BEYOND OUTBIDDING: SOCIAL CLEAVAGES, ELECTORAL RULES AND INTRAETHNIC PARTY COMPETITION.

Author

Soran Tarkhani, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

5-1-2019

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Bloom, Stephen

Abstract

The outbidding model of intraethnic party competition has dominated the literature on ethnic party competition. The emphasis of this literature on radicalization as an inevitable consequence of intraethnic competition has recently faced fair criticism. Scholars have presented new empirical evidence for intraethnic party competition that runs counter to the predictions of outbidding. Nevertheless, the major assumptions of the outbidding model persist. Scholars generally focus on ethnic outgroups as a source of intraethnic party competition, disregarding other factors that affect competition between ethnic parties within the same ethnic group. My approach to study intraethnic party competition is different. Instead of merely focusing on ethnic politics as the main factor driving intraethnic competition, I investigate other factors that determine intraethnic competition beyond ethnic politics, including social cleavages, and the electoral system. I submit that intraethnic party competition cannot be boiled down simply to ethnic politics. Ethnic parties within the same ethnic group compete over various issues ranging from socioeconomic concerns, to foreign policy and regionalists.