Document Type
Article
Department
Political Science
Publication Date
11-1-2020
Abstract
© 2020 Società Italiana di Scienza Politica. In the aftermath of a European Parliament (EP) election, there are normally two prominent aspects that receive attention by scholars and experts: the turnout rate and whether the Second Order Election (SOE) model proposed by Reif and Schmitt (1980) still applies. That model is based on the idea that, because EP elections do not themselves provide enough stimulus as to replace the concernsnormally present at national elections, the outcomes of EP elections in any participating country manifest themselves as a sort of distorted mirror of national (Parliamentary) elections in that country. The mirror is distorted because those national concerns are modified, not so much by the concerns arising from the European context in which EP elections are held as simply by the fact that EP elections are not national elections. In particular, at EP elections, national executive power is not at stake. The same party or parties will rule in each country after an EP election as ruled there before.
Publication Title
Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica
Volume
50
Issue
3
First Page
307
Last Page
313
ISSN
00488402
DOI
10.1017/ipo.2020.32
