Where Are the Disgruntled Voters

• Published in: Party politics Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 29 - 49
• Main Author: Birnir, Johanna Kristin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-01-2010
• Subjects: Political Attitudes; Political Change; Political Parties; Public Finance; Voters; Voting Behavior
• ISSN: 1354-0688
• DOI: 10.1177/1354068809339540

Katz and Mair's provocative Cartel Party argument continues to create fertile ground for debate. This article contributes to under-explored areas of this debate by enhancing the theoretical and empirical understanding of the change in the relationship between parties and voters resulting from the introduction of the cartelizing condition of public funding. To this end, the article examines vote stability empirically, changes in turnout and individual public opinion data, before and after public funding was instituted. By disconfirming the hypothesized expectations of deteriorating voter-party relationships as a result of funding, the empirical analysis pinpoints a number of contradictions in current understanding of party system change. The article concludes by suggesting that still bound financially to voters at large, parties provide a good that is valued by constituents. If, however, these last ties are severed, rather than being at the cusp of a post-cartel system, the future of party systems is more akin to the elite systems of old. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright holder.]