When marriage gets hard: Intra-coalition conflict and electoral accountability

Autor(en)
Carolina Plescia, Sylvia Kritzinger
Abstrakt

Combining individual-level with event-level data across 25 European countries and three sets of European Election Studies, this study examines the effect of conflict between parties in coalition government on electoral accountability and responsibility attribution. We find that conflict increases punishment for poor economic performance precisely because it helps clarify to voters parties' actions and responsibilities while in office. The results indicate that under conditions of conflict, the punishment is equal for all coalition partners when they share responsibility for poor economic performance. When there is no conflict within a government, the effect of poor economic evaluations on vote choice is rather low, with slightly more punishment targeted to the prime minister's party. These findings have important implications for our understanding of electoral accountability and political representation in coalition governments.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Staatswissenschaft
Journal
Comparative Political Studies
Band
55
Seiten
32-59
Anzahl der Seiten
28
ISSN
0010-4140
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140211024307
Publikationsdatum
2022
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
506014 Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Sociology and Political Science
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/fabe0f7e-f192-4f0c-8a21-d30b1a17212d