Party Systems and Structures of Competition

This article sets out to examine the extent of party system change in Scandinavia since the ‘earthquake elections’ in the early 1970s witnessed the parliamentary breakthrough of new parties and, in particular, the rise of a populist radical right. It deploys an analytical framework derived from Berglund and Lindström's five‐party Scandinavian model and an identification of the ‘core structures’ of the frozen party system in the region. In assessing party system change the significance of changes in the patterns of interaction between parties at the elite level, that is in the governmental and parliamentary arenas, is emphasised over and above electoral change. It is argued that the core features of the Scandinavian party systems have changed much less since 1970 than the structure of party competition and that the single most important development in the party politics of the region has been that the historic non‐socialist groupings have acquired increased ‘relevance’ as coalition parties both severally and collectively. The article concludes by asking: ‘so what?’ Can an indication of the extent of party system change be of assistance in understanding the wider workings of the political system and the operation of the legislative process?

It can hardly be denied that the process of forming party system is long-term, complex and multidimensional one. The features of the “systemness”, e.g. stability, durability and predictability, may be achieved only after several years of democratic development. Thus, the analysis of the changes which take place in short period may give limited effects because of rapid changes of most frequently used quantitative parameters of the party system. From the other side, the comparison of the results of two or more consecutive parliamentary elections allows us to describe and to interpret some trends in political development. The aim of this article is to show the changes in the structure of political competition and in the number and size of the main parties, affecting the level of fractionalization and concentration of Polish party system between 2005 and 2007. By using traditional measures of stabilization of party systems on electoral, parliamentary and governmental arenas, I have tried to answer the question whether are there the symptoms of stabilization of Polish party system after 2005, or not. Comparing effective number of parties, the level of fractionalization and concentration, and the modes of forming the cabinet I have come to conclusion that, contrary to 2005 parliamentary election, there are some signs of party system stabilization in its two dimensions: representativeness and effectiveness. The structure of political scene seems to be more stable: no relevant party has appeared on it since 2001, the number of parties represented in the Sejm has diminished, the level of support for the strongest parties has increased and the electoral volatility has been lower in 2007 than in 2005. What is new after 2005 is that the structure of competition has changed. Two strong, conservative right-wing groupings have been main contenders and the post-communist Left is, for the time being, practically excluded from the struggle for power. The further stabilization of party system depends on capability to maintain this pattern of political competition.

Party systems represent parts of political systems which arise as a result of interactions between political parties. Party relations produce characteristics which place a particular party system within the typology of party systems. A number of factors can be considered in explaining the nature of party competition, most often placed within the categories of institutional and sociostructural factors. This paper analyses the impact of full and partial social cleavages on party systems. Given that the theory of social cleavages has proved insufficient in explaining party differences and the dynamics of party systems, especially in new democracies, we will improve the analysis by including the concept of partial social cleavages. This research shows the unequivocal influence of dominant social cleavages on the situation and changes in party systems. Although in some cases no changes in the type of party system have occurred, it can be concluded that exactly in those cases there exist permanent and ingrained social cleavages, but also partial cleavages which affect the relations in the party system at the given time. Identity issues stand out as the dominant topic in political competition, especially in the countries where ethnic relations have not been resolved.

This article is part of the special cluster titled Parties and Democratic Linkage in Post-Communist Europe, guest edited by Lori Thorlakson, and will be published in the August 2018 issue of EEPS This article introduces a special section on parties and democratic linkage in post-communist Europe. It sets out the main objectives and research questions that guide the four articles in this special section, presenting these in the context of the comparative politics literature on party and party system change and democratic development. It introduces the key arguments of the articles in the section, arguing that the contributions identify regionally distinctive patterns of party and party system behaviour in Central and Eastern Europe. These patterns have fuelled a quest for more suitable conceptual and measurement tools and call for diversity in comparative analysis, combining intra and inter regional comparison.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the political parties and party system in Korea and provide a basic analysis for comparative study among the Asian countries. First, I would explain the distinguishing characteristics of the political parties and party system in Korea. I will then show how this system evolved by using the concept of the cartel party and cartelized party system. Finally, the kind of measures that have been introduced to improve democracy and party politics will be discussed. Whether these efforts are working or not will be addressed from the perspectives of the two different party models.The nature of the political system in Korea can be gleaned by examining three main aspects of the cartelized party system, namely, national subsidies, electoral system, and entry barriers against new or minor parties. After an examination of some of the institutions of the cartelized party system in Korea, the Korean party system may be deemed, by and large, to be moving towards a plural competitive system, one that is more accommodating of new or minor parties.

