The party programs of the major political parties have become longer and longer over the decades. Some parties need several hundred pages to explain their goals and positions. But can citizens distinguish when parties have concrete goals and when the
illustrate how transnational alliances help facilitate learning and policy emulation between national political parties.
Research on party competition usually focuses on domestic factors driving party behaviour, such as public opinion, rival parties, and economic conditions. More recently, scholars have started to look beyond the domestic level by examining how foreign factors – such as the world economy – impact on the behaviour of political parties.
As part of this development, scholars now examine whether and how political parties respond to foreign parties. This effort is motivated by anecdotal evidence suggesting that domestic political parties learn from and emulate foreign parties. A few examples include Tony Blair’s ‘New Labour’ drawing inspiration from Bill Clinton’s ‘New Democrat’ campaign, the Danish Conservatives taking cues from the UK Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher, and more recently, the German party Die Linke adopting policies from the Gr