1

U N I V E R S I T Y O F S U S S E X

SUSSEX EUROPEAN INSTITUTE

MA Contemporary European Studies

Spring 2007

971M9: Political Parties and Party Systems in Comparative Perspective

Course Outline and Reading List

Tania Verge

Office : Arts C304, Tel: 01273-87(7654), email: t.verge@sussex.ac.uk

Introduction

Political parties are one of the main representative linkages in liberal democracies and the study

of parties and party systems has long constituted a major focus of concern in comparative

political studies. This course wants to address the following questions: where did parties –and

party systems- come from? How have they changed? Are they all the same? And where are they

going? The course begins by considering the role and status of political parties in liberal

democratic polities. The emergence and development of West European parties and party systems

is examined before considering the debates over party system change in recent decades.

Following this, we move on to evaluate the implications for democracy of party organisational

change in the face of social and political transformation. Next we examine the relationship

between leaders, candidates and members. We then move on to examine the alleged crisis of

parties and the appearance of new parties such as the Greens or the new right parties. Finally, we

discuss whether parties make a difference in terms of public policies.

Aims

The course offers students an understanding of the development of political parties and party

systems and their importance in contemporary European democracies. Although the primary

empirical focus is on the development of parties and party systems in Western Europe, the course

is designed primarily as a tool rather than a survey, in order to allow students to use theoretical

and analytical models to study parties and party systems in particular countries. Students taking

the course will be required to familiarise themselves with the most recent literature in the field

including, wherever possible, contemporary academic research and/or primary source material.

2

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students should:

• Have developed critical approach to comprehending, applying and criticising comparative

models of party and party system development and behaviour

• Be able to assess and critique the ideal types political scientists use when talking about

parties

• Have the capacity to synthesize materials from a range of sources

• Have enhanced their research skills (gathering, sifting and assessing of information and

evidence)

• Have the ability to communicate complex ideas in written and presentation work

• Have improved time management and own-learning skills.

Seminar topics

1. Course introduction: why parties?

2. The origins of political parties

3. Party systems and party system change

4. Party systems and institutional constraints: the effect of the electoral systems

5. The evolution of party organisations and the implications for democracy

6. A crisis of party?

7. Leaders, candidates and members

8. New cleavages, new parties?

9. If there’s nothing to choose among them, do they really matter?

Teaching and Learning

The course will be taught in weekly two-hour seminars. It is designed so that both theoretical and

empirical material will be considered simultaneously. Each week a new set of explanatory

theories and concepts will be introduced around which discussion will be based.

There will be no formal presentations. Instead all students will write a 1 page paper based on the

reading for each week. This can be a critique or a reflection on the issues raised. You should

avoid simply summarizing what you have read. All students must email their contributions by

11am on the Tuesday morning. The reason for this is to enable the class and the tutor to read

other people's reflections before the seminar, thus facilitating discussion and providing everyone

with a detailed portfolio covering the literature on party politics.

If you are unavoidably absent from seminars please make every effort to inform your class tutor

in advance, if necessary by leaving a message by email.

3

Assessment

This course is examined by:

• A 5,000 word contributory essay, to be submitted in the summer term.

• Weekly non contributory one-page papers

A list of suggested essay titles is set out at the end of the reading list for each week. These may be

amended or you may propose alternative titles, but in either of these cases you must obtain your

tutor’s approval of the new title before you commence writing.

Books and Reading

There is no single text that comprehensively covers the needs of this course but we would

strongly recommend that you consider purchasing one or more of the following items:

Alan Ware, Political Parties and Party Systems, Oxford University Press, 1996. This is

reasonably up-to-date, well written, and the best currently available book of its type.

Peter Mair, ed. The West European Party System, Oxford University Press, 1990. This book

contains copies of and extracts from many of the major articles on political parties. Although, it

would be preferable that you read the full original articles or books, this is a useful alternative.

The limitation is that this book only covers Western Europe.

Paul Webb, David M. Farrell & Ian Holliday, eds., Political Parties in Advanced Industrial

Democracies, Oxford University Press, 2002. An up-to-date and in-depth review of the

legitimacy, organizational presence and democratic performance of political parties across a

range of democracies, both European and non-European.

Russell J. Dalton & Martin P. Wattenberg, eds., Parties Without Partisans, Oxford University

Press, 2000. Similar in scope to Webb et al, but adopts a comparative ‘thematic’ rather than a

country-by-country approach.

Peter Mair, Party System Change: Approaches and Interpretations, Oxford University Press,

1997. Another good general text that provides background knowledge and interpretative theory

by one of the foremost scholars in the field.

David Broughton and Mark Donovan, eds. Changing Party Systems in Western Europe,

Routledge, 1999. A good textbook that provides a useful outline of the party systems in most of

the countries covered in this course (including Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Austria,

Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium).

