The Europeanization of Politics

Reviews / Votes

'To what degree have political ideologies in different European nations converged over time? Are national politics becoming European politics? In this book, Daniele Caramani provides a deeply informed, insightful, and persuasive account of how national cleavages, party politics, and electoral behavior have been transformed across Europe since the nineteenth century. The result is an immense contribution to our understanding of the political development of Europe.' Gary Marks, Burton Craige Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Research Chair in Multilevel Governance, VU Amsterdam 'With this book, Caramani, the authority on party nationalization in Europe, extends his ideas and methodological tools to explore Europeanization. In spite of many cross-national differences, Caramani convincingly argues about the commonality among voters and parties across Europe. By weaving together a wealth of electoral, survey, and other types of data, the book provides a weighty and informative analysis.' Scott Morgenstern, University of Pittsburgh 'In the tradition of Stein Rokkan, Caramani's work seeks broad scope and long reach in portraying the development of party system configurations in Europe. Caramani's study is a necessary and welcome foundation to more fine-grained analysis of strategic interaction among parties. His research uncovers lasting patterns and slow-moving trends across European democracies, such as the early development of matching cleavage alignments and cohesion within party families or over-time swings in the fortunes of party families across Europe, as well as the correspondence of programmatic configurations of parties at both the European and the national system levels. Any investigation of democratic party competition will have to draw on Caramani's findings.' Herbert Kitschelt, George V. Allen Professor of International Relations, Duke University