Beyond Self-placement: Why Nationalism is a Better Predictor of Electoral Behaviour in the Basque Country

• Main Authors: JOSÉP Mª VALLÉS, Robert Liñeira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) 2014-01-01
• Series: Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (REIS)
• Subjects: Voting Behavior; Elections; Left-Right Scale; Nationalism; Basque Country
• Online Access: http://reis.cis.es/REIS/PDF/REIS_146_03_ENGLISH1397046089568.pdf

Most analysts agree that in the Basque Country, the nationalism cleavage is more important for political party competition than the left-right divide. Recent studies, however, suggest that self-placement on the left-right scale is a better predictor of electoral behaviour than self-placement on a nationalism scale. We have attempted to solve this seeming paradox by showing that self-placement along the left-right axis is related to preferences regarding many different areas, and is therefore not necessarily coincident with the classic understanding of 'left' and 'right'. Once the preferences regarding certain issues were operationalised, the Basque nationalism-Spanish nationalism divide was found to be a more important factor for electoral decisions than the left-right divide.