Understanding the Conflict of Conflicts: Is Left-Right Conflict a Necessary Condition for the Development of New Politics?

One of the most significant changes in West European politics in the past 40 years is the emergence of the new cultural divide. However, there is substantial variation in how the issues comprising this new divide have manifested themselves in party systems. This raises the question of what mechanism...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political studies 2024-05, Vol.72 (2), p.719-740
Main Authors: Green-Pedersen, Christoffer, Little, Conor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Case studies
Conflict
Critical junctures
Political parties
Politics
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Summary:One of the most significant changes in West European politics in the past 40 years is the emergence of the new cultural divide. However, there is substantial variation in how the issues comprising this new divide have manifested themselves in party systems. This raises the question of what mechanisms bring these issues into established party systems. The literature has so far focused on new political parties and critical junctures. This article argues that the left-right structure is a key condition for the integration of new political issues into party competition. Rather than seeing their integration as a matter of the emergence of a new, second conflict, it argues that new issues become central to party competition if the existing conflict structure presents established mainstream parties with vote-seeking or coalition-building incentives to focus on them. The article uses Ireland as a ‘negative case study’ to develop the argument.
ISSN:0032-3217
1467-9248
DOI:10.1177/00323217221141424