When a Movement Becomes a Party: The 2015 Barcelona City Council Election

Online network organization of Barcelona en Comú, an emergent movement-party

The emerging grassroots party Barcelona en Comú won the 2015 Barcelona City Council election. This candidacy was devised by activists involved in the Spanish 15M movement to transform citizen outrage into political change. On the one hand, the 15M movement was based on a decentralized structure. On the other hand, political science literature postulates that parties develop oligarchical leaders...

Why Is There No Partisan Competition in City Council Elections?: The Role of Election Law

They win, I leave: the impact of the Northern League party on foreign internal migration

This paper studies how electoral outcomes can shape individuals’ migration decisions. Using the Italian mayoral elections data from 2001 to 2014, I study how foreign citizens’ internal migration with a regular residency permit in North-Italy can be affected by the election of a mayor affiliated to the Northern League (Lega Nord) party, a far-right political movement characterized by a strong fe...

Third-Party Actors and the Success of Democracy: How Electoral Commissions, Courts, and Observers Shape Incentives for Electoral Manipulation and Post-Election Protests

When and how do third-party actors—most prominently electoral commissions, courts, and observers—contribute to the integrity of the electoral process? We approach these questions by studying how third-party actors shape politicians’ incentives to comply with the outcomes of elections. Third parties are most beneficial in close elections, when the threat of a post-election confrontation alone fa...

Does the Sunflower Bloom in the Local Politics? Exploring the Performance of Young Candidates in 2014 Village and Li Election

One feature of the Sunflower Movement in early 2014 is the increasing political participation among young Taiwanese. Following the trend, opposition parties and civic groups declared programs to support young Taiwanese running in the village and li chief election, both of which are the legacy of the Japanese colonial social control as well as the foundation of party machine during KMT military ...