Vertical linkages between regional and national electoral arenas and their impact on multilevel democracy

Abstract

By adopting a multilevel system perspective, we derive three insights from the analyses on regional elections presented in this third annual review of regional elections. First, we argue that Poland, South Korea and the USA can be conceived as aggregated bipolar party systems where competition at the nationwide level revolves around two parties whereas single parties dominate in the regions. Second, drawing on the cases of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Kenya, and Nigeria, we claim that the integration of multilevel party systems (also) depends on the extent of collaboration between parties from the national and regional electoral arenas. Third, significant vote-switching revealed by election surveys held in Denmark and Sweden poses a significant challenge for theories on regional voting. We conclude by considering the wider implications of these three insights for multilevel democracy.