Simona Bevern addresses the questions what and why political parties communicate in the time between elections, focusing on the dynamic rise and fall of policy issues. Despite the central role of political parties and the alleged importance of communication, only few scholars have taken a closer look at the content and dynamics of parties' communication in routine times of politics. In this study, interactions between parties' communication, their party competitors, the legislative agenda and public opinion are studied in Germany for the years 20042009, making use of a novel data set and quantitative methods.

Study in Social Sciences Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext

After successful completion of the PhD program in political science at the Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences of Mannheim University, Simona Bevern is now working in research management.

Inhalt
Dynamic patterns of inter-party competition.- Dynamics between parliamentary activities and overall party communication.- Dynamics between public opinion and overall party communication.- The Europeanization of party communication.- Methods of analysis: time series and multi-level regression models.