@phdthesis{Duepont2017,
  author    = {Nils D{\"u}pont},
  title     = {(Ir)Rational Choices? The Impact of Learning on Party Policy Moves},
  journal    = {(Ir)Rationale Entscheidungen? Der Einfluss von Lernen auf die ideologische Ver{\"a}nderung von Parteien},
  url       = {https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:9-002842-3},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {The thesis is about ideological change of political parties and the way parties gather information, learn by updating their beliefs and ultimately make \"rational choices\". Analyzing 1451 policy moves of 137 parties in 22 OECD-countries from 1950 to 2013 it is a story about rational learning, about emulating other parties abroad and chasing public opinion. Yet, the \"internal life\" of a party conditions the effects when activists have some influence over the formation of party policy. As volunteers facing a scarcity of time and resources, members of the party on the ground have a different information horizon, and may arrive at the opposite decision where to move than party elites which (can) rest their decision on a broader set of information resources. In some parties the party on the ground thus constitutes an \"internal wall of resistance\" to the strategy party elites would choose, if they were free from constraints.},
  language  = {en}
}