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Party Identification, Retrospective Voting, and Moderating Elections in a Federal SystemWest Germany, 1961-1989University of California, Los Angeles
Stanford University
Stanford University The hypotheses of retrospective voting and moderating elections rationalize some empirical regularities in U.S. presidential and congressional elections that posed a challenge for the party identification hypothesis. Here, these hypotheses are applied to the German federal system that is characterized by staggered national and Land (provincial) elections. They are tested using data on real GNP growth at the national and Land levels, party vote shares in national and Land elections, party seat shares in national and Land parliaments, and the party composition of national and Land governments over the time period 1961-1989. Perhaps surprisingly, all three hypothesesparty identification, retrospective voting, and moderating electionsfind empirical support when applied to the German federal system. Although these hypotheses were formulated with reference to U.S. political institutions, they travel wellbar some modifications that take into account special features of the German political system.
Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4,
420-449 (1997) This article has been cited by other articles:
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