Candidate campaigning in parliamentary systems

Abstract

The individualization of politics is usually studied in relation to party leaders. Using new data from the Norwegian Candidate Survey 2009 and in-depth interviews with 29 top candidates, in this article we study whether candidates in the Norwegian 2009 parliamentary election ran party-centred or individualized campaigns. We distinguish between the organizational aspects and the communicative focus of the candidates’ campaigns. Moreover, we argue theoretically and show empirically how campaigns can be localized but still party-centred. The analysis shows that there are low levels of individualized campaigning in Norway, but that there are differences between candidates, especially based on party affiliation. Moreover, the differences are first and foremost related to the communicative focus, not the organizational aspects. While candidates highlight the importance of localizing the campaign, the results show that this is mostly about ‘translating’ the national campaign strategy to the regional or local level, not about independent local strategies.