Independent Relics or Heralds of Party Decline? The Role of Non-National Lists in Local Politics An Heyerick Examination Commission Prof. Dr. Kristof Steyvers, Universiteit Gent (Supervisor) Prof. Dr. Herwig Reynaert, Universiteit Gent (Co-supervisor) Prof. Dr. Tony Valcke, Universiteit Gent (Chairman) Prof. Dr. Marcel Boogers, Universiteit Twente Prof. Dr. Carl Devos, Universiteit Gent Prof. Dr. Johan Ackaert, Universiteit Hasselt Dr. Linze Schaap, Universiteit Tilburg Dr. Koenraad De Ceuninck, Universiteit Gent ii Faculteit Politieke en Sociale Wetenschappen Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen Independent Relics or Heralds of Party Decline? The Role of Non-National Lists in Local Politics Dissertation to obtain the degree of doctor in Political Sciences 2016 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Kristof Steyvers Co-supervisor: Prof. Dr. Herwig Reynaert iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vii List of tables...................................................................................................................... viii Dankwoord ......................................................................................................................... ix 1 General Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The melting pot of nonpartisan actors in local politics ........................................................... 1 1.2 Research questions and analytical framework......................................................................... 4 1.3 Outline of this book ................................................................................................................. 7 2 On Parties and Party Change ........................................................................................9 2.1 Party definitions and party functions ....................................................................................... 9 2.2 Party models .......................................................................................................................... 12 2.3 The decline of parties ............................................................................................................ 15 2.4 The distinctive character of local politics .............................................................................. 18 2.5 Non-national lists in local politics ......................................................................................... 21 3 Methodological Approach: Pragmatism and Mixed Methods .................................. 23 4 The Case of Flanders ................................................................................................... 29 Part 1: The Actual Independence of Non-National Lists in Flanders 5 Local Strongholds or National Disciples? Decisional Autonomy and Political Relevance of Non-National Lists ....................................................................................... 33 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 33 5.2 Classifying local candidate lists: independence reconsidered ............................................... 35 5.3 Applying the DA-typology to non-national lists in Flanders ................................................ 39 5.4 Occurrence and political relevance of different types of non-national candidate lists in Flanders ............................................................................................................................................. 42 5.4.1 Pre-electoral configuration ............................................................................................ 43 5.4.2 Representation ............................................................................................................... 48 5.4.3 Majority formation ........................................................................................................ 50 5.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 52 6 Decisional Autonomy in Motion: Party Change in Local Candidate Lists................ 55 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 55 6.2 Analysing party change ......................................................................................................... 56 6.3 Qualitative research design.................................................................................................... 61 6.4 Changes in decisional autonomy ........................................................................................... 63 6.5 Internal and external factors causing change in decisional autonomy .................................. 66 6.5.1 Goal priorities ................................................................................................................ 66 6.5.2 Internal power structure ................................................................................................. 69 6.5.3 Political institutions ....................................................................................................... 70 iv 6.5.4 Local and national party system characteristics ............................................................ 71 6.5.5 System-level party change ............................................................................................. 73 6.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 75 7 Fifty Shades of Rokkan? Reconceiving Local Party System Nationalization in Belgium ............................................................................................................................... 79 7.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 79 7.2 Local Party System Nationalization: Towards a Reconceptualization .................................. 80 7.2.1 Reassessing Iconic Focus and Locus in Party System Nationalization ......................... 80 7.2.2 Reconfiguring the Canvas: Indexing Local Party System Nationalization ................... 82 7.3 Getting the Picture: Accounting for Variation in Local Party System Nationalization......... 85 7.3.1 Explanandum: nationalized local party system ............................................................. 85 7.3.2 Explanans: between social morphology and political ecology ...................................... 86 7.4 Results: logistic regression .................................................................................................... 93 7.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 96 Part 2: The Partisan Character of Non-National Lists in Flanders 8 To party or not to Party? A Functional Analysis of Non-National lists .................... 101 8.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 101 8.2 Research design ................................................................................................................... 103 9 Candidate Recruitment ............................................................................................. 107 9.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 107 9.2 Local candidate recruitment in Belgium ............................................................................. 110 9.2.1 Legal requirements ...................................................................................................... 110 9.2.2 List composition in traditional local parties in Flanders ............................................. 110 9.3 The list composition process of non-national lists in Flanders............................................ 112 9.3.1 Selection criteria .......................................................................................................... 112 9.3.2 Recruitment problems ................................................................................................. 114 9.3.3 Independent candidates ............................................................................................... 115 9.3.4 Recruitment ability ...................................................................................................... 116 9.3.5 Interim conclusions ..................................................................................................... 118 9.4 Role and origin of independent candidates ......................................................................... 119 9.4.1 Associated lists ............................................................................................................ 119 9.4.2 Local cartel lists ........................................................................................................... 120 9.4.3 Independent lists .......................................................................................................... 122 9.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 124 10 Organizational