Strongholds and Battlegrounds: Measuring Party Support Stability in Canada

Despite the nationalization of politics in established democracies, the study of local dynamics remains fundamental to our understanding of electoral politics, especially in plurality contests. In plurality systems, local competition indeed has important consequences for the distribution of seats in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of political science 2013-09, Vol.46 (3), p.575-596
Main Author: Bodet, Marc André
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cabinets
Canada
Classification
Competition
Competitiveness
Democracy
Districts
Elections
Electoral College
Legislative Bodies
Nationalization
Political participation
Political Parties
Social pluralism
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Summary:Despite the nationalization of politics in established democracies, the study of local dynamics remains fundamental to our understanding of electoral politics, especially in plurality contests. In plurality systems, local competition indeed has important consequences for the distribution of seats in parliaments and cabinets. While a plethora of measures exists to assess electoral competitiveness, none adequately captures the dynamic nature of party support at the local level. Making use of the Canadian case as an illustration, we propose a new classification of electoral districts that aims at filling this gap. Districts are divided into two categories, strongholds and battlegrounds, depending on the successive performances of parties. We argue that such a classification should be utilized in addition to static measures of competitiveness, notably in the study of political participation. Résumé. Malgré la nationalisation de la politique au sein des démocraties établies, l'étude des dynamiques locales demeure fondamentale pour bien comprendre la politique électorale, particulièrement dans les systèmes pluralitaires où la compétition locale a des conséquences importantes sur la distribution des sièges au parlement et au cabinet. Bien qu'il existe une panoplie de mesures de compétition électorale, aucune ne capture adéquatement la nature dynamique de l'appui aux partis à l'échelle locale. À l'aide du cas canadien, nous proposons une nouvelle classification des districts électoraux qui corrige cette lacune. Les districts sont divisés en deux catégories – bastions et champs de bataille – en fonction des performances successives des partis en présence. Nous suggérons que cette classification soit utilisée en plus d'autres mesures statiques, notamment dans l'étude de la participation électorale.
ISSN:0008-4239
1744-9324
DOI:10.1017/S000842391300067X