4

It is also useful to consult recent issues of the following journals particularly when looking for up

to date materials on individual countries:

Party Politics (the only journal devoted solely to the study of parties and party systems)

European Journal of Political Research

West European Politics

Comparative Politics

Comparative Political Studies

Parliamentary Affairs

Electoral Studies

Representation

The bibliography below is a guide to the suggested reading and available literature for each

week’s seminar topic. If you cannot find anything that is on the list it is your responsibility to find

and read other articles or books. Unless otherwise indicated, all material on the list should be in

the library.

The reading list for each week is divided into 'core' and 'additional' readings. Core readings are

especially important preparation, since we will often spend at least half the seminar discussing

these materials in detail.

Evaluation

At the end of the course, you’ll be asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire to help us

maintain and improve our delivery and our standards. During the course, you’ll be asked for

feedback in more informal ways. Any constructive comments are of course more than welcome

at any stage.

Contact details

Office hours will be confirmed at the first seminar.

5

TOPICS AND READINGS

Week One: Course introduction: Why parties?

This is an introductory session that provides an overview of the course and the main themes to be

addressed throughout the term. We begin by exploring how we define political ‘parties’ and why

they have been considered integral to the functioning of liberal democracies. We also assess

whether parties’ primary function is to get people into office or pursue certain policies.

Core Readings:

Giovanni Sartori, Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis, 1976, Chapter 1.

John Kenneth White. 2006. “What is a political party?”, en Richard S. Katz y William Crotty,

eds., Handbook of political parties, Londres: Sage.

Marjorie Randon Hershey. 2006. “Political parties as mechanisms of social choice”, en Richard

S. Katz y William Crotty, eds., Handbook of political parties, Londres: Sage

Wolfgang C. Muller and Kaare Strom, eds, Policy, Office or Votes? How Political Parties in

Western Europe Make Hard Decisions, 1999, Chapter 1, pp1-35.

Paul Webb ‘Introduction: Political parties in advanced industrial democracies’ in Webb et al.

(eds) Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies, 2002, pp.1-15.

Additional Readings:

Alan Ware, Political Parties and Party Systems, 1996, Introduction, pp1-13.

Joseph LaPalombara and Myron Weiner, 'The Origin and Development of Political Parties,' in

Joseph LaPalombara and Myron Weiner, eds, Political Parties and Political Development, 1966,

pp3-42.

Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy, 1956, Chapter 2, pp21-35.

Kay Lawson, ed. Political Parties and Linkage: A Comparative Perspective, 1980, Chapter 1,

pp3-24.

Hans Daalder, 'The Comparative Study of European Parties and Party Systems,' in Hans Daalder

and Peter Mair, eds Western European Party Systems: Continuity and Change, 1983, Chapter 1,

pp1-27.

Klaus von Beyme, Political Parties in Western Democracies, 1985, Chapter 1, pp1-10.

Alan Ware, Citizens, Parties and the State, 1988, Chapter 1, pp1-29.

Michael Laver and Norman Schofield, Multiparty Government: The Politics of Coalition in

Europe, 1990, Chapter 3, pp36-61.

Essay questions:

Do contemporary liberal democracies still need political parties?

What is the primary function of a party: to get people into office or to pursue certain policy

goals?

6

Week Two: The origins of political parties

This session focuses on the emergence and development of West European parties. This will

involve an examination of the different initial conditions experienced by the various party

families, in particular Socialist and Christian-democrat parties. Then we want to answer the

following questions: What were parties organized for? What publics did they claim to represent?

Core Readings

Maurice Duverger Political Parties, 1954, Book 1, Chapters 1 and 2.

Susan Scarrow. 2006. “The nineteenth-century origins of modern political parties: the unwanted

emergence of party-based politics”, in Richard S. Katz and William Crotty, eds., Handbook of

political parties, Londres: Sage.

Stathis N. Kalyvas. 1996. The rise of Christian Democracy in Europe, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell

University Press, Chapters 1 and 2.

John H. Aldrich. 1995. Why parties? The origin and transformation of political parties in

America, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Chapter 2.

Joseph LaPalombara and Myron Weiner. 1966. “The origin and development of political parties”,

in J. LaPalombara and M. Weiner, eds., Political parties and political development, Princeton:

Princeton University Press.

Additional Readings

Angelo Panebianco Political Parties: Organization and Power, 1988, Chapter 14.

Sigmund Neumann ‘Toward a Comparative Study of Political Parties’ in Sigmund Neumann, ed,

Modern Political Parties, 1956, pp395-421.*

Aaron B. Wildavasky 'A Methodological Critique of Duverger's 'Political Parties', Journal of

Politics, Vol 21 No 2, 1959, pp303-318.

Robert Michels Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern

Democracy, 1962.

Moisei Ostrogorski, Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties, 1962.

