El liderazgo de Blair y Aznar hacia el centro político Articles uri icon

publication date

  • October 2008

start page

  • 69

end page

  • 103

volume

  • 142

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0048-7694

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1989-0613

abstract

  • The spatial models derived from Downs"s theory assume that voters" preferences
    are exogenous to the political process. According to this vision, vote-maximising
    parties have to move towards the median voter and not vice versa. In this article
    we challenge this assumption and study the capacity of political parties to lead the
    preferences of the electorate. The article focuses on two cases of political moderation: Tony Blair in the United Kingdom and Jose Maria Aznar in Spain. Our results confirm that to some extent these political leaders were able to modify the preferences of the electorate, although their capacity to do so depended on voters" identification with or loyalty towards the party.

subjects

  • Politics

keywords

  • endogenous preferences; leadership; loyalty; blair: aznar