Between center-periphery and left-rightA comparison of traditional and new regionalist parties' strategies in Galicia during the Great Recession

  1. Margarita Gómez-Reino 1
  2. Hugo Marcos-Marne 2
  1. 1 Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
    info

    Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02msb5n36

  2. 2 Universidad de Salamanca
    info

    Universidad de Salamanca

    Salamanca, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02f40zc51

Revista:
Revista de estudios políticos

ISSN: 0048-7694

Año de publicación: 2022

Número: 196

Páginas: 131-158

Tipo: Artículo

DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Revista de estudios políticos

Resumen

This article explains the rise, success, and subsequent failure of new challenger formations in the Galician party system during the Great Recession. For that, it focuses on the multidimensional electoral strategies developed by Alternativa Galega de Esquerda (AGE) and En Marea, comparing them to that of the traditional Bloque Nacionalista Galego (BNG). Our analysis shows the different strategies displayed by the BNG and new challengers (AGE, and later En Marea), examining both the electoral supply (framing and party programmatic positions) and demand (voter positions). We find a new subsuming strategy developed by AGE and En Marea, which prioritized left-wing anti-austerity policies over core pro-periphery ones. The paper demonstrates the potential of this new strategy during the Great Recession but also its limitations, linking its demise to the organizational weakness that prevented electoral realignment, and ultimately allowed the BNG to regain its leading role in the territorial dimension of competition.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Adams, J., Clark, M., Ezrow, L. and Glasgow, G. (2006). Are Niche Parties Fundamentally Different from Mainstream Parties? The Causes and the Electoral Consequences of Western European Parties’ Policy Shifts, 1976-1998. American Journal of Political Science, 50 (3), 513-529. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00199.x.
  • Alonso, S. (2012). Challenging the State: Devolution and the Battle for Partisan Credibility: A Comparison of Belgium, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199691579.001.0001.
  • Alonso, S., Cabeza, L. and Gómez, B. (2017). Disentangling peripheral parties’ issue packages in subnational elections. Comparative European Politics, 15 (2), 240-263. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2015.15.
  • Alternativa Galega de Esquerda (2012). Acordo programatico. Available at: https://bit. ly/3wLF1YX.
  • Ares, C. and Rama, J. (2019). Las elecciones al Parlamento de Galicia (1981-2016). In B. Gómez, S. Alonso and L. Cabeza (eds.). En busca del poder territorial. Cuatro décadas de elecciones autonómicas en España (pp. 303-330). Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
  • Beach, D. and Pedersen, R. B. (2019). Process-tracing Methods: Foundations and Guidelines. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. Available at: https://doi. org/10.3998/mpub.10072208.
  • Beramendi, J. and Núñez Seixas, X. M. (1996). O Nacionalismo Galego. Vigo: A Nosa Terra.
  • Beramendi, M. (2020). La debacle de Galicia en Común certifica el fin de las mareas. La Voz de Galicia, 13-7-2020. Available at: https://bit.ly/36XdvNe.
  • Blatter, J. and Blume, T. (2008). In Search of Co-variance, Causal Mechanisms or Congruence? Towards a Plural Understanding of Case Studies. Swiss Political Science Review, 14 (2), 315-356. Available at: https://bit.ly/3Liaypc.
  • Bloque Nacionalista Galego (2012). Programa electoral eleccions galegas 2012. Available at: https://bit.ly/3DjI4sl.
  • Bloque Nacionalista Galego (2016). Construir Galiza. Con ilusion. Galiza Contigo. Available at: https://bit.ly/3iH9S0o.
  • Calvo, J. (2012). El debate ahora no es la independencia, sino la crisis, los recortes. El Faro de Vigo, 27-9-2012. Available at: https://bit.ly/3r6611J.
  • Carbajo, P. (2012). La irrupción de AGE en Galicia crea un referente para toda la izquierda. El País, 23-10-2012. Available at: https://bit.ly/3Dm2QYg.
  • Carretero, R. (2016). Las razones del desplome del BNG: “No supieron ver la importancia de la cuestión social”. The Huffington Post, 22-9-2016. Available at: https://bit.ly/3NrJXbh.
  • Casais, M. B. (2013). Alternativa Galega de Esquerdas: un actor diferencial en las elecciones gallegas de 2012. RIPS: Revista de Investigaciones Políticas y Sociológicas, 12 (3). Available at: https://bit.ly/3DkRIuL.