Hans Daalder 'Parties, Elites and Political Developments in Western Europe' in Joseph

LaPalombara and Myron Weiner, eds, Political Parties and Political Development, 1966.*

Alan Ware, Citizens, Parties and the State, 1987, Chapters 5-7.

Alan Ware, ed, Political Parties, 1987, Chapter 1, pp1-23.

Essay questions:

What were parties organized for? What publics did they claim to represent?

What are the main differences in the origin of left-wing and conservative parties?

7

Week Three: Party systems and party system change

This week we move on to examine the theory of party system formation. We consider Lipset and

Rokkan's seminal contribution that emphasises the way in which historical development

conditions the emergence of particular kind of political parties around social cleavages. We also

examine Lipset and Rokkan's "freezing hypothesis" and explore the changes experienced in party

systems.

Core Readings

Seymour Martin Lipset and Stein Rokkan, 'Cleavage Structures, Party Systems and Voter

Alignments,' in Seymour Martin Lipset and Stein Rokkan, eds. Party Systems and Voter

Alignments: Cross National Perspectives, 1967, pp.1-67.*

Steven B. Wolintez. 2006. “Party systems and party systems types”, en Richard S. Katz y

William Crotty, eds., Handbook of political parties, Londres: Sage.

Peter Mair. 2006. “Party system change”, en Richard S. Katz y William Crotty, eds., Handbook

of political parties, Londres: Sage.

Giovanni Sartori, Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis, 1976, Chapter 5 & 6.

Richard Rose and Derek W. Urwin, 'Persistence and Change in Western Party Systems Since

1945', Political Studies Vol.18, No.3, 1970, pp.287-319 *[See also: Steven B. Wolinetz, ed. Party

Systems, 1998, Chapter 10].

Lauri Karvonen and Stein Kuhnle. eds, Party Systems and Voter Alignments Revisited, 2001,

Chapters 1, 2 and 3

Additional Readings:

Arend Lijphart. 1999. Patterns of democracy. Government forms and performance in thirty-six

countries, New Haven:Yale University Press, cap. 5.

Michael Shamir, 'Are West European Party Systems "Frozen"?' Comparative Political Studies,

Vol.17, No.1, 1984, 35-79.

Alan Ware, Political Parties and Party Systems, 1996, Chapter 6, pp184-212.

Maurice Duverger Political Parties, 1956, Book 2 Chapter 1.*

Jean Blondel, 'Party Systems and Patterns of Governance in Western Democracies,' Canadian

Political Science Review, Vol 1 No 2, 1968, pp180-203 * [See also: Steven B. Wolinetz, ed,

Party Systems, 1998, Chapter 4]

Gordon Smith, 'Western European Party Systems: On the Trail of a Typology,' West European

Politics, Vol 2 No 2, 1979, pp128-142.

Gabriel A. Almond, 'Comparative Political Systems,' Journal of Politics, Vol 18 No 3, 1956,

pp391-409.

Arend Lijphart, The Politics of Accomodation: Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands,

1968.

Arend Lijphart, 'Consociational Democracy', World Politics, Vol 21, 1969, pp207-225

8

Giacomo Sani and Giovanni Sartori, 'Polarisation, Framgentation and Competition in Western

Democracies,' in Hans Daalder and Peter Mair, eds. Western European Party Systems: Continuity

and Change, 1983, pp307-340

Arend Lijphart, Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty

One Countries, 1984.

Stefano Bartolini, 'Institutional Constraints and Party Competition in the French Party System,'

West European Politics, Vol 7 No 4, 1984, pp103-127 [See also: Stefano Bartolini, 'Institutional

Constraints and Party Competition in the French Party System,' in Stefano Bartolini and Peter

Mair, eds. Party Politics in Contemporary Western Europe, 1984, pp103-127

Hans Daalder, 'In Search of the Centre of European Party Systems,' American Political Science

Review, Vol 78 No 1, 1984, pp92-109 [See also: Steven B. Wolinetz, ed, Party Systems, Ch. 6]

Peter Mair, ‘Party Systems and Structures of Competition,’ in Lawrence Le Duc et al. Comparing

Democracies: Elections and Voting in Global Perspective, 1996

Alan Ware, Political Parties and Party Systems, 1996, Chapter 5.

Peter Mair, Party System Change: Approaches and Interpretations, 1997, Chapter 9, pp199-223.

Kris Deschouwer, ‘Freezing pillars and frozen cleavages: party systems and voter alignments in

consociational democracies,’ in Lauri Karvonen and Stein Kuhnle, eds, Party Systems and Voter

Alignments Revisited, 2001, pp45-61

Essay questions:

What are the principle strengths and weaknesses of the sociological approach to studying party

systems?

Are party systems “frozen”? If not, explain the tendencies leading to their defrosting.

