Partisan Dealignment

Partisan dealignment the process where individuals no longer identify themselves on a long-term basis by being associated with a certain political party.

Partisan dealignment is a decline in the extent to which people align themselves with a party by identifying with it. What is seen as the ‘normal’ support of parties falls, and a growing number of electors become ‘floating’ voters. The main consequence of partisan dealignment has been greater electoral volatility. This has been reflected in increased uncertainty about electoral outcomes, as ‘swings’ from one party to another become larger and, perhaps, in the rise of new parties or the decline of old ones. A variety of explanations have been offered for partisan dealignment:

• Increased education. The expansion of education in recent decades has encouraged voters to question traditional, party-based loyalties, and perhaps to take policies and issues more seriously

. • Impact of the media. Voters have access to wider sources of political information, particularly through television. They are therefore less dependent on party-supporting newspapers.

• Ideological change. Shifts in parties’ policies and ideological beliefs since the 1980s (often in response to class dealignment) have alienated some of their traditional supporters.

• Decline in ‘social capital’. As post-industrial societies have become more diverse, fluid and consumer-orientated, social attachments and loyalties of all kinds have weakened. see Bowling Alone