Allen, Nicholas and Bara, Judith and Bartle, John (2017) Finding a niche? Challenger parties and issue emphasis in the 2015 televised leaders' debates. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 19 (4). pp. 807-823. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148117715014
Allen, Nicholas and Bara, Judith and Bartle, John (2017) Finding a niche? Challenger parties and issue emphasis in the 2015 televised leaders' debates. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 19 (4). pp. 807-823. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148117715014
Allen, Nicholas and Bara, Judith and Bartle, John (2017) Finding a niche? Challenger parties and issue emphasis in the 2015 televised leaders' debates. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 19 (4). pp. 807-823. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148117715014
Abstract
Do leaders of challenger parties adopt a ?niche? strategy in national televised debates? This paper answers this question by analysing the content of the two multiparty televised leaders? debates that took place ahead of the 2015 British general election. Using computer-aided text analysis (CATA), it provides reliable and valid measures of what the leaders said in both debates and develops our theoretical understanding of how challenger-party leaders make their pitches. It finds that the UKIP, Green, SNP and Plaid Cymru leaders all demonstrated a degree of ?nicheness? in their contributions in comparison with the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour leaders. It also finds that the challenger-party leaders placed a greater emphasis on their core concerns. Nevertheless, the debates covered much policy ground. Their structure obliged all party leaders to talk about mainstream issues.
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Uncontrolled Keywords: | 2015 general election; British party system; challenger parties; issue emphasis; niche parties; party leaders; televised debates |
Subjects: | J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain |
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Government, Department of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 04 Jun 2017 16:48 |
Last Modified: | 30 Oct 2024 19:36 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/19769 |
Available files
Filename: Niche parties and debates MS FOR PURE.doc