Week Four: Party systems and institutional constraints: the effects of electoral systems

This week we examine an old, yet still very contemporary debate in the study of party systems -

their relationship with electoral systems. Once again, Duverger offers a starting point for analysis,

with his so-called ‘law’, refuted by many critics since. We go on to examine some of the

criticisms which have been levelled at Duverger, before considering more recent work by

Lijphart on the consequences of electoral systems.

Core reading:

Maurice Duverger Political Parties, 1954, Book 2, Chapter 2

Kenneth Benoit, 'District magnitude, electoral formula and the number of parties,' European

Journal of Political Research, Vol 39 No 2, 2002, pp203-241.

Arendt Lijphart. `The political consequences of electoral laws 1945-85' American Political

Science Review, 1990.

or

Arendt Lijphart. Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in 36 Countries,

1999, Chapter 8.

9

Michael Gallagher. 2005. “Conclusion”, in M. Gallagher and Paul Mitchell, eds., The politics of

electoral systems, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Additional reading:

D.W. Rae The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws, 1971.

William Riker `The number of political parties: A re-examination of Duverger's law',

Comparative Politics, 1976.

A. Maclaren Carstairs A Short History of Electoral Systems in Western Europe, 1980.

Vernon Bogdanor and David Butler Democracy & Elections: electoral systems and their political

consequences, 1983.

Vernon Bogdanor, The People and the Party System: the Referendum and Electoral Reform in

Brisih politics, 1983.

Iain McLean, Public Choice: An Introduction, 1987, Chapter 8.

Alistair Cole and Peter Campbell French Electoral Systems & Elections Since 1789, 1989.

Rein Taagepera and Matthew Soberg Shugart Seats and Votes: The Effects & Determinants of

Electoral Systems, 1989.

Peter Mair, ‘The question of electoral reform,’ New Left Review, 1992.

Andrew Reeve and Alan Ware Electoral Systems: A Comparative and Theoretical Perspective,

1992.

Arendt Lijphart, Electoral Systems and Party Systems, 1994.

Giovanni Sartori Comparative Constitutional Engineering: An Inquiry into Structures, Incentives

& Outcomes. 1994, Part One - especially Chapters 1 and 3.

Andre Blais & Louis Massicotte ‘Electoral systems’ in Lawrence LeDuc et al, Comparing

Democracies, 1996. Pp49-81.

Patrick Dunleavy and Helen Margetts, ‘The electoral system,’ in Pippa Norris & Neil T Gavin,

eds, Britain Votes 1997, 1997.

Philip Daniels, ‘Italy: rupture and regeneration?’ in David Broughton & Mark Donovan, eds.,

Changing Party Systems in Western Europe, 1999.

Fiona Barker and Elizabeth McLeary, 'How much change? An analysis of the Initial Impact of

Proportional Representation on the New Zealand Parliamentary Party System,' Party Politics, Vol

6 No 2, 2002, pp131-154.

David M. Farrell, Electoral Systems: A Comparative Introduction, 2001, Chapter 7, pp153-174

See also various issues of the journal Representation from recent years.

Essay questions:

What impact does a country’s electoral system have on its party system?

Are multi-party systems simply an inevitable by-product of electoral systems based on

proportional representations?

10

Week 5: The evolution of party organization

This week we examine the changing forms of party organisation. We consider the changes

engendered by the shift from Duverger's ‘mass parties’ to ‘catch-all’ or ‘electoral-professional

parties’ and ‘cartel parties’, as identified by Kirchheimer, Panebianco and Katz and Mair

respectively. We consider the main features of these models, the relevance these heuristic

constructs have to actual parties, and the factors driving change.

Core Readings

Otto Kirchheimer 'The Transformation of the Western European Party Systems' in Joseph

LaPalombara and Martin Wiener, eds, Political Parties and Political Development, 1966,

ppl77-200 * [See also: Steven B. Wolinetz, ed, Party Systems, 1998, Chapter 13]

Stephen Wolinetz ‘Party system change: the catch-all thesis revisited’, West European Politics,

1989.

Panebianco, A. 1988. Political Parties: Organization and Power. C.U.P. Chapter 14.

Katz, R. y P. Mair. 1995. “Changing models of party organization and party democracy: the

cartel party”, Party Politics 1:1-28.

Kitschelt, H. 2000. “Citizens, politicians and party cartellization: political representation and

state failure in post-industrial democracies”, European Journal of Political Research 37: 149-

179.

Koole, R. 1996. “Cadre, catch-all or cartel? A comment on the notion of the cartel party”. Party

Politics 2: 507-524.

Additional Readings

Karl Dittrich, 'Testing the Catch-all Thesis: Some Difficulties and Possibilities,' in Hans Daalder

and Peter Mair, eds, Western European Party Systems: Continuity and Change, 1983, pp257-66

Katz, R. y P. Mair. 1996. “Cadre, catch-all or cartel? A rejoinder”. Party Politics 2: 525-534.

