Introduction

This volume is a continuation and extension of our previous study on West European politics in the age of globalization (Kriesi et al. 2008). Aspects of continuity prevail with respect to the main theoretical questions introduced in Chapter 1, but we now analyse how the integration–demarcation cleavage manifests itself in various political arenas. We extend the research design as well as the empirical programme to include elections to the European Parliament and non-institutionalized forms of political participation, hence political protest, in the analysis. Furthermore, we have updated our data on national elections, and we scrutinize public debates about the three issues central to globalization processes: immigration, economic liberalization, and European integration.

We primarily deal with the programmes political and other actors offer, and hence with the supply side; our analysis of citizens' attitudes is restricted to Chapter 3. As we rely on secondary data sources and common statistical procedures to explore demand, the chapter at hand focuses on the most important aspects of how we study the supply side of political competition. However, the expression of protest transcends this dichotomy somewhat, as our analysis of political protest is neither wholly supply-oriented nor entirely demand-oriented.