Party system change, the European crisis and the state of democracy

Summary:

Party systems are crucial elements for the functioning of political systems and representative democracies. With several European countries experiencing significant changes recently, it is necessary to update our knowledge.

This volume analyses party system changes in Europe in the 21st century by considering several dimensions such as interparty competition, the cleavage structure, electoral volatility and the emergence of new actors. The book describes the principal continuities and changes in party systems in Europe; analyzes the main explanations for these trends; and assesses the impact of the crisis on the patterns observed.

By considering a wide range of Western and Eastern European countries, and focusing on the ‘parameters’ of party system change, this book seeks to fill an important gap in the literature through a comparative analysis of the evolution of party systems in Europe over the last decades.

Table of Contents:

1. Party system change and the European crisis: an introduction | Marco Lisi
2. Party system change in Belgium: from stability to fragmentation? | Régis Dandoy and Jeroen Joly
3. Bulgaria: the failed party system institutionalization | Antony Todorov
4. Change and stability in the Danish party system | Karina Kosiara-Pedersen and Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard
5. France: from Sarkozy to Macron, the advent of a new electoral order in the wake of the economic crisis | Simon Labouret
6. Tectonic shifts in the party landscape? Mapping Germany’s party system changes | Patricia Daehnhardt
7. The swift unravelling: party system change and de-institutionalization in Greece during the crisis | Emmanouil Tsatsanis
8. The Hungarian party system from soft to hard populism | Attila Ágh
9. The never-ending transformation of the Italian party system | Elisabetta De Giorgi
10. The phoenix of consensus democracy: party system change in the Netherlands | Simon Otjes
11. (In)stability of the party system in Poland | Katarzyna Walecka
12. The times (may) be a-changin’? The Portuguese party system in the twenty-first century | Carlos Jalali
13. The Romanian party system: cartelization, coalition leverage and elite continuity | Sergiu Gherghina
14. From stability to change? The evolution of the party system in Spain | Juan Rodríguez-Teruel, Oscar Barberà, Astrid Barrio and Fernando Casal Bértoa
15. Soul searching and political change in the name of the Swedish welfare model | Frederico Pedroso Rocha
16. The British party system(s): fragmented, unstable and very capricious | Eunice Goes
17. The impact of the European crisis on party system change: some comparative reflections | Marco Lisi