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How generational replacement undermined the electoral resilience of Fianna Fáil

van der Eijk, Cees; Elkink, Johan A.

Authors

Cees van der Eijk

Johan A. Elkink



Contributors

Michael Marsh
Editor

David Farrell
Editor

Gail McElroy
Editor

Abstract

This chapter focuses on party switching. The civil-war cleavage that differentiated the two main Irish parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, has been gradually diminishing in importance in recent decades. This trend reached a crescendo in 2011, when the incumbent Fianna Fáil party saw a dramatic decline in voter support, with swathes of its core voters switching to the main opposition party, Fine Gael. This volatility must be seen from the perspective of a generational replacement. To understand the potential for electoral switching, as opposed to change after the fact, the chapter investigates the configuration of voters’ preferences expressed through propensity to vote questions in the INES. The general framework provides theoretical tools better to understand the scale of Fianna Fáil’s defeat, as unique commitment to that party had declined markedly from the position a generation previously and it was thus more vulnerable to punishment following the crisis.

Citation

van der Eijk, C., & Elkink, J. A. (2017). How generational replacement undermined the electoral resilience of Fianna Fáil. In M. Marsh, D. Farrell, & G. McElroy (Eds.), A conservative revolution?: electoral change in 21st century Ireland. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780198744030.001.0001

Acceptance Date Sep 16, 2016
Publication Date Mar 9, 2017
Deposit Date Nov 1, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 10, 2019
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Book Title A conservative revolution?: electoral change in 21st century Ireland
ISBN 9780198744030
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780198744030.001.0001
Keywords party switching, propensity to vote, generational replacement, electoral resilience, cleavage voting, Fianna Fáil, Ireland, elections
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/849520
Publisher URL http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198744030.001.0001/acprof-9780198744030
Contract Date Nov 1, 2016

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