A Theory of Political Change

This chapter outlines a theory of political change. This theory conceives of party competition as a constant struggle between dominant parties, the key players on the political market trying to defend their market power, and challenger parties, acting as disruptive political entrepreneurs trying to challenge this dominance through innovation. The chapter then explores the interplay of the three main conceptual building blocks: dominance, innovation, and transformation. Innovation is the process through which political parties introduce a new or previously ignored policy issue and aim to discredit dominant parties by employing antiestablishment rhetoric. Political parties will only engage in innovation when the potential benefits of doing so outweigh the costs. Challenger parties, especially those within permissive electoral systems, are most likely to engage in innovation, because of the costs and potential electoral risks to dominant parties associated with mobilizing issues different than the ones they traditionally do. Parties that wish to innovate are likely to choose issues that allow for a high degree of appropriability, issues that are not easily subsumed within the dominant dimension and that may internally split dominant parties.