Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T17:36:19.372Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On digital front-runners and late-comers: Analyzing issue competition over digitization in German subnational elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2019

Markus B. Siewert  and
Pascal D. König
Markus B. Siewert
Affiliation:
Goethe University Frankfurt, Department of Social Sciences, Institute for Political Science, Germany
Pascal D. König*
Affiliation:
Goethe University Frankfurt, Department of Social Sciences, Institute for Political Science, Germany
*
*E-mail: p.koenig@soz.uni-frankfurt.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite the sweeping societal and economic transformation brought about by digitization, it has remained a relatively marginal topic in elections, with parties having few incentives to signal commitment to digitization. Why then would parties start to do so? We address this question by examining party manifestos from German subnational elections in the period between 2010 and 2018. Our analysis contributes to the research on issue competition by looking at why parties engage with the topic of the digitization even though it has neither become politicized nor salient, at present. We find, first, that parties emphasize digitization more in regions belonging to the mid-tier in terms of their degree of digital modernization. Second, parties with more resources and greater ideological compatibility signal more commitment to digitization. Finally, electoral success of the Pirate Party as a credible challenger has been followed by greater emphasis on digitization, especially among the ideologically closest competitors.

Keywords

party competitionissue ownershipdigitizationinformation and communication technologysubnational electionsGermany
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , May 2019 , pp. 247 - 265
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, J., Clark, M., Ezrow, L. and Glasgow, G. (2004), ‘Understanding change and stability in party ideologies: Do parties respond to public opinion or to past election results?’ British Journal of Political Science 34(4), 589–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arntz, M., Gregory, T. and Zierahn, U. (2016), The Risk of Automation for Jobs in OECD Countries (OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 189). Paris: OECD. Retrieved from http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/the-risk-of-automation-for-jobs-in-oecd-countries_5jlz9h56dvq7-en Google Scholar
Aronson, J.D. and Cowhey, P.F. (2017), Digital DNA: Disruption And The Challenges For Global Governance. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Axelrod, R. (1981), ‘The Emergence of Cooperation among Egoists’, The American Political Science Review 75(2), 306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, F.R. and Jones, B.D. (1991), ‘Agenda dynamics and policy subsystems’, The Journal of Politics 53(4), 1044–1074.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bélanger, É. and Meguid, B.M. (2008), ‘Issue salience, issue ownership, and issue-based vote choice’, Electoral Studies 27(3), 477–491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benz, A. (2007), ‘Inter-regional competition in co-operative federalism: New modes of multi-level governance in Germany’, Regional & Federal Studies 17(4), 421–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boomgaarden, H.G. and Vliegenthart, R. (2007), ‘Explaining the rise of anti-immigrant parties: The role of news media content’, Electoral Studies 26(2), 404–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bräuninger, T. and Debus, M. (2012), Parteienwettbewerb In Den Deutschen Bundesländern. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breznitz, D., Kenney, M., Rouvinen, P., Zysman, J. and Ylä-Anttila, P., (2011), ‘Value capture and policy design in a digital economy’, Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade 11(3), 203–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brynjolfsson, E. and McAfee, A. (2011), Race Against The Machine: How The Digital Revolution Is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, And Irreversibly Transforming Employment And The Economy. Lexington: Digital Frontier Press.Google Scholar
Budge, I. (2015), ‘Issue emphases, saliency theory and issue ownership: A historical and conceptual analysis’, West European Politics 38(4): 761–777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, I. and Farlie, D. (1983), Explaining And Predicting Elections: Issue Effects And Party Strategies In Twenty-Three Democracies. London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Burstein, P. (2003), ‘The impact of public opinion on public policy: A review and an agenda’, Political Research Quarterly 56(1), 29–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmines, E.G. and Stimson, J.A. (1986), ‘On the Structure and Sequence of Issue Evolution’, American Political Science Review 80(3), 901–920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalmus, C., Hänggli, R. and Bernhard, L. (2017), ‘The charm of salient issues? Parties’ strategic behavior in press releases’, in Van Aelst, P. and Walgrave, S. (eds.), How Political Actors Use the Media. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-60249-3_10 Google Scholar
Davidsson, J.B. and Marx, P. (2013), ‘Losing the issue, losing the vote: Issue competition and the reform of unemployment insurance in Germany and Sweden’, Political Studies 61(3), 505–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Vries, C.E. and Hobolt, S.B. (2012), ‘When dimensions collide: The electoral success of issue entrepreneurs’, European Union Politics 13(2), 246–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewey, C. (2013, June 20), ‘Merkel calls Internet ‘uncharted territory, ’ earns Web’s endless mockery’, The Washington Post. Washington. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/06/20/merkel-calls-internet-uncharted-territory-earns-webs-endless-mockery/ Google Scholar
Egan, P.J. (2013), Partisan Priorities: How Issue Ownership Drives and Distorts American Politics. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
European Commission. (2017), Standard Eurobarometer 88– Autumn 2017 “Public opinion in the European Union, First results”. Brussels: European Union.Google Scholar
