Institutionally-induced pendulum? An assessment of state-level influences on postwar Australian federal voting

The extent of state-level influences on federal voting behaviour in Australia has been debated for many years. In this paper, I extend and improve on previous research by using the most advanced techniques (multilevel modelling) available for analysing survey data in this context, and present result...

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Main Author: Charnock, David
Format: Journal Article
Published: Carfax Publisher 2003
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/25065
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author Charnock, David
author_facet Charnock, David
author_sort Charnock, David
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The extent of state-level influences on federal voting behaviour in Australia has been debated for many years. In this paper, I extend and improve on previous research by using the most advanced techniques (multilevel modelling) available for analysing survey data in this context, and present results based on an extensive investigation of postwar Australian elections.The results conclusively show that the overall extent of measurable state-level effects on federal voting over the period is relatively very small, despite the institutional significance of the states. In an attempt to reconcile these two facts, I therefore propose an institutional explanation of the small extent of state-level effects. I argue that the representation entitlements of the states in the House of Representatives would tend to result in the overall extent of state-level effects being relatively small because they introduce a self-correcting, 'pendulum' element into party competition. I investigate some hypotheses that follow from this argument, demonstrate that the evidence from the multilevel modelling is consistent with these hypotheses and conclude that this institutional element is a significant part of the explanation of the apparent unimportance of state-level influences.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-250652018-09-10T03:18:51Z Institutionally-induced pendulum? An assessment of state-level influences on postwar Australian federal voting Charnock, David Australian history state-level elections federal elections Australian elections The extent of state-level influences on federal voting behaviour in Australia has been debated for many years. In this paper, I extend and improve on previous research by using the most advanced techniques (multilevel modelling) available for analysing survey data in this context, and present results based on an extensive investigation of postwar Australian elections.The results conclusively show that the overall extent of measurable state-level effects on federal voting over the period is relatively very small, despite the institutional significance of the states. In an attempt to reconcile these two facts, I therefore propose an institutional explanation of the small extent of state-level effects. I argue that the representation entitlements of the states in the House of Representatives would tend to result in the overall extent of state-level effects being relatively small because they introduce a self-correcting, 'pendulum' element into party competition. I investigate some hypotheses that follow from this argument, demonstrate that the evidence from the multilevel modelling is consistent with these hypotheses and conclude that this institutional element is a significant part of the explanation of the apparent unimportance of state-level influences. 2003 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/25065 10.1080/1036114032000056288 Carfax Publisher fulltext
spellingShingle Australian history
state-level elections
federal elections
Australian elections
Charnock, David
Institutionally-induced pendulum? An assessment of state-level influences on postwar Australian federal voting
title Institutionally-induced pendulum? An assessment of state-level influences on postwar Australian federal voting
title_full Institutionally-induced pendulum? An assessment of state-level influences on postwar Australian federal voting
title_fullStr Institutionally-induced pendulum? An assessment of state-level influences on postwar Australian federal voting
title_full_unstemmed Institutionally-induced pendulum? An assessment of state-level influences on postwar Australian federal voting
title_short Institutionally-induced pendulum? An assessment of state-level influences on postwar Australian federal voting
title_sort institutionally-induced pendulum? an assessment of state-level influences on postwar australian federal voting
topic Australian history
state-level elections
federal elections
Australian elections
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/25065