Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 287-306 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Swiss Political Science Review |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 11 Jun 2025 |
Abstract
Political parties are not free to choose which issues to focus on in parliament. At the national level, it is mostly economic and societal problem pressures which impact parties' issue attention. In this paper, we argue that at lower levels of multilevel governance systems, parties are additionally limited by institutional and financial constraints beyond their decision-making competencies, which should impact their issue attention. Based on a novel dataset of local parties' parliamentary questions regarding 19 policy areas in 35 German local councils between 2011 and 2020, we demonstrate the constraining effect of institutional and economic conditions on party behaviour: parties are aware of the institutional constraints and devote more attention to issues where municipalities have more legal leeway, but this effect is moderated by the financial constraints that local communities face.
Keywords
- Contextual factors, Germany, Local politics, Parliamentary questions, Text analysis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Political Science and International Relations
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Swiss Political Science Review, Vol. 31, No. 2, 11.06.2025, p. 287-306.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The Impact of Institutional and Financial Constraints on Party Behaviour in Local Politics
AU - Gross, Martin
AU - Nyhuis, Dominic
AU - Block, Sebastian
AU - Velimsky, Jan A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Swiss Political Science Review published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Swiss Political Science Association.
PY - 2025/6/11
Y1 - 2025/6/11
N2 - Political parties are not free to choose which issues to focus on in parliament. At the national level, it is mostly economic and societal problem pressures which impact parties' issue attention. In this paper, we argue that at lower levels of multilevel governance systems, parties are additionally limited by institutional and financial constraints beyond their decision-making competencies, which should impact their issue attention. Based on a novel dataset of local parties' parliamentary questions regarding 19 policy areas in 35 German local councils between 2011 and 2020, we demonstrate the constraining effect of institutional and economic conditions on party behaviour: parties are aware of the institutional constraints and devote more attention to issues where municipalities have more legal leeway, but this effect is moderated by the financial constraints that local communities face.
AB - Political parties are not free to choose which issues to focus on in parliament. At the national level, it is mostly economic and societal problem pressures which impact parties' issue attention. In this paper, we argue that at lower levels of multilevel governance systems, parties are additionally limited by institutional and financial constraints beyond their decision-making competencies, which should impact their issue attention. Based on a novel dataset of local parties' parliamentary questions regarding 19 policy areas in 35 German local councils between 2011 and 2020, we demonstrate the constraining effect of institutional and economic conditions on party behaviour: parties are aware of the institutional constraints and devote more attention to issues where municipalities have more legal leeway, but this effect is moderated by the financial constraints that local communities face.
KW - Contextual factors
KW - Germany
KW - Local politics
KW - Parliamentary questions
KW - Text analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85203681567&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/spsr.12628
DO - 10.1111/spsr.12628
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85203681567
VL - 31
SP - 287
EP - 306
JO - Swiss Political Science Review
JF - Swiss Political Science Review
SN - 1424-7755
IS - 2
ER -