Beyond the Heyday of Party Democracy

Abstract

Scholars of political attitudes have identified a twofold challenge to party democracy. Populism and technocracy simultaneously oppose representation through political parties, while maintaining contrasting ideal images of governance. Which factors explain populist and technocratic attitudes? And how do these political attitudes affect political behaviour? This thesis investigates the mechanisms that underly five political attitudes: pluralism, elitism, populism, anti-politics and technocracy. I explore the relation between these attitudes and how they affect political behaviour. A series of hypotheses on political attitudes are tested using multiple linear regression and multinomial logistic regression. I analyse political and socio-demographic characteristics with individual survey data from the Netherlands. The results show a dichotomous opposition between citizens displaying pluralist and elitist attitudes, they are supportive of the status-quo, and people with populist, anti-political and technocratic attitudes who oppose the established political order. I highlight the importance of external efficacy as an explanatory factor for political attitudes. Implications of the findings are discussed in the broader context of debates on the challenges to party democracy and the emergence of technocratic attitudes.