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While party research has seen a number of conceptual developments in recent years, it has not kept pace with parties becoming more territorial as a result of the increasing importance of sub-national and supranational governance. This article lays down a framework for conceptualising and analysing multi-level parties (MLPs). We propose a synthesis of the formal and non-formal aspects of power; the former highlighting party rules and procedures, the latter focusing upon the ideational structures -norms and competing ideologies/discourses -within which party members operate. For empirical research on the MLP we propose to focus on autonomy and influence to measure the extent of (formal and non-formal) multi-levelness and to grasp better the strategies of regional branches vis-à-vis the centre.

levelled parties, with a special role granted to Scottish and Welsh branches vis-à-vis the central party offices in London and with direct relations to the European level? Where internal barriers to such a development could be observed, how should they be conceptualised? There are a number of people whom I am indebted to for being allowed to address these queries through to a dissertation. I would like to express my gratitude, first, to my supervisor, Professor Knut Heidar, for providing precisely the comments that were needed, when they were needed, despite a range of formal duties to perform. Without his encouragement and effective supervision the research project would not have taken off nor managed to fly properly. I would also like to thank Professor Øyvind Østerud, my cosupervisor, for stern leadership and steady support throughout the process. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Morten Egeberg, whom I had the pleasure to assist for years before the present project started. Without his kind encouragement and initial supervision I would never have dared venture into doctoral research, or an academic career, at all. The Department of Political Science provided an excellent working environment throughout the period of research. I have been lucky to be part of an exceptionally warmhearted cohort of PhD fellows. Among all these, I would like to thank Amund Lie for his highly valued friendship and for commenting on all works with academic expertise and an excellent sense of humour.

The significance of ideas to foreign policy analysis remains contested, despite a plethora of empirical studies applying ideational frameworks. Drawing on social constructivism, this article proposes a causal understanding where ideas derived from tradition define the political space for contemporary debates and effect foreign policy behaviour. This ideational approach is substantiated by a historical study of guiding principles in British and French foreign policy, which establish a set of baseline expectations for the analysis of Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac's speeches on Iraq. The empirical study shows that whereas Chirac largely stayed within a French ideational framework, Blair applied a more complex combination of ideas from both traditions. Conceptualising Blair as an aspiring (but ultimately unsuccessful) norm entrepreneur is a fruitful interpretation of this role.

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