  • Chaisty, P. and Whitefield, S. (2020). How challenger parties can win big with frozen cleavages: Explaining the landslide victory of the Servant of the People party in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary elections. Party Politics, 28 (1), 115-126. Available at: https:// doi.org/10.1177/1354068820965413.
  • Cuadrado-Roura, J. R. and Maroto, A. (2016). Unbalanced regional resilience to the economic crisis in Spain: a tale of specialisation and productivity. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 9 (1), 153-178. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsv034.
  • Cuadras-Morató, X. and Rodon, T. (2018). The dog that didn’t bark: On the effect of the Great Recession on the surge of secessionism. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1-20. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1547410.
  • Dandoy, R. (2010). Ethnoregionalist parties in Europe: A typology. Perspectives on Federalism, 2 (2), 194-222.
  • Dandoy, R. and Sandri, G. (2006). Regionalism and Party Programs. Comparative analysis of the content of the manifestos of regionalist parties in Europe. Paper presented at the Conference of the Società Italiana di Scienza Politica (SISP), University of Catania, 20-22 September 2007, Workshop “Partiti e Regionalismi”. Available at: https://bit. ly/3uigngX.
  • De Vries, C. and Hobolt, S. (2020). The Rise of Challenger Parties. Political Insight, 11 (3), 16-19. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/2041905820958817.
  • De Winter, L, Gomez-Reino, M. and Lynch, P. (2006). Autonomist parties in Europe. I dentity politics and the revival of the territorial cleavage. Barcelona: Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials.
  • De Winter, L. and Tursan, H. (1998). Regionalist Parties in Western Europe. London: Routledge.
  • Dolezal, M., Ennser-Jedenastik, L., Müller, W. C. and Katharina Winkler, A. (2012). The Life Cycle of Party Manifestos: The Austrian Case. West European Politics, 35 (4), 869-895. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2012.682349.
  • Elias, A., Szöcsik, E. and Zuber, C. I. (2015). Position, selective emphasis and framing: How parties deal with a second dimension in competition. Party Politics, 21 (6), 839-850. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068815597572.
  • EnMarea (2016). Un pais xusto. Programa 2016. Available at: https://bit.ly/3IN9ic0.
  • Erk, J. (2005). Sub-state nationalism and the left-right divide: critical junctures in the formation of nationalist labour movements in Belgium. Nations and Nationalism, 11 (4), 551-570. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2005.00219.x.
  • Erk, J. A. N. (2010). Is nationalism left or right? Critical junctures in Québécois nationalism. Nations and Nationalism, 16 (3), 423-441. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469- 8129.2010.00410.x.
  • Fernán-Vello, M. A. and Pillado Mayor, F. (1989). A nación incesante. Conversas con Xosé Manuel Beiras. Santiago de Compostela: Sotelo Blaco.
  • Gerring, J. (2004). What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good for? American Political Science Review, 98 (2), 341-354. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055404001182.
  • Gómez, B., Alonso, S. and Cabeza, L. (2018). Regional Manifestos Project Dataset (Version 11/2018). Available at: https://bit.ly/3LnEUXv.
  • Gómez Fortes, B. and Cabeza Pérez, L. (2013). Basque Regional Elections 2012: The Return of Nationalism under the Influence of the Economic Crisis. Regional and Federal Studies, 23 (4), 495-505. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2013.798650.
  • Gomez-Reino, M. (2006). The Galician BNG from outcast to success. In L. De Winter, M. Gómez-Reino and P. Lynch. Autonomist Parties in Europe: Identity Politics and the Revival of the Territorial Cleavage. Barcelona: Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials.
  • Gomez-Reino, M. (2011). The BNG. In A. Elias and F. Tronconi (eds.). From Prostest to Power: Autonomist Parties and the Challenges of Representation. Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller.
  • González Quinzán, S. (2019). Emociones y política: el caso de los sentimientos hacia la política en las elecciones gallegas del 2016. RIPS: Revista de Investigaciones Políticas y Sociológicas, 18 (1), 95-118. Available at: https://doi.org/10.15304/rips.18.1.6105.
  • Greene, Z. D. and Haber, M. (2015). The consequences of appearing divided: An analysis of party evaluations and vote choice. Electoral Studies, 37, 15-27. Available at: https://doi. org/10.1016/j.electstud.2014.11.002.
