Why parties politicise international institutions: On globalisation backlash and authority contestation

Why do political parties increasingly address international institutions? This paper analyses the politicisation of international governance, that is, a process in which institutions' policies and procedures become salient and controversial on the level of mass politics. It uses data on party platforms' content from 26 OECD countries to test a number of explanations for politicisation. Results suggest that scholarly debate tends to overestimate the role of globalisation for driving politicisation, while institutional variables are too often neglected. First, increased scope of international governance has made questions of international governance much more salient topics of party manifestos. Second, recent shifts of political authority to the international level can explain increased contestation of international governance to a remarkable extent. What is more, the contestation of international authority in the realm of electoral politics seems to be substantively shaped by exclusive nationalism, but not by democratic concerns.