posted on 2014-11-17, 11:39authored byLaura Morales, S Pardos-Prado, V Ros
This article examines the changing dynamics of electoral competition around an increasingly salient issue in Spanish politics: immigration. We argue that, although the issue is close to a ‘valence’ one in terms of the views of the electorate, the behaviour of the three main state-wide parties – analysed with data from party manifestos for the 1993–2011 period and of electoral campaign rhetoric between 2000 and 2011 – departs from the expectations of issue ownership competition. The result for the Spanish mainstream has therefore been a recurring ambivalence between adopting clear spatial positions on the issue and playing the competence card.
History
Citation
Morales, L., Pardos-Prado, S. and Ros, V. (2014), Issue emergence and the dynamics of electoral competition around immigration in Spain, Acta Politica, advance online publication 29 August,
Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE/Department of Politics and International Relations