Regional media and non-statewide party voting in Europe

Parker, J. (2023) Regional media and non-statewide party voting in Europe. Regional and Federal Studies, (doi: 10.1080/13597566.2023.2189240) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

The media has been repeatedly demonstrated to have a large effect on voting behaviour and voter information worldwide, and to be crucial in the establishment of collective identities. Relatively unexplored in the field of regional politics are the effects of media on substate party system divergence and non-statewide party success. This article takes Europe as its focus and demonstrates how strongly regionalized media environments contribute to the development of distinctive party systems at the regional level. I argue that the effects of media works chiefly through the establishment of a ‘banal regionalism’ and by increasing voter information, thereby boosting issues traditionally associated with regionalist success such as socio-cultural distinctiveness and regional autonomy. The paper demonstrates this through a regression analysis of 69 European ‘Small Worlds’ and an illustrative case study of the United Kingdom.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Parker, Dr Jonathan
• Authors: Parker, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Regional and Federal Studies
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1359-7566
• ISSN (Online): 1743-9434
• Published Online: 20 March 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Author
• First Published: First published in Regional and Federal Studies 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License