Sigmund Neumann ‘Toward a Comparative Study of Political Parties’ in Sigmund Neumann, ed,

Modern Political Parties, 1956, pp395-421.*

Aaron B. Wildavasky 'A Methodological Critique of Duverger's 'Political Parties', Journal of

Politics, Vol 21 No 2, 1959, pp303-318.

Robert Michels Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern

Democracy, 1962.

Moisei Ostrogorski, Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties, 1962.

Gordon Hands ‘Roberto Michels and the Study of Political Parties’, British Journal of Political

Science, No.2, 1971.

Stephen Wolinetz, 'Transformation of European Party Systems Revisited', West European

Politics, Vol 2 No 1, 1979, pp4-28.*

Alan Ware, Citizens, Parties and the State, 1987, Chapters 5-7.

11

On political marketing and electoral-professionalism specifically:

Nicholas T. O' Shaughnessy, The Phenomenon of Political Marketing, 1991.

Shaun Bowler & David Farrell, Electoral Strategies & Political Marketing, 1992.

Paul Webb ̀ Election campaigning, organisational transformation and the professionalisation of

the British Labour Party,' European Journal of Political Research, 1992.

Dennis Kavanagh, Election Campaigning: The New Marketing of Politics, 1995.

Margaret Scammell, Designer Politics: How Elections Are Won, 1995.

David Farrell `Campaign strategies and tactics' in Laweence LeDuc et al, Comparing

Democracies, 1996.

Holli Semetko, ‘The media’ in Lawrence LeDuc et al Comparing Democracies, 1996.

Paul Webb, ‘Political parties: adapting to the electoral market’ in Patrick Dunleavy, Andrew

Gamble, Gillian Peele and Ian Holliday, eds., Developments in British Politics 6, 2000, pp. 151-

68.

On social democratic parties specifically:

William E. Paterson and Alistair H. Thomas, eds, Social Democratic Parties in Western Europe,

1977.

William E. Paterson and Alistair H. Thomas, eds., The Future of Social Democracy, 1986.

Richard Gillespie and William E. Paterson, eds. 'Rethinking Social Democracy in Western

Europe', Special issue of West European Politics, Vol 16, No 1, 1993.

Herbert Kitschelt, The Transformation of European Social Democracy, 1994.

Robert Ladrech and Phillipe Marliere Social Democratic Parties in the EU: History,

Organization, Policies, 1999.

On Christian democratic parties specifically:

M. P. Fogarty Christian Democracy in Western Europe, 1957

R. E. M. Irving, The Christian Democratic Parties of Western Europe, 1979

Roger Morgan and Stefano Silvestri, eds. Moderates and Conservatives in Western Europe, 1982

David Hanley, ed, Christian Democracy in Europe: A Comparative Perspective, 1994

Essay questions:

How far have Kirchheimer’s expectations about the ‘transformation’ of west European parties

and party systems been borne out?

How well do the catch-all or electoral-professional party models explain changes in either social

democratic or Christian democratic parties in Western Europe?

How convincing is the ‘cartel party’ model in respect of West European political parties, and

what implications does it carry for democracy?

12

Week 6: A crisis of party?

This week we consider the implications for democracy of changing models of party. Do such

changes imply that parties are losing their ability to provide democratic linkage/foster political

mobilisation? In addition, we also examine the change in the electorate and their attitudes

towards parties. Is it appropriate to speak of parties ‘in crisis’ or ‘in decline’?

Core readings:

Thomas Poguntke.1996. “Anti-party sentiment. Conceptual thoughts and empirical evidence:

explorations into a minefield”, European Journal of Political Research 29(3): 319-344.

Peter Mair and Ingrid van Biezen, ‘Party Membership in Twenty European Democracies,’ Party

Politics, Vol 7 No 1, 2000, pp5-21.

Richard Rose y Thomas T. Mackie. 1988. “Do parties persist or fail? The big trade-off facing

organizations”, en Kay Lawson y Peter H. Merkl, eds., When parties fail. Emerging alternative

organizations, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Peter Mair, 2005. “Democracy beyond parties”. Paper presented in the Joint Sessions of

Workshops ECPR, Granada, April 14-19.

Juan J. Linz. 2002. “Parties in contemporary democracies: problems and paradoxes”, in Richard

Gunther, José Ramón Montero and Juan J. Linz, eds., Political parties: old concepts and new

challenges, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Susan E. Scarrow, 'The "Paradox of Enrollment": Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Party

Memberships', European Journal of Political Research, Vol 25 No 1, pp41-60. 1994.

Additional readings:

Peter Mair. 1997. “Popular legitimacy and public privileges: party organizations in civil society

and the state”, Party system change. Approaches and interpretations. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Michael F. Thies. 2000. “On the primacy of party in government: why legislative parties can

survive party decline in the electorate”, en Russell J. Dalton y M. P. Wattenberg, eds., Parties

without partisans. Political change in advanced industrial democracies, Oxford:Oxford

University Press.

