DSPO 27A07 - Elections and Political Representation

Elections are a key component of democracies. They play a central role in the process of political representation, by allowing citizens to choose their representatives and to hold them accountable. Participants in this course will become familiar with the main theories of electoral behaviour, party strategies, and political representation, and they will learn about the recent debates in this field of research. This course will give much importance to the comparative approach of elections and representation. Students will learn how institutions, party system characteristics, and other contextual factors influence and constrain the behaviour of citizens and parties, as well as the nature and quality of political representation.

Session 1. General introduction

Session 2. Normative models of political representation.

Manin, Bernard (1997). The Principles of Representative Government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Chapter 6: Metamorphoses of representative government, pp. 193-235).

Session 3. Social cleavages

Przeworski, Adam, and John Sprague (1986). Paper Stones: A History of Electoral Socialism. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press (Prologue, Chapters 1-2, pp. 1-56).

Session 4. Electoral dealignment and realignment

Piketty, Thomas (2021). “Brahmin Left versus Merchant Right: Rising Inequality and the Changing Structure of Political Conflict in France, the United States, and the United Kingdom, 1948–2020.” In Political Cleavages and Social Inequalities: A Study of Fifty Democracies, 1948-2020, edited by Amory Gethin, Clara Martínez-Toledano, and Thomas Piketty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 85-135.

Session 5. Impact of issues and ideology on voting choices

Koedam, Jelle. 2021. “Avoidance, ambiguity, alternation: Position blurring strategies in multidimensional party competition.” European Union Politics 22(4): 655-675.

Session 6. Globalization, EU integration, and new political divides

Bornschier, Simon, Silja Häusermann, Delia Zollinger, and Céline Colombo (2021). “How ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ Relates to Voting Behavior—Social Structure, Social Identities, and Electoral Choice”. Comparative Political Studies 54(12): 2087-122.

Session 7. The rise of populist parties

Ferwerda, Jeremy, Justin Gest, and Tyler Reny. 2025. ‘Nostalgic Deprivation and Populism: Evidence from 19 European Countries’. European Journal of Political Research 64(3): 1506–18.

Session 8. Economic voting and retrospective voting

Carlin, Ryan E., Timothy Hellwig, Gregory J. Love, Cecilia Martínez-Gallardo, and Matthew M. Singer (2021). “When Does the Public Get It Right? The Information Environment and the Accuracy of Economic Sentiment”. Comparative Political Studies 54(9): 1499-533.

Session 9. Affective polarization

Berntzen, Lars Erik, Haylee Kelsall, and Eelco Harteveld. 2024. “Consequences of affective polarization: Avoidance, intolerance and support for violence in the United Kingdom and Norway.” European Journal of Political Research 63(3): 927-949.

Session 10. Is representation working? Electoral institutions and voter-government congruence

Blais, André, Eric Guntermann, Vincent Arel-Bundock, Ruth Dassonneville, Jean-François Laslier, and Gabrielle Péloquin-Skulski (2022). “Party preference representation”. Party Politics 28(1): 48-60.

Session 11. Is representation working? Responsiveness to public opinion

Elkjær, Mads Andreas, and Michael Baggesen Klitgaard (2024). “Economic Inequality and Political Responsiveness: A Systematic Review”. Perspectives on Politics 22(2): 318-37.

Session 12. Written examination

The assessment will be based on four components:

• Preparation of the compulsory readings (1 article or book chapter per session) (20% of final grade)
• Active participation in seminars (10%),
• A critical summary of one of the compulsory readings (30%),
• A written examination 40%