Green, J. and Hobolt, S.B. (2008), ‘Owning the issue agenda: Party strategies and vote choices in British elections’, Electoral Studies 27(3), 460–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, J. and Jennings, W., (2018), The Politics of Competence: Parties, Public Opinion and Voters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Green-Pedersen, C. (2007), ‘The growing importance of issue competition: The changing nature of party competition in Western Europe’, Political Studies 55(3), 607–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green-Pedersen, C. and Krogstrup, J. (2008), ‘Immigration as a political issue in Denmark and Sweden’, European Journal of Political Research 47(5), 610–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green-Pedersen, C. and Mortensen, P.B. (2010), ‘Who sets the agenda and who responds to it in the Danish parliament? A new model of issue competition and agenda-setting’, European Journal of Political Research 49(2), 257–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartleb, F. (2013), ‘Digital campaigning and the growing anti-elitism: The Pirates and Beppe Grillo’, European View 12(1), 135–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, L., Schakel, A.H., Marks, G., Niedzwiecki, S., Osterkatz, S.C. and Shair-Rosenfield, S. (2016), Measuring Regional Authority: A Postfunctionalist Theory of Governance. Volume I (1st ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom; New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jeffery, C., Pamphilis, N.M., Rowe, C. and Turner, E., (2016), ‘Introduction to the special issue: Reframing German federalism’, German Politics 25(2), 165–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitschelt, H. and Rehm, P. (2014), ‘Occupations as a site of political preference formation’, Comparative Political Studies 47(12), 1670–1706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraft, J. (2018), ‘Political parties and public investments: a comparative analysis of 22 Western democracies’, West European Politics 41(1), 128–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurzer, P. (2013), ‘The politics of ideas in reforming the dutch disability fund: Reforming the disability fund’, Governance 26(2), 283–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loebbecke, C. and Picot, A. (2015), ‘Reflections on societal and business model transformation arising from digitization and big data analytics: A research agenda’, The Journal of Strategic Information Systems 24(3), 149–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mittelstadt, B.D., Allo, P., Taddeo, M., Wachter, S. and Floridi, L. (2016), ‘The ethics of algorithms: Mapping the debate’, Big Data & Society 3(2), 205395171667967.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niedermayer, O. (ed.). (2013a), Die Piratenpartei. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-531-19475-2 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niedermayer, O. (2013b), Die netzpolitischen Reaktionen der anderen Parteien auf das Erscheinen der Piratenpartei. In Niedermayer, O. (ed.), Die Piratenpartei. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-531-19475-2_13 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD. (2017), Key Issues for Digital Transformation in the G20. Paris: OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
Oesch, D. (2013), Occupational Change In Europe: How Technology And Education Transform the Job Structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opiela, N., Tiemann, J., Gumz, J.D., Goldacker, G., Bieker, L. and Weber, M. (2017), Deutschland-Index der Digitalisierung. Berlin: Kompetenzzentrum Öffentliche IT.Google Scholar
Petrocik, J.R. (1996), ‘Issue ownership in presidential elections, with a 1980 case study’, American Journal of Political Science 40(3), 825–850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polk, J., Rovny, J., Bakker, R., Edwards, E., Hooghe, L., Jolly, S., … Zilovic, M. (2017), ‘Explaining the salience of anti-elitism and reducing political corruption for political parties in Europe with the 2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey data’, Research & Politics 4(1), 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rifkin, J. (2013), The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Riker, W.H. (1986), The Art of Political Manipulation. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Rogers, E.M. (1995), Diffusion of Innovations (4th ed.). New York: Free Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Schmidt, M.G. (2016), ‘Conclusion: Policy Diversity in Germany’s Federalism’, German Politics 25(2), 301–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumacher, G, van de Wardt, M., Vis, B. and Klitgaard, M.B. (2015), ‘How aspiration to office conditions the impact of government participation on party platform change’, American Journal of Political Science 59(4), 1040–1054.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seeberg, H.B. (2017), ‘What can a government do? Government issue ownership and real-world problems’, European Journal of Political Research 56(2), 346–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snijders, T.A.B. and Bosker, R.J. (2012), Multilevel Analysis: An Introduction to Basic and Advanced Multilevel Modeling (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar
Snyder, R. (2001), ‘Scaling down: The subnational comparative method’, Studies in Comparative International Development 36(1), 93–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Somer-Topcu, Z. (2009), ‘Timely decisions: The effects of past national elections on party policy change’, The Journal of Politics 71(1), 238–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stubager, R. and Slothuus, R. (2013), ‘What are the sources of political parties’ Issue Ownership? Testing four explanations at the individual level’, Political Behavior 35(3), 567–588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tavits, M. (2007), ‘Party systems in the making: The emergence and success of new parties in new democracies’, British Journal of Political Science 38(1), 113–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van de Wardt, M, De Vries, C.E. and Hobolt, S.B. (2014), ‘Exploiting the cracks: Wedge issues in multiparty competition’, The Journal of Politics 76(4), 986–999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vis, B. and van Kersbergen, K. (2007), ‘Why and how do Political Actors Pursue Risky Reforms?’, Journal of Theoretical Politics 19(2), 153–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, M. and Meyer, T.M. (2014), ‘Which issues do parties emphasise? Salience strategies and party organisation in multiparty systems’, West European Politics 37(5), 1019–1045.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walgrave, S. and De Swert, K. (2007), ‘Where does issue ownership come from? From the party or from the media? Issue-party identifications in Belgium, 1991-2005’, The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 12(1), 37–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walgrave, S., Tresch, A. and Lefevere, J. (2015), ‘The conceptualisation and measurement of issue ownership’, West European Politics 38(4), 778–796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Siewert and König supplementary material

Siewert and König supplementary material 1

Download Siewert and König supplementary material(File)
File 27.5 KB