Paul Webb, David M. Farrell & Ian Holliday, eds., Political Parties in Advanced Industrial

Democracies, Oxford University Press, 2002.

Russell J. Dalton & Martin P. Wattenberg, eds., Parties Without Partisans, Oxford University

Press, 2000.

Anthony King, 'Political Parties in Western Democracies: Some Sceptical Reflections, Polity.

Vol 2 No 2, 1969, pp111-141.

Alessandro Pizzorno, "Interests and Parties in Pluralism," in Suzzanne Berger, ed, Organizing

Interests in Western Europe: Pluralism, Corporatism and the Transformation of Politics, 1981,

pp247-284.*

Peter Merkl and Kay Lawson, eds. When Parties Fail: Emerging Alternative Organizations,

1988.

13

Richard S. Katz, 'Parties as Linkage: A Vestigial Function', European Journal of Political

Research, Vol 18 No 1, 1990, pp143-161.*

Hans Daalder, ‘A Crisis of Party’ Scandinavian Political Studies 15/4, 1992, p269-88.

Richard S. Katz and Peter Mair, 'Introduction: The Cross-National Study of Party Organizations'

in Richard S. Katz and Peter Mair, eds. Party Organizations: A Data Handbook on Party

Organizations in Western Democracies, 1960-90, 1992.

Richard S. Katz and Peter Mair, 'The Membership of Political Parties in European Democracies,

1960-1990,' European Journal of Political Research, Vol 22 No 3, 1992, pp329-345.

Richard Katz and Peter Mair, eds. How Parties Organize: Change and Adaptation in Party

Organization in Western Democracies, 1994, Chapter 1, pp1-22.

Geoff Mulgan, `Party-free politics', New Statesman & Society, April 15 1994.

Hermann Schmitt and Soren Holmberg ̀ Political parties in decline?' in Hans-Dieter Klingemann

and Dieter Fuchs, Citizens and the State, 1995.

Richard Katz, ‘Party Organizations and Finance,’ in Lawrence Le Duc et al, eds, Comparing

Democracies: Elections and Voting in Global Perspective, 1996

Thomas Poguntke and Susan Scarrow (eds) Special issue of European Journal of Political

Research dedicated to Anti-Party Sentiment in Western Democracies, 1996.

Mathew Wattenberg, The Decline of American Political Parties 1952-94, 1996.

Larry Diamond and Richard Gunther, eds, Political Parties and Democracy, 2001.

Russell J. Dalton and Martin P. Wattenberg, Parties without Partisans: Political Change in

Advanced Industrial Societies, 2002, Chapters 2-7 and 11-12.

Richard Gunther, Jose Ramon Montero and Juan J. Linz, Political Parties: Old Concepts and

New Challenges, 2002, Chapters 2-3 and 5-6 .

Essay questions:

Is there a contemporary crisis of party?

Do contemporary political parties still want or need members?

Week seven: Leaders, candidates and members

This session examines the balance of power between party leaders and members. As early as

1911, Robert Michels formulated the "Iron Law of Oligarchy” according to which as political

parties grew in complexity, they paradoxically became less and less democratic. Are parties still

subject to this “law”? And if not, what actions have they undertook to democratize their

organizations? Secondly, we examine the validity of another “law”: May’s “special law of

curvilinear disparity” which states that party activists are more radical than voters and leaders. Is

it true? Do leaders try to control those activists who can challenge them?

Core reading:

Robert Rohrschneider. 1994. “How iron is the iron law of oligarchy?”, European Journal of

Political Research 25: 207-238.

Richard S. Katz. 2001. “The problem of candidate selection and models of party democracy”,

Party Politics 7: 277-296.

14

Susan Scarrow. 2000. “Parties without members? Party organization in a changing electoral

environment”, en Russell J. Dalton y MartinP. Wattenberg, eds., Parties without

partisans.Political change in advanced industrial democracies, Oxford:Oxford University Press.

John D. May. 1998. “Opinion structure of political parties: the special law of curvilinear

disparity”, en Steven B. Wolinetz, ed., Political parties, Aldershot: Ashgate.

Herbert Kitschelt. 1998. “The internal politics of parties: the law of curvilinear disparity

revisited”, en Steven B. Wolinetz, ed., Political parties, Aldershot: Ashgate.

Additional reading:

Susan Scarrow, Paul Webb, David Farrell, 'From Social Integration to Electoral Contestation:

The Changing Distribution of Power Within Political Parties', in Russell Dalton & Martin

Wattenberg (eds), Parties Without Partisans. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, 129-53.

Patrick Seyd, 1999, “New Parties/New Politics? A Case Study of the British Labour Party”, Party

Politics, Vol. 5, No. 3, 383-405.

