PARTIES' RESPONSES TO ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION What is Left for the Left and Right for the Right?

Do parties adjust their economic policy positions in response to the international economy? I explore how international economic conditions affect Western Europe's welfare states by quantitatively analysing parties' ideological dynamics over time. Considering the convergence-divergence argument of the globalization literature, I evaluate the hypothesis that economic openness motivates parties to adjust their economic policies. My empirical analyses reveal that both left-wing and right-wing parties do indeed systematically adjust their positions in response to economic changes associated with globalization. However, the results contradict the neoliberal convergence argument, as parties shift in varying directions in response to different indicators of openness. Importantly, the differences between left-wing and right-wing parties' responses are not statistically significant, pointing to the importance of including right-wing parties in the globalization literature.