Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
10-2015
Abstract
Economic crisis and the resulting need for austerity budgets have divided many governing parties and coalitions in Europe despite strong party discipline in the legislative voting on these harsh budgets. We measure these divisions using automated text analysis methods to scale the positions that legislators express in budget debates in an effort to avoid punishment by voters for supporting austerity measures while still adhering to strict party discipline by voting along party lines. Our test case is Ireland, a country that has experienced periods of rapid economic growth as well as one deep financial and economic crisis. Tracking dissent from 1987 to 2013, we show that austerity measures undermine government cohesion as verbal opposition markedly increases in direct response to the economic pain felt in a legislator’s constituency. The economic vulnerability of a legislator’s constituency also directly explains position taking on austerity budgets among both government and opposition.
Discipline
Political Science | Social Influence and Political Communication
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Journal of Politics
Volume
77
Issue
4
First Page
1157
Last Page
1175
ISSN
0022-3816
Identifier
10.1086/682670
Publisher
The University of Chicago Press
Citation
HERZOG, Alexander, & BENOIT, Kenneth.(2015). The most unkindest cuts: Speaker selection and expressed government dissent during economic crisis. Journal of Politics, 77(4), 1157-1175.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3980
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1086/682670