The social bases of political parties

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• EGPP: European Governance and Politics Programme

Join Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks for the 5th seminar in the 2021-22 EGPP Seminar Series

European Governance and Politics Programme Associates Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks will present their new research proposing a measure that estimates the social structuration of individual political parties and provides a transparent method for assessing the relative weight of socio-structural and behavioral factors for party composition. They have applied this measure to 395 political parties in thirty countries since 1975 to assess de-alignment theory and cleavage theory in an era of party-political transformation. Hooghe and Marks find evidence for destructuration among mainstream political parties on class and religion, but they also detect structuration on education and occupation among Green/Alternative/Libertarian (GAL) and Traditional/Authoritarian/Nationalist (TAN) parties. The results confirm the emergence of a new cleavage as prior divides lose their grip.

This seminar will take place in a hybrid format. Please register as places are limited and are available on the first-come, first serve basis.