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Are moderate parties rewarded in multiparty systems? Cross‐national analyses estimate the vote shares for approximately eighty parties across twelve Western European democracies. The results indicate that parties' vote shares increase with their proximity to the Center of the voter distribution, although the effects are relatively small. With respect to temporal shifts in vote share, additional results suggest that parties gain votes when public opinion (i.e., the mean voter) shifts in their direction between elections. These findings corroborate the theoretical results reported by Lin et al. (1999), and provide support for conclusions reported by other authors who rely on simulations of individual‐level data from national election surveys.

The chapter identifies the conceptual building blocks which will underpin the rest of the study: these are electoral institutions, two models of electoral outcomes, two models of party responsiveness, and type of party (niche and mainstream groupings). The chapter discusses these concepts, assesses the significance of the study, and sets the plan for the book. Figure 1.2 depicts an overview of relationships that are explored in the subsequent chapters. Additionally, the introductory chapter identifies core questions about political representation which will be addressed. Do voting rules affect whether it is electorally advantageous for parties to advocate centrist policy positions? Do these rules affect the average distinctiveness of policy alternatives that parties offer citizens? Do they affect the configuration of niche and mainstream party families that exist or compete within a political system? Finally, how do niche and mainstream party families matter for patterns of political representation, with respect to responsiveness and election outcomes?

Cross‐sectional analyses of parties' vote shares in twelve Western European democracies are presented, which produce two central findings. The first is that parties, in general, gain more vote shares when they are positioned closer to the centre of public opinion. This finding is labeled the Mainstream Party Centrism Result, and is consistent with previous macro‐level empirical research on the effects of Left–Right policy positioning in multiparty systems (Ezrow 2005). The second and central finding of the chapter is the Niche Party Radicalism Result. This result states that radical niche parties receive more popular support than niche parties positioned nearer to the center of the Left–Right dimension. Thus, the relationship between party proximity and vote share for mainstream parties is completely opposite to that of niche parties.