Understanding political communication by coalition parties requires appreciating the tension between demonstrating commonality for governance versus emphasizing individuality for electoral success. This study argues that party behavior adapts along the electoral cycle - highlighting differentiation near elections, while showcasing compromise in the middle of legislative terms when governing coalitions implement shared policy agendas.
Using a large corpus of press releases (over 21k) from coalition parties between 2000 and 2010, we analyze how their messaging shifts. We find strong evidence supporting our claim about electoral cycles influencing communication strategies:
• Near Elections: Coalition parties significantly differentiate themselves in public communication.
• Middle of Term: Communication emphasizes compromise and shared policy agendas.
These findings have important implications for political representation research and offer insights into understanding how multiparty systems manage collective governance while competing electorally.
| Coalition Governments and Party Competition: Political communication strategies of coalition parties was authored by Heike Kluever and Inaki Sagarzazu. It was published by Cambridge in PSR&M in 2017. |
