This is a past event
Department of Politics and International Relations Seminar Series Wednesday November 6th 2019, 2.00–4pm Room: EWF61
The Scottish Party System at 20: a thaw in a frozen party system?
Dr Malcolm Harvey (University of Aberdeen)
The Scottish Parliament turned 20 this year. Intended as ‘the settled will of the Scottish people’, devolution has proved anything but settled. Changes in the party system have been the result of this change in institutional setting and a driver for further developments. Initially, the parties remained ‘frozen’ in a similar alignment to pre-devolution politics, however a proportional electoral system and a change in political focus has led, since 2007, to a thaw in this frozen system. This talk seeks to place these developments in a theoretical context and argues that while the change to the institutional setting was a fundamental change to how politics operated in Scotland, it was only when the parties themselves began to adapt to this new setting, with new electoral strategies and competition, that the system really began to change.
Dr Malcolm Harvey is a lecturer in the Department of Politics & International Relations, and an Associate Fellow of the Centre on Constitutional Change.
The seminar will be chaired by Dr Lynn Bennie
All Welcome! Biscuits will be provided, please bring your own cup of tea/coffee!