Valence beyond consensus: Party competence and policy dispersion from a comparative perspective

摘要: Part of the growing literature on valence politics interprets electoral impact party competence perceptions as resulting from consensus over ideological positions in contemporary societies. The relationship between and consensus, however, is usually based either disputable theoretical assumptions or single-country analyses. In this paper I empirically test linking policy a comparative perspective across 21 political systems. results show no evidence that associated with some effect correlated certain forms dispersion, such polarisation. implication are significantly informed by spatial-based considerations discussed.