Jonathan Hopkin. 2001. “Bringing the members back in? Democratizing candidate selection in

Britain and Spain”, Party Politics 7: 343-361.

Richard S. Katz. 1990. “Party as a linkage: a vestigial function”, European Journal of Political

Research 18: 143-161.

Norris, P. 1995. “May’s law of curvilinear disparity revisited: members and voters in British

political parties”. Party Politics 1: 29-48.

Knut Heidar. 2006. “Party membership and participation”, en Richard S. Katz y William Crotty,

eds., Handbook of political parties,Londres: Sage.

Essay questions:

What are the incentives behind the implementation of certain participatory measures within

parties? Do these measures really democratize the party?

Week 8: New cleavages, new parties?

This week we move on to consider in more detail one particular type of explanation for

increasing party system instability and change: the notion that old party cleavages are being

replaced by new socio-political divisions. This will involve an examination of Inglehart’s theory

of ‘post-materialism’ and of the emergence of new parties of the populist and far Right as well as

green parties.

15

Core Reading:

Ronald Inglehart, The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles Among Western

Publics, 1977, Chapter 2; OR Ronald Inglehart, 'Value Change in Industrial Societies,' American

Political Science Review, Vol 81 No 4, 1987, pp1289-1303.

Thomas Poguntke, 'New Politics and Party Systems,' West European Politics, Vol 10 No 1, 1987,

pp76-88.

Taggart, Paul (1995) ‘New Populist Parties in Western Europe’ West European Politics 18(1):

34-51.

Ami Pedahzur and Avraham Brichta, 'The Institutionalization of Extreme Right-wing

Charismatic Parties: A Paradox?' Party Politics, Vol 8 No 1, 2002, pp31-49

Herbert Kitschelt, 'Left Libertarian Parties: Explaining Innovation in Competitive Party Systems',

World Politics, Vol 40 No 2, 1988, pp127-154 [See also: Steven B. Wolinetz, ed, Party Systems,

Chapter 16]

Additional readings:

Ronald Inglehart, 'The Changing Structure of Political Cleavages in Western Society', in Russell

J. Dalton, Scott Flanagan and Paul Beck (eds.). Electoral Change in Advanced Industrial

Democracies: Realignment or Dealignment, 1984.

Russell J. Dalton and Manfred Kuechler, eds. Challenging the Political Order: New Social and

Political Movements in Western Democracies, 1990, pp.43-66.

Ronald Inglehart Culture Shift in Advanced Indistrial Societies, 1990.

Mark N. Franklin, Thomas T. Mackie and Henry Valen et al. Electoral Change: Responses to

Social and Attitudinal Structures in Western Countries, 1992.

Russell J. Dalton, Citizen Politics, 1996, Chapters 2,4,5 and 6.

On Green parties specifically:

Kay Lawson and Peter Merkl, eds, When Parties Fail: Emerging Alternative Organisations,

1988, Chapters 3 and 4.

Herbert Kitschelt, The Logics of Party Formation: Ecological Politics in Belgium and West

Germany, 1989.

Ferdinand Muller-Rommel, ed., New Politics in Western Europe: The Rise and Success of Green

Parties and Alternative Lists, 1989.

Herbert Kitschelt & Staf Hellemens Beyond the European Left: ideology and political action in

Belgian ecology parties, 1990.

Ferdinand Muller-Rommel and Geoffrey Pridham, eds, Small Parties in Western Europe, 1991.

E. Gene Frankland and Donald Schoonmaker, Between Protest and Power: The Green Party in

Germany, 1992.

Thomas Poguntke, Alternative Politics: German Green Party, 1992.

Thomas Poguntke ‘Unconventional participation in party politics: the experience of the German

Greens’ Political Studies, 40, 1992.

16

Thomas Poguntke ‘Goodbye to movement politics? Organisational adaptation of the German

Green Party,’ Environmental Politics, 2/3, 1993.

Jon Burchell, 'Evolving or Conforming? Assessing Organisational Reform within European

Green Parties,' West European Politics, Vol 24 No 3, 2002, pp113-134.

On right-wing populist parties specifically:

Peter Fysh and Jim Wolfreys, 'Le Pen, the National Front and the Extreme Right in France,'

Parliamentary Affairs, Vol.45 No.3, 1992, pp309-326.

Paul Hainsworth, ed., The Extreme Right in Europe and the USA, 1992.

Christopher T. Husbands, 'The Other Face of 1992: The Extreme-Right Explosion in Western

Europe,' Parliamentary Affairs, Vol.45 No.3, July 1992, pp267-284.

Piero Ignazi, 'The Silent Counter-Revolution: Hypotheses on the Emergence of Extreme

Right-Wing Parties', European Journal of Political Research, Vol.22 No1, July 1992, pp3-34.

