New Social Movements and Smaller Parties: A Comparative Perspective

This article examines the party preferences, ideological orientations, and value systems of the supporters of new social movements (ecology, peace, anti-nuclear) in three countries: Denmark, The Netherlands and West Germany. It is argued that party choice of new movement supporters is largely determined by their subjective perception of parties’ substantive policies. The findings show that analyses of voting behaviour of new movement supporters cannot rely on traditional and historically descriptive concepts of conflict. Instead, it is necessary to take account of the new issues which cut across the ‘old politics’ conflict dimension. © 1985, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.