Institutional redesign constituted the essence of the vast program of post-communist transformation on which East Central Europeans embarked in 1989, after the political and economic structures of the “dictatorships of the people” had been completely discredited. The revolutions of 1989, whether velvet or bloody, showed that East Central Europeans knew exactly what they did not like: a regime dominated by one mass ideological party that was generally insulated from and often aloof to the demands of citizens, grafted on a centrally planned economy with low levels of competitiveness and productivity that kept people impoverished and, in some countries, starved and cold in the name of equality. At the same time, East Central Europeans were far less certain about the kind of democracy they did like. Some of them wanted to enjoy the good life that the Western Europeans had but did not fully understand that democracy or capitalism entailed obligations and responsibilities and could lead to negative outcomes, not just roses and champagne. Others unrealistically wished for a system that would combine the advantages of democracy (basic freedoms and competitive multi-party politics) with the advantages of communism (equality, job security, free creches, education, and health care), while also avoiding the disadvantages of both systems. And still others wanted a reformed communism that represented the “third way,” which, in many ways, anticipated what China was able and willing to build shortly thereafter: a politically closed dictatorship dominated by a communist party that tolerated some elements of free market that encouraged private entrepreneurship, liberalized export and import activities, and did not punish self-enrichment. In the end, what East Central Europeans got were new states “built on top of and with the half-collapsed, half-standing institutions of the past.” 1

Political party systems are an important element of political systems in Africa and elsewhere. They form the central intermediate institution between the general population and the government. Party systems represent and aggregate diverse political views and group interests, and they form coalitions that then form governments with potentially important consequences of democracy and political stability. Unlike the case in the period directly after independence, African party systems have been overwhelmingly multiparty since the 1990s. As a result, the literature has grown significantly, although most works focus on political parties rather than party systems. Many efforts have been devoted to classification, referring to the legal context as well as, more specifically, the number of relevant parties, the levels of institutionalization, and, less often, the degree of ideological or other polarization. While levels of institutionalization and ideological differences are generally not pronounced, more than half of African party systems have been one-party dominant, of which most are authoritarian. In contrast, two-party and pluralist-party systems, which make up approximately one half of all multiparty systems, are generally more democratic. Besides determining classifications, most analytical work focuses on the determinants of African party systems using quantitative and qualitative as well as macro- and micro-level methodologies. Three determinants are debated: first, ethnicity, which has been cited as the main social cleavage behind African party systems; however, while ethnicity matters, its effects vary and are limited; second, political institutions, especially electoral systems for legislative elections, which only partly explain fragmentation or other features; third, the performance of political parties and rationalist approaches. Scholars largely agree that all of these elements need to be taken into account. While certain functions of party systems may facilitate democratization and political stability or other outcomes, little empirical work exists on the consequences of party systems. Some evidence suggests that highly institutionalized, moderately fragmented, and polarized systems promote democracy. Future research faces many challenges, in particular the development of integrated theory and more fine-grained data, as well as an increased focus on the consequences of party systems.

Party Systems

(1999). Parties, elections and cleavages: Israel in comparative and theoretical perspective. Israel Affairs: Vol. 6, Parties, Elections and Cleavages: Israel in Comparative and Theoretical Perspective, pp. 1-10.

This is the first of three chapters on political party systems and structures of competition, and looks at electoral markets in Europe. It begins by clarifying the term ‘electoral markets’ in the context of the chapter, noting first that the competition to be investigated is inter-party competition, which will arise when parties have a market in which to compete (i.e. when there are voters in competition), and is at least in part a function of the size of the electoral market. Second, it notes that when parties confront an electoral market, they have a choice of two not necessarily exclusive strategies –– defensive or expansive; and third, that the size of the markets in general, and the degree of electoral availability, is largely a function of the strength and pervasiveness of the relevant political identities. The first section of the chapter, Developments and Contrasts in Western Europe, looks at the history of the development of political parties in western Europe as a history of attempts to narrow the electoral market through the promotion and inculcation of mass political identities; it concludes that, other things being equal, polities characterized by the presence of strong identities are likely to be less competitive than those where they are not, and will, more precisely, tend to be more consensual. The next section of the chapter, ‘Electoral Markets and Consociational Democracy’, leads on naturally to a discussion of consociational democracies (which are plural societies) in western Europe, and this is followed. in ‘Small States and Large States’, by an examination of the differences in policy style in small states (which are largely consensual) and large states (which are adversarial, with high electoral volatility). The last section ‘Some Implications for the New East European Democracies’, applies the previous discussion to eastern Europe.

