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Coping with a two‐dimensional political space: Party mobilisation in referendums on European integration
Author(s) -
SHU MIN
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
european journal of political research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.267
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1475-6765
pISSN - 0304-4130
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2009.00839.x
Subject(s) - referendum , mainstream , irish , brexit , politics , ballot , political economy , political science , european union , treaty , european integration , public administration , sociology , law , economics , voting , international trade , philosophy , linguistics
European Union referendums invite national electorates to vote on transnational cooperation and regional integration, thereby creating tension between transnational ballot issues and domestic electoral mobilisation. Because of the tension, domestic political parties are forced to confront a two‐dimensional political space in EU referendums. In the referendum‐generated political space, unless integration issues are more salient than domestic concerns, intra‐divided and inter‐converged mainstream parties tend strategically to abstain from the campaigns. Yet, explicit inter‐party collusion may allow the pro‐integration mainstream to form a party cartel in EU referendums. Suggestive evidence is drawn from a case study of the two Irish referendums on the Nice Treaty. Based on a party‐candidate survey, Irish parties are mapped onto a latent two‐dimensional political space. The findings shed new light on the initial abstention of Irish mainstream parties in the first Nice campaign and their subsequent mobilisation in the second referendum.