Regional and National Elections in Western Europe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Introduction: Territoriality of the Vote: A Framework for Analysis

   • Arjan H. Schakel, Régis Dandoy

   Pages 1-26

3. Austria: Regional Elections in the Shadow of National Politics

   • Marcelo Jenny

   Pages 27-46

4. Belgium: Toward a Regionalization of National Elections?

   • Régis Dandoy

   Pages 47-67

5. Denmark: The First Years of Regional Voting after Comprehensive Reform

   • Yosef Bhatti, Sune Welling Hansen

   Pages 68-87

6. France: Regional Elections as ‘Third-Order’ Elections?

   • Fabien Escalona, Simon Labouret, Mathieu Vieira

   Pages 88-105

7. Germany: The Anatomy of Multilevel Voting

   • Charlie Jeffery, Alia Middleton

   Pages 106-125

8. Greece: Five Typical Second-Order Elections despite Significant Electoral Reform

   • Stavros Skrinis

   Pages 126-141

9. Italy: Between Growing Incongruence and Region-Specific Dynamics

   • Emanuele Massetti, Giulia Sandri

   Pages 142-161

10. The Netherlands: Two Forms of Nationalization of Provincial Elections

    • Arjan H. Schakel

    Pages 162-178

11. Norway: No Big Deal with Regional Elections?

    • Lawrence E. Rose, Tore Hansen

    Pages 179-195

12. Spain: The Persistence of Territorial Cleavages and Centralism of the Popular Party

    • Braulio Gómez Fortes, Laura Cabeza Perez

    Pages 196-215

13. Sweden: From Mid-term County Council Elections to Concurrent Elections

    • Linda Berg, Henrik Oscarsson

    Pages 216-233

14. Switzerland: Moving toward a Nationalized Party System

    • Daniel Bochsler, Fabio Wasserfallen

    Pages 234-253

15. The UK: Multilevel Elections in an Asymmetrical State

    • Nicola McEwen

    Pages 254-274

16. Conclusion: Regional Elections in Comparative Perspective

    • Arjan H. Schakel, Régis Dandoy

    Pages 275-299

17. Back Matter

    Pages 300-329

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Utilizing both historical and new research data, this book analyzes voting patterns for local and national elections in thirteen west European countries from 1945-2011. The result of rigorous and in-depth country studies, this book challenges the popular second-order model and presents an innovative framework to study regional voting patterns.

• elections
• Electoral
• Electoral reform
• party system
• voting

'Elections at the subnational level have so far often been looked at through the lenses of methodological nationalism. That includes the assumption that they are 'second order' and thus only to be understood for their meaning at the statewide level. This collection does a great job analyzing carefully and systematically substate electoral dynamics on their own terms. The result is a must-read, a truly 'first order' book.'

Kris Deschouwer, Department of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

'This stimulating volume provides a comprehensive survey of the diversity and distinctiveness of regional elections across western Europe. Beyond this, it opens our eyes to regional elections as a core subject of comparative politics that repays serious study. This volume is a tour de force in transcending methodological nationalism.'

Gary Marks, Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA and Department of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

'Together with a team of first-rate scholars, Dandoy and Schakel provide the first in depth and rigorous analysis of regional and national elections between 1945 and 2011 across 13 West European countries. In the context of an increasingly 'multi-level' Europe, this book rightly puts the comparative study of regional elections at the forefront of analysis and as such it successfully addresses the 'national bias' that had come to dominate much of party and electoral research until recent years. It is a must read for scholars of electoral studies, parties and federal and regional studies.'

Wilfried Swenden, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, UK

'This impressive book is a veritable treasure trove of striking data, suggestive conceptualisation and thought-provoking analysis. Its publication surely represents a landmark moment in the development of comparative electoral analysis.'

Richard Wyn Jones, Cardiff School of European Languages, Translation and Politics, Cardiff University, UK

'A most welcome study on the interplay of regional and national elections. The comparative volume combines the advantages of a clear and comprehensive analytical framework with the richness of in-depth country chapters. The book explores the diversity of regional electoral behavior but it also finds common factors that are at play in many political systems in Western Europe'

Klaus Detterbeck, Department of Political Science, University of Magdeburg, Germany

• University of Zurich, Switzerland

  Régis Dandoy

• Maastricht University, the Netherlands

  Arjan H. Schakel

Linda Berg, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Yosef Bhatti, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Daniel Bochsler, University of Zurich, Switzerland Laura Cabeza Perez, Spanish National Research Council Fabien Escalona Braulio Gómez Fortes, Institute of Governance Tore Hansen, University of Oslo, Norway Charlie Jeffery, University of Edinburgh, UK Marcelo Jenny, University of Vienna, Austria Simon Labouret, Institute of Political Studies in Grenoble Emanuele Massetti, University of Sussex, UK Nicola McEwen, University of Edinburgh, UK Alia Middleton, University of Edinburgh, UK Henrik E. Oscarsson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Lawrence E. Rose, University of Oslo, Norway Giulia Sandri, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Stavros Skrinis, Panteion University Athens, Greece Mathieu Vieira, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Fabio Wasserfallen, University of Zurich, Switzerland Sune Welling Hansen, Danish Institute of Governmental Research

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