The purpose of the article consists of complex research political and administrative aspects of the influence of the political system and activity of political parties on the forming of democratic principles of community development. During research uses on the complex of logical methods, in particular, comparatively-political, abstractly logical, and also scientific approaches: comparatively and bibliographic. In the article, complex research is presented politiсal-administrative aspects of the influence of the political system and activity of political parties on forming of democratic principles of community development. It is noticed that the determining line of the functioning of any political system is its interconnectedness with other subsystems of society, that is why national features have a degree of its democratizes and becoming a problem, and a method of functioning of power is the determining criterion of typologies of the political systems. Therefore at the research of influence of the political system on forming of democratic principles of community development, in particular, it is necessary to examine the aggregate of political institutes, relations and political and legal relations, which public relations are regulated by, viability and efficiency of functioning of that or other are provided as a system influence of which on development of the indicated principles is provided an implementation of its functions (normatively regulatory, informatively communicative et al). Is it set that becoming of the democratic system of public management in Ukraine remains foreground job of nowadays and factors which brake indicated becoming are at the same time selected, among which, in particular, disunity national elite, weakness of political institutes, political corruption. It allowed to come to the conclusion, that success of decision of this task on the domestic walks of life substantially depends on the combination of advantages of conservative and democratic types of acceptance and realization political-administrative decisions, which are examined as the quintessence of satisfaction of political requirements of individuals, task forces, and others like that in the process of adjusting of social relations. Taking into account its attention is accented on importance of prevailing foremost of state character in the activity of political parties, as main subjects of forming of political space, institutes of the state and optimization, politicaladministrative processes, what in Ukraine is not observed, that is the main factor of low efficiency of mechanism of responsibility of political power before electors. The scientific novelty of the article consists of execution complex research politiсal-administrative aspects of the influence of the political system and activity of political parties on forming democratic principles of community development. Practical meaningfulness of the article is related to the possibility of the subsequent use of its materials in an educational process and research secret services at research political-administrative aspects of the influence of the political system and activity of political parties on becoming of the modern system of democratic governance in Ukraine in the context of found out factors which generate considerable difficulties in relation to becoming of the indicated system on the domestic walks of life.

This article is an overview of the types and level of institutionalization of party systems in seven young democracies in East and Southeast Asia. By applying Alan Siaroff’s typology of party systems, the analysis demonstrates that the party systems in Asia do not converge on a single format. The party systems under consideration also differ in the level of institutionalization. Party systems in Thailand, the Philippines and especially South Korea are stuck in an inchoate state. Even though there is considerable variation among the cases, the party systems in Indonesia, Mongolia and Taiwan can be considered as well institutionalized relative to the rest of Asia and moderately institutionalized when compared to Latin America. Furthermore, weak institutionalization correlates with volatile structures of party competition and cooperation in Thailand, whereas in South Korea and the Philippines party systems seem to be paradoxically stabilizing in a situation of protracted under-institutionalization, as both cases combine more or less stable party system patterns with weak institutionalization.

This chapter discusses political parties and party systems, which form a crucial aspect of a modern representative democracy. The origins and natures of political parties, including their functions and organizations, are explained. Party systems govern the dynamics between parties and are considered as the mechanism to represent divergent interests in the society. How are social cleavages related to political parties? A measure of party system, the Effective Number of Political Parties, is introduced. Figures for Hong Kong are provided for comparative research. Finally, this chapter ends with an account on the decline on the importance and role of parties in the current era, accompanied by a discussion on this idea’s relevance to Hong Kong.

Party systems, that is, the number and the size of all the parties within a country, can vary greatly across countries. I conduct a principal component analysis on a party seat share dataset of 17 advanced democracies from 1970 to 2013 to reduce the dimensionality of the data. I find that the most important dimensions that differentiate party systems are: “the size of the biggest two parties” and the level of “competition between the two biggest parties.” I use the results to compare the changes in electoral and legislative party systems. I also juxtapose the results to previous party system typologies and party system size measures. I find that typologies sort countries into categories based on variation along both dimensions. On the other hand, most of the current political science literature use measures (e.g., the effective number of parties) that are correlated with the first dimension. I suggest that instead of these, indices that measure the opposition structure and competition could be used to explore problems pertaining to the competitiveness of the party systems.

An approximation problem in computing electoral volatility