm-based government formation and the case of the Dutch provinces. Acta Politica, 50, issue 1, pp. 101-124. more
Debus, Marc (2014): Book review: Irina Stefuriuc: Government formation in Multi-Level Settings: Party Strategy and Institutional Constraints. West European Politics, 37, issue 5, pp. 1188-1190. more
Bäck, Hanna, Marc Debus, Jochen Müller and Henry Bäck (2013): Regional Government Formation in Varying Multilevel Contexts: A Comparison of Eight European Countries. Regional Studies, 47, issue 3, pp. 368-387. more
Debus, Marc, Christoph Knill and Jale Tosun (2013): Registration Fees for Same-Sex Unions, Local Party Politics and Societal Demand. Local Government Studies, 39, issue 6, pp. 756-777. more
Debus, Marc, and Jochen Müller (2013): The programmatic development of CDU and CSU since reunification: Incentives and constraints for changing policy positions in the German multi-level system. German Politics, 22, issue 1-2, pp. 151-171. more
Debus, Marc, Christoph Knill and Jale Tosun (2013): Verwaltungsgebühren als Instrument symbolischer Steuerung: Kirchenaustrittsgebühren in baden-württembergischen Kommunen. Der Moderne Staat, 6, issue 1, pp. 191-209. more
Müller, Jochen (2013): On a Short Leash? Sub-National Party Positions between Regional Context and National Party Unity. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties, 23, issue 2, pp. 177-199. more
Müller, Jochen, and Marc Debus (2012): „Second order“-Effekte und Determinanten der individuellen Wahlentscheidung bei Landtagswahlen: Eine Analyse des Wahlverhaltens im deutschen Mehrebenensystem. Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, 6, issue 1, pp. 17-47. more

Book Chapters

Debus, Marc, and Jochen Müller (2020): Soziale Konflikte, sozialer Wandel, sozialer Kontext und Wählerverhalten. Pp. 437-457 in: Thorsten Faas, Oscar W. Gabriel, Jürgen Maier (Eds.) Politikwissenschaftliche Einstellungs- und Verhaltensforschung. Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Studium. Baden-Baden: Nomos. more
Fleig, Andreas, and Marc Debus (2017): Außergewöhnliche Ereignisse und responsives Regieren: Die Auswirkungen der Energiewende auf das Vertrauen in politische Institutionen. Pp. 167-190 in: Rahel Schomaker (Ed.) Die europäische Energiewende. Berlin: De Gruyter. more
Debus, Marc (2017): O impacto das coligações nas preferências dos eleitores e no comportamento eleitoral. Pp. 93-107 in: Silvana Krause, Carlos Machado, Luís Felipe Miguel (Eds.) Coligações e disputas eleitorais na nova República. Aportes teórico-metodológicos, tendências e estudos de caso. Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Editora Unesp. more
Debus, Marc (2017): Verrückte Verhältnisse? Wahlverhalten und Parteienwettbewerb in Baden-Württemberg zwischen 2011 und 2016. Pp. 15-45 in: Felix Hörisch, Stefan Wurster (Eds.) Das grün‐rote Experiment in Baden-Württemberg. Eine Bilanz der Landesregierung Kretschmann 2011−2016. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. more
Debus, Marc, and Jochen Müller (2013): Lohnt sich der Sprung über den Lagergraben? Existenz und Effekte politischer Lager im bundesdeutschen Parteienwettbewerb. Pp. 259-278 in: Frank Decker, Eckhard Jesse (Eds.) Die deutsche Koalitionsdemokratie vor der Bundestagswahl 2013. Baden-Baden: Nomos. more

Other Publications

Heichel, Stephan, Martin Gross and Marc Debus (2018): Cohesion policy implementation, performance and communication: Baden-Württemberg case study. [COHESIFY research paper] more
Heichel, Stephan, Martin Gross and Marc Debus (2018): Cohesion policy implementation, performance and communication: Thuringia case study. [COHESIFY research paper] more
Debus, Marc, and Martin Gross (2017): Positions on and issue emphasis of European integration and EU Cohesion policy: Analysing (sub-)national party manifestos. [COHESIFY research paper; 4] more

