In this paper, we argue that the disappearance of jobs that served as the backbone of a politically moderate working class fragmented parties on the left. First, we build a simple model of strategic platform competition to show that a decrease in the cohesiveness of the left vote fragments the...

There is considerable evidence supporting the prediction of spatial models of politics that parties adapt to electoral rules. But as in economic markets, adaptation can occur either when parties behave strategically in the face of new incentives, or when electoral competition at the district...