How Does May’s Law Work in Multi-dimensional Competition? Intra-party Opinion Structure in Catalonia
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Montserrat Baras
Abstract
This article explores how multi-dimensional competition party systems shape the intraparty opinion structure in political parties. The aim is to extend and test May’s law of ideological curvilinear disparity to multi-dimensional settings. The data are based on the case of Catalonia, a party system characterized by the relevant presence of non-state wide parties, where political competition is based on two main dimensions: the left right axis and the subjective national identity one. The paper shows that while the Catalan parties do fit with May’s law in the left-right axis, this is not the case in the national identity one. In addition, it further illustrates how the interaction between both axes affects party competition and internal opinion differences between leaders, activists and voters. The results attest the complexity of the intraparty opinion structures in multidimensional competition systems.
Acknowledgments
This study is part of the SEJ2006-15076 project “Non State Wide Parties and the Spanish Political System. A comparative perspective” financed by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.
Methodological appendix
These are the main technical characteristics of the 2004 Opinion Poll in Catalonia carried out by the Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials (Barcelona). The survey was carried out among a target population of people over the age of 18 living in Catalonia. A total of 1201 computer-aided telephone interviews were carried out. The margin of error associated with the whole survey is ±2.9%, for a reliability level of 95% with p=q=0.5. The sample was built up following a random design stratified into two stages. In the first place, the interviews were distributed in accordance with the distribution of the population according to municipality-sized sections. The selection of the municipalities within each section was done at random. Residences were then chosen at random, and the individuals to be interviewed were selected according to quotas for sex and age, in accordance with the real population distribution. The fieldwork was carried out between the 18th and 25th of October 2004, by the company Central de Campo S.A.
The results and representative nature of the questionnaires handed out to Catalan political parties during the summer of 2004 can be seen in Table A.1.
Attendees and Response Levels of the Different Parties.
| Party | Members* | Conference attendees | Questionnaires | % Members’ Quest. | % Atendees’ Quest. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDC | 51,000 | 1900 | 701 | 1.4 | 36.9 |
| UDC | 8000 | 600 | 168 | 2.1 | 28.0 |
| PSC | 30,000 | 1000 | 400 | 1.3 | 40.0 |
| ERC | 9000 | 2000 | 1000 | 11.1 | 50.0 |
| IC | 8000 | 800 | 490 | 6.1 | 61.3 |
*Approximate estimate.
In each party the activists were separated from the leaders. The operationalization and results of the procedure can be seen here and in Table A.2.
Number of Leaders, Activists and Voters per Party.
| ICV | ERC | PSC | CDC | UDC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaders | 27 | 51 | 19 | 30 | 7 |
| Activists | 463 | 1053 | 381 | 671 | 161 |
| Voters | 75* | 214 | 333 | 241** |
*ICV-EUiA voters. **CiU voters.
Percentages of Public Posts among the Responses from Each Conference.
| % in total | ICV | ERC | PSC | CDC | UDC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 17.8 | 25.7 | 37.0 | 30.5 | 28.0 |
| Local | 16.5 | 18.4 | 37.0 | 27.4 | 28.0 |
| No | 82.2 | 72.0 | 59.3 | 65.3 | 66.0 |
| N/A | 0 | 2.3 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 6.0 |
Source: Own preparation, from data from surveys performed at the conferences.
Disparities Between Leaders, Activists and Voters on Different Issues.
| Mean (std deviation) | ICV | ERC | PSC | CDC | UDC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Self-positioning in the Left/Right axis (1=extreme left, 7=extreme right) | |||||
| Leaders | 2.00 (0.000) | 2.21 (0.419) | 2.42 (0.507) | 3.07 (0.530) | 3.14 (0.378) |
| Activists | 1.96 (0.406) | 2.15 (0.584) | 2.30 (0.529) | 3.37 (0.798) | 3.95 (0.757) |
| Voters* | 2.38 (0.759) | 2.35 (0.698) | 2.70 (0.919) | 3.99 (1.043) | |
| B. Subjective national identity (1=Only Spanish, 5=Only Catalan) | |||||
| Leaders | 3.93 (0.730) | 4.95 (0.229) | 3.33 (0.594) | 4.76 (0.435) | 4.50 (0.548) |
| Activists | 3.91 (0.727) | 4.90 (0.431) | 3.41 (0.647) | 4.61 (0.626) | 3.82 (1.091) |
| Voters* | 3.26 (0.958) | 4.22 (0.781) | 2.84 (1.048) | 3.54 (1.000) | |
Source: Own preparation, from data from surveys performed at conferences and the 2004 ICPS survey. In brackets, the standard deviation.
*For ICV data from the ICV-EuiA coalition was used, and for CDC and UDC, the data from CiU voters.
LEADERS: Members of the party executive and parliamentarians (including provincial MPs). The questionnaire did not include any question referring to members of the party with posts in the Catalan or Spanish government.
ACTIVISTS: The questionnaires in the conference excluding the leaders.
VOTERS: Those interviewed who recalled having voted for the party in the 2003 regional elections.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Switzerland’s Political Performance Compared: Determinants of a Success Story
- How Does May’s Law Work in Multi-dimensional Competition? Intra-party Opinion Structure in Catalonia
- Capacities, Expertise, Empowerment – Rethinking the Anthropology of Participation
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Switzerland’s Political Performance Compared: Determinants of a Success Story
- How Does May’s Law Work in Multi-dimensional Competition? Intra-party Opinion Structure in Catalonia
- Capacities, Expertise, Empowerment – Rethinking the Anthropology of Participation
- On Sensitivity and Disability: Political Consumerism, Social-Political Entrepreneurship and Social Justice
- Japan’s Economic Assistance to the Republic of Korea, 1977–1981: An Analysis within the Framework of the US-Japan Security Burden-sharing Scheme
- The Municipality as Negotiator in Multilevel Governance of Health Care
- Public Policy Design: How to Learn From Failures
- The Effects of Political Socialization Programmes: The Youth Parliament Experience in Brazil
- Using Discourse Network Analysis to Measure Discourse Coalitions: Towards a Formal Analysis of Political Discourse
- Paternalism, Public Health Ethics, and Equality