  • Guinjoan, M. and Rodon, T. (2015). A Scrutiny of the Linz-Moreno Question. Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 46 (1), 128-142. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/ pjv031.
  • Hechter, M. (1975). Internal Colonialism: The Celtic Fringe in British National Development. London: Routledge.
  • Hernández, E. and Kriesi, H. (2015). The electoral consequences of the financial and economic crisis in Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 55 (2), 203-224. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12122.
  • Hobolt, S. B. and Tilley, J. (2016). Fleeing the centre: the rise of challenger parties in the aftermath of the euro crisis. West European Politics, 39 (5), 971-991. Available at: https://doi. org/10.1080/01402382.2016.1181871.
  • Hooghe, L. and Marks, G. (2018). Cleavage theory meets Europe’s crises: Lipset, Rokkan, and the transnational cleavage. Journal of European Public Policy, 25 (1), 109-135. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2017.1310279.
  • Huete, C. (2018). Las primarias de En Marea acaban en los juzgados por denuncias de fraude. El País, 27-12-2018. Available at: https://bit.ly/3JRHmFd.
  • Hutter, S., Kriesi, H. and Vidal, G. (2018). Old versus new politics: The political spaces in Southern Europe in times of crises. Party Politics, 24 (1), 10-22. Available at: https://doi. org/10.1177/1354068817694503.
  • Ibarra, P. and Maiz, R. (2010). Making and unmaking democratic opportunities in nationalist mobilization: a comparative anlysis of the MLNV (Basque Country) and the BNG (Galicia). In A. Lecours and L. Moreno (eds.). Nationalism and Democracy. Dichotomies, complementarities, oppositions (pp. 115-139). London: Routledge.
  • Keating, M. (2009). The Independence of Scotland. Self-government and the Shifting Politics of Union. Cambridge, U. K.: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kioupkiolis, A. and Katsambekis, G. (2018). Radical Left Populism from the Margins to the Mainstream: A Comparison of Syriza and Podemos. In Ó. García Agustín and M. Briziarelli (eds). Podemos and the New Political Cycle: Left-Wing Populism and Anti-Establishment Politics (pp. 201-226). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319- 63432-6_9.
  • Kitschelt, H. P. (1988). Left-Libertarian Parties: Explaining Innovation in Competitive Party Systems. World Politics, 40 (2), 194-234. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2010362.
  • Lago Peñas, I. (2004). La coordinación electoral del nacionalismo gallego. Revista Internacional de Sociología, 62 (39), 35-61. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3989/ris.2004. i39.248.
  • Lago Peñas, I. and Lago Peñas, S. (2006). Vinte e cinco anos de autonomía en Galicia: mudanzas políticas e económicas. Santiago de Compostela: Escola Galega de Administración Pública.
  • Lipset, S. and Rokkan, S. (1976). Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-national Perspectives. New York: The Free Press.
  • Luaña, S. (2020). Auge y caída de las mareas: de tocar el cielo en el 2015 a la irrelevancia. La Voz de Galicia, 14-7-2020. Available at: https://bit.ly/3qLM7J8.
  • Máiz, R. (1996). Nación de Breogán: Oportunidades políticas y estrategias enmarcadoras en el movimiento nacionalista gallego (1886-1996). Revista de Estudios Politicos, 92, 33-75. Available at: https://bit.ly/36XiWLO.
  • Máiz, R. and Ares, C. (2018). The Shifting Framing Strategies and Policy Positions of the Bloque Nacionalista Galego. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 24 (2), 181-200. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2018.1457824.
  • Maravall, J. M. (2007). The Political Consequences of Internal Party Democracy. In I. Sánchez-Cuenca and J. M. Maravall (eds.). Controlling Governments: Voters, Institutions, and Accountability (pp. 157-201). Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi. org/10.1017/CBO9780511611414.008.
  • Marcos-Marne, H., Plaza-Colodro, C. and Freyburg, T. (2020). Who votes for new parties? Economic voting, political ideology and populist attitudes. West European Politics, 43 (1), 1-21. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2019.1608752.
  • Massetti, E. (2009). Explaining Regionalist Party Positioning in a Multi-dimensional Ideological Space: A Framework for Analysis. Regional and Federal Studies, 19 (4-5), 501-531. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13597560903310246.