Conference Presentations

Bräuninger, Thomas, Marc Debus, Jochen Müller and Christian Stecker (2018): Business as usual? Party competition and government formation in Germany following the refugee crisis. [Jahrestagung des DVPW Arbeitskreises Handlungs- und Entscheidungstheorie, Oldenburg, May 31st to June 01st, 2018] more
Bräuninger, Thomas, Marc Debus, Jochen Müller and Christian Stecker (2018): Party Competition and Government Formation in Germany: Business as Usual or New Patterns?. [27. Wissenschaftlicher Kongress der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft, Frankfurt am Main, September 25th to September 28th, 2018] more
Debus, Marc (2018): Pariah parties, policy profiles and party politics in a multi-level system: coalition formation in Germany 2017/2018. [Conference "2017: Europe’s Bumper Year of Elections", European University Institute, Florence, March 08th to March 09th, 2018] more
Debus, Marc, Jochen Müller and Christian Stecker (2017): Group-serving bias and confirmation bias von Wählern im Spiegel der Politbarometerdaten. [Wählerverhalten und Parteiensystem im Wandel - 40 Jahre Politbarometer. Symposium anlässlich des 40-jährigen Bestehens des Politbarometers, Universität Mannheim, November 23rd, 2017] more
Debus, Marc (2017): Parteienwettbewerb und Muster der Regierungsbildung im Vorfeld der Bundestagswahl 2017. [Inaugural conference of the Mainz Centre for Empirical Democracy Research, University of Mainz, March 02nd to March 04th, 2017] more
Debus, Marc, and Jochen Müller (2017): Parteienwettbewerb und Responsivität politischer Akteure in Mehrebenensystemen. [Workshop "Responsivität", University of Duisburg-Essen, January 21st, 2017] more
Debus, Marc (2017): Vertrauen, responsives Regieren und soziale Partizipation als Grundlagen für eine demokratische Stadtgesellschaft. [Urban Thinkers Campus, Mannheim, October 20th to October 22nd, 2017] more
Gross, Martin (2017): Does anyone care? Explaining the variation in sub-national parties’ emphasis of European issues and EU Cohesion policy. [1st Regional Research and Networking Conference, Heidelberg, January 27th, 2017] more
Gross, Martin, and Marc Debus (2016): EU regional policy and the support for European integration among political parties. [MZES-Workshop "Vices and Virtues of Decentralization: Challenges in European multi-level Democracies", MZES, Mannheim, November 25th to November 26th, 2016] more
Gross, Martin (2016): Spending other people's money? Sub-national party positions on European integration and EU cohesion policy. [ECPR General Conference, Charles University Prague, September 07th to September 10th, 2016] more
Gross, Martin (2016): Sub-national party positions on European integration and EU cohesion policy: An exploratory analysis. [3-Länder-Tagung "Regionalismus in einer entgrenzten Welt" der DVPW, ÖGPW und SVPW, Universität Heidelberg, September 29th to October 01st, 2016] more
Schäfer, Constantin, and Martin Gross (2016): What Moves Voters and Parties in Times of Crisis? A Macro-Level Analysis on the Euro Crisis Effects on Euroscepticism. [3-Länder-Tagung "Regionalismus in einer entgrenzten Welt" der DVPW, ÖGPW und SVPW, Universität Heidelberg, September 29th to October 01st, 2016] more
Debus, Marc, Thomas Bräuninger and Jochen Müller (2015): Forecasting coalition formation in Germany. [Joint MZES-SFB Workshop ‘Political Forecasting’, MZES, Mannheim, December 18th, 2015] more
Bowler, Shaun, Thomas Bräuninger, Marc Debus and Indridi H. Indridason (2014): The impact of intra-coalition conflict on dispute settlement rules in coalition agreements. [72nd Annual Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 03rd to April 06th, 2014] more
Debus, Marc, Heiner Stuckenschmidt and Hartmut Wessler (2014): On the Use of Different Modalities in Political Communication: Evidence from German Election Manifestos. [First Bremen Conference on Multimodality "Bridging the Gap between Here and There: Combining Multimodal Analysis from International Perspectives", University of Bremen, September 10th to September 13th, 2014] more
Klingelhöfer, Tristan, Jochen Müller and Marc Debus (2014): Scrutinizing the Assumption of Consistency Benefits in Research on Multi-Level Party Politics.. [21st International Conference of Europeanists, Washington D.C., March 14th to March 16th, 2014] more
Obert, Peter, and Jochen Müller (2013): The thresholds of representation and relevance and their implications for the survival of new parties in the context of Czech regional elections. [ECPR General Conference, Sciences Po, Bordeaux, September 04th to September 07th, 2013] more
Debus, Marc, and Jochen Müller (2012): Gibt es politische Lager? Lohnt sich der Sprung über den Lagergraben? Eine Analyse auf Grundlage der programmatischen Positionen der deutschen Landesparteien von 1990 bis 2011. [Tagung "Die deutsche Koalitionsdemokratie vor der Bundestagswahl 2013", Tutzing, January 13th to January 15th, 2012] more