LOCAL PARTISAN TIES

Partisan Ties that Matter? Exploring the Advantages of National Incumbency for Local Governments

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'This project explores whether and how politicians in local governments benefit from their partisan ties to the national incumbents. The empirical analysis will cover local governments in two highly centralized unitary countries – Chile and Turkey. First, local election results (in Chile between 1992 and 2008 and in Turkey between 1984 and 2009) will be analyzed to understand the political and socio-economic factors that shape increases (or possible decreases) in incumbents’ vote share as a result of their ties with a party in national government. Then, local governments’ budgets will be analyzed to see whether national partisan ties provide local politicians with more economic resources in the form of intergovernmental transfers, grants and debt. In addition, the possibility that levels and patterns of local government expenditures are influenced by parties’ incumbency situation in the national government will be explored. While decentralization is favored for more responsiveness on the behalf governments to increasing heterogeneity of local demands, there has been increasing awareness of problems associated with political accountability and responsibility at the sub-national level. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the political and socio-economic factors that shape financial policies of local governments. This is especially true for Turkey that has been and will be going through major administrative changes, partly as a result of the regional policy of the EU. The project is substantively important for also a second reason: The quality of democracy is likely to be hurt by any disproportionate advantages that incumbents may enjoy and this is especially problematic for relatively young democracies such as Chile and Turkey. Analyzing the nature of financial and (related) electoral advantages that the simultaneous control of local and national governments may present to parties would help improve our understanding of democratic representation.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

The strength of party attachments and identification can sway democratic elections and call into question accountability. An EU initiative examined how local parties leverage and exploit national partisan politics in order to get re-elected.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

By benefiting from strong ties to national incumbents, local politicians can have a relative advantage over their challengers. This is problematic for the political process, and especially for young democracies. To improve democratic systems and representation, it is important to understand the reasons behind partisanship when local governments seek re-election.

Thanks to EU funding, the project 'Partisan ties that matter? Exploring the advantages of national incumbency for local governments' (LOCAL PARTISAN TIES) addressed the incumbency advantage by exploring the local party politics of Chile and Turkey.

Project members began by analysing the political and socioeconomic factors that may favourably influence local incumbents with strengthened national party attachments. They collected data on local election outcomes in Chile and Turkey from 1992 to 2008 and 1984 to 2009, respectively. Results showed that local parties for both countries benefit from partisan ties at the national level.

The team then analysed local party budgets to determine whether national parties supply local politicians with more resources and if this helps them win elections. It also studied if local government expenditures are affected by parties' incumbency status with national governments.

Findings revealed that the provision of resources such as free health care benefits to municipalities benefited national incumbents only in the case where such local constituencies had strong party identifiers. National incumbents use municipal resources to establish formidable local organisations in party strongholds. These local organisations then help parties win national elections.

LOCAL PARTISAN TIES shed light on incumbency advantage and its impact on local and national partisan politics of two young democracies. Authorities and policymakers engaged in efforts involving Candidate Countries or the EU's immediate neighbours by land or sea stand to gain from the outcomes.