  • Massetti, E. (2018). Left-wing regionalist populism in the “Celtic” peripheries: Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party’s anti-austerity challenge against the British elites. Comparative European Politics, 16 (6), 937-953. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/ S41295-018-0136-Z.
  • Massetti, E. and Schakel, A. H. (2015). From class to region: How regionalist parties link (and subsume) left-right into centre-periphery politics. Party Politics, 21 (6), 866-886. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068815597577.
  • Mazzoleni, O. and Mueller, S. (2017). Introduction: Explaining the policy success of regionalist parties in Western Europe. In O. Mazzoleni and S. Mueller. Regionalist Parties in Western Europe (pp. 13-33). London: Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/ 9781315604466.
  • Meguid, B. M. (2005). Competition Between Unequals: The Role of Mainstream Party Strategy in Niche Party Success. American Political Science Review, 99 (3), 347-359. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055405051701.
  • Nardulli, P. F. (1995). The Concept of a Critical Realignment, Electoral Behavior, and Political Change. American Political Science Review, 89 (1), 10-22. Available at: https://doi. org/10.2307/2083071.
  • Newman, S. (1997). Ideological trends among ethnoregional parties in post-industrial democracies. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 3 (1), 28-60. Available at: https://doi.org/ 10.1080/13537119708428492.
  • Panebianco, A. (1990). Modelos de partido. Organización y poder en los partidos políticos. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
  • Pérez Nievas, S. and Bonet, E. (2006). Identidades regionales y reivindicación de autogobierno. El etnorregionalismo en el voto a partidos nacionalistas de Bélgica, España y Reino Unido. Revista Española de Ciencia Política, 15, 123-161. Available at: https://bit. ly/3iK6jGP.
  • Quintana, X. R. (2010). Un Longo e tortuoso camino. Adaptación, Crise e Cambio no BNG. Barcelona: Galaxia. Available at: https://bit.ly/3tMHSPd.
  • Rama Caamaño, J., Fernández Esquer, C. and Pantín Morado, J. M. (2018). ¿Voto nacionalista? Las bases electorales de AGE y En Marea en las elecciones autonómicas de 2012 y 2015. Inguruak; 64. Available at: https://doi.org/10.18543/inguruak-64-2018-art04.
  • Ramiro, L. and Gomez, R. (2016). Radical-Left Populism during the Great Recession: Podemos and Its Competition with the Established Radical Left. Political Studies, 65 (1), 108-126. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321716647400.
  • Riande, E. (2018). Villares insiste en rechazar “mesas de notables” en En Marea. La Voz de Galicia, 22-7-2018. Available at: https://bit.ly/3wLtxV2.
  • Rico, G. (2012). The 2010 Regional Election in Catalonia: A Multilevel Account in an Age of Economic Crisis. South European Society and Politics, 17 (2), 217-238. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2011.589140.
  • Rodriguez, M. (2012). Beiras y EU confían en combatir “la troika interna que se llama Feijóo”. El País, 18-9-2012. Available at: https://bit.ly/3DhkaxO.
  • Sikk, A. (2011). Newness as a winning formula for new political parties. Party Politics, 18 (4), 465-486. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068810389631.
  • Skjæveland, A. (2001). Party Cohesion in the Danish Parliament. The Journal of Legislative Studies, 7 (2), 35-56. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/714003872.
  • Sykes: L. (1988). Losing from the Inside: The Cost of Conflict in the British Social Democratic Party. London: Routledge.
  • Tavits, M. (2008). Party Systems in the Making: The Emergence and Success of New Parties in New Democracies. British Journal of Political Science, 38 (1), 113-133. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123408000069.
  • Turnbull-Dugarte, S. J. (2019). Explaining the end of Spanish exceptionalism and electoral support for Vox. Research and Politics, 6 (2), 1-8. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/ 2053168019851680.
  • Vidal, G. (2018). Challenging business as usual? The rise of new parties in Spain in times of crisis. West European Politics, 41 (2), 261-286. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01 402382.2017.1376272.
  • Wagner, M. (2011). Defining and measuring niche parties. Party Politics, 18 (6), 845-864. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068810393267.
  • Wagner, M. (2012). When do parties emphasise extreme positions? How strategic incentives for policy differentiation influence issue importance. European Journal of Political Research, 51 (1), 64-88. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2011.01989.x.
Fuente de los datos: Dialnet