Dwayne Woods, 'The Centre No Longer Holds: The Rise of Regional Leagues in Italian Politics',

West European Politics, Vol15 No2, April 1992, pp56-76.

Carlo E. Ruzza and Oliver Schmidtke, 'Roots of Success of the Lega Lombarda: Mobilisation

Dynamics and the Media,' West European Politics, Vol.16, No.2, 1993, pp1-23.

Hans-Georg Betz, Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe, 1994.

Herbert Kitschelt, The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis, 1995.

Paul Taggart, 'New Populist Parties in Western Europe,' West European Politics Vol18, No1,

January 1995.

Harvey G. Simmons, The French National Front: the extremist challenge to democracy, 1996

Paul Taggart, The New Populism and the New Politics: New Protest Parties in Sweden in a

Comparative Perspective, 1996

Peter Merkl and Leonard Weinberg, eds., The Revival of Right-wing Extremism in the Nineties,

1997.

Paul Hainsworth, The Politics of the Extreme Right, 2000.

Marcel Lubbers, Merove Gijsberts and Peer Scheepers, 'Extreme right-wing voting in Europe,'

European Journal of Political Research, Vol 41 No 3, pp345-378.

Marc Swyngedouw and Giles Ivaldi, 'The Extreme Right Utopia in Belgium and France: The

Ideology of the Flemish Vlaams Blok and the French National Front,' West European Politics,

Vol 24 No 3, 2002, pp1-22.

Essay questions:

To what extent has a ‘silent revolution’ in public opinion affected Western European party

systems?

Evaluate and account for the success of either Green parties or extreme right neo-populist parties

in Western Europe in recent years?

How far have Green parties been successful in challenging the dominant model of party

organisation?

17

Week nine: If there’s nothing to choose between them, do they really matter?

In this final session we will discuss the processes of ideological convergence among party

families? Are the expressions “left” and “right” still valid heuristics to analyze party manifestos

or government’s policy performance? In other words, do parties make a difference?

Core reading

Volkens, Andrea and Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, “Parties, Ideologies, and Issues. Stability and

Change in Fifteen European Party Systems 1945-1998”, in Luther, Kurt Richard and Müller-

Rommel, Ferdinand (eds) Political Parties in the New Europe: Political and Analytical

Challenges, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002.

Budge, I., Klingemann, H-D.; Volkens, A.; Bara, A. y E. Tanembaum. 2001. Mapping policy

preferences. Estimates for parties, electors and governments 1945-1988. Oxford: Oxford

University Press, Chapter 1.

Nathan Yanai 1999. “Why do political parties survive? An analytical discussion”, Party Politics

5: 5-17.

Clift, Ben, ‘Social Democracy and Globalisation: the case of France and the UK’, Government

and Opposition, Vol: 37:4, p.466-500, 2002.

Blais, A. et al., “Do parties make a difference? A reappraisal”, American Journal of Political

Science, Vol.40:2, 1996, pp.514-520.

Additional reading

Peter Mair. 2005. “Democracy beyond parties”. Ponencia presentada en las Joint Sessions of

Workshops, ECPR, Granada.

Green-Pedersen, C. and van Kersbergen, K., “The politics of the ‘Third way’: the transformation

of social democracy in Denmark and the Netherlands”, Party Politics, Vol.8:5, 507-524, 2002.

Green-Pedersen, Christoffer, “Welfare-state retrenchment in Denmark and the Netherlands,

1982-1998: the role of party competition and party consensus”, Comparative Political Studies,

Vol. 34: 9, 2001, pp.963-985.

Imbeau, L.M. et al, “Left-right party ideology and government policies: a meta analysis”,

European Journal of Political Research, Vol. 40:1, 2001, pp.1-29.

Kalogeropoulou, Efthalia, “Election promises and government performance in Greece. PASOK’s

fulfilment of its 1981 election pledges”, European Journal of Political Research, Vol.17:3, 1989,

pp.289-311.

Kreppel, A. “The impact of parties in government on legislative output in Italy”, European

Journal of Political Research, Vol.31:3, 1997, pp.327-350.

Thomson, Robert, “The programme to policy linkage: the fulfillment of election pledges on

socio-economic policy in the Netherlands, 1986-1998”, European Journal of Political Research,

Vol. 40:2, 2001, pp.171-197.

Caul, Miki L. and Gray, Mark M. (2000) ‘From platform declarations to policy outcomes:

changing party profiles and partisan influence over policy’ in Russell J. Dalton and Martin P.

18

Wattenberg (eds.) Parties without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial

Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 208-237.

Essay questions:

What are the reasons behind the process of ideological convergence? Would you say the

expressions “left” and “right” are meaningless today?

Are left and right-wing governments all the same?

How have the “Third Way” (UK) and the “New Center” (Germany) reformulated left politics?