Erik Baltz & Sven Kosanke 
Parties, Institutions and Preferences 
The Shape and Impact of Partisan Politics

The book focuses on the traditional view of party-voter representation, parties and their respective positions, and party systems as central actors, the role of governmental institutions as well on policy inputs, outputs, and outcomes and the agenda setting process. The fundamental characteristics of the political actors such as political parties and the party system and their ideological composition are dealt with. The role governmental institutions play in the policy making process are exemplified covering the characteristics of the agenda-setting power and the consequences for the government’s survival. The results of these mechanisms are analyzed while focusing on some classical policies of comparative research such as social and environmental policy.

Table of Content

Ökologie vs. Ökonomie. Zum Einfluss von Umweltperformanz und Parteienwettbewerb auf „grüne“ Parteipositionen.- Women’s role in promoting environmental issues: Evidence from 19 industrialized democracies.- Zwischenparteilicher Wettbewerb und Ideologische Diversität.- Larger or Smaller Inter-Party Policy Differences? What Do Citizens and MPs Believe?.- The ‘Lifespan’ of Green Parties in Western Europe: An Evaluation.- Bringing Cohesion In.- Regierungsdauer in Mittel- und Osteuropa. Ein dreidimensionales Erklärungsmodell.- Do too many cooks spoil the broth? How a cabinet’s internal decision-making impacts cabinets’ survival.- Honesty is the best policy? The short- and long-term electoral costs of (welfare) pledge breaking and their economic and political scope conditions.- The politics of unemployment benefit reforms.- Umweltschutz zwischen Staat und Markt: Regulierung und Performanz in 37 Ländern 1970-2010.- Politische Unterstützung und Systempersistenz unter Einfluss des Klimawandels.-Parties and Diffusion: The Way Forward.- Pfadabhängigkeit als Forschungsstrategie: Bestandsaufnahme – Perspektiven – Operationalisierung.- Projection Effects: Coping With Assimilation and Contrast.- Quantitative Forschung in Lateinamerika: Einige ungebetene Hinweise für harte Empiriker.

About the author

Erik Baltz is Ph D student and lecturer at the Institute for Political Science and Communication Studies at the University of Greifswald. 






Sven Kosanke is a journalist and project manager at Katapult Magazine. 





​Susanne Pickel is professor for comparative politics at the Department of Political Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen.