ABSTRACT
Parties that win elections – particularly if they win them frequently and convincingly
– are never short of admirers. Some of these will be interested in the campaign
techniques and marketing strategies that have brought electoral success rather more
than the ideological and programmatic package that has been sold; others, frequently
on the other side of national borders, will look enthusiastically and openly for program-
matic lessons that they themselves can learn in order to be more successful in their own
election campaigns; a final group of parties may seek to mix the two, learning how to
‘sell’ policies that are in themselves more ‘sellable’ than the ones that they already
possess. Willingness to learn from other actors is, however, one thing; actually being
able to adopt or adapt policies, strategies or techniques can be quite another. There
are many possible hindrances to political parties in their attempts to draw direct
lessons from similar actors in other ostensibly similar contexts. Firstly, parties them-
selves remain heterogeneous actors comprising wings and factions that can have
very different perceptions of what lessons should be drawn, from whom and from
where. Secondly, rarely do parties in continental Europe govern alone, hence the
wants, needs and sensitivities of coalition partners or other prospective legislative
veto-players will need to be taken into consideration and, thirdly and most noticeably,
the uniqueness of national opportunity structures can ensure that successful policies in
one context may have an altogether different set of effects if implanted into another.
This can make even attempting to import ‘alien’ policies a hazardous and frustrating
task.1 All of these potential barriers can very rapidly crush any willingness to
implement new, and frequently controversial, ideas from abroad.
