Starting from controversial findings about the relationship between party systems and the prospects of democratic consolidation, this article argues that problems can only be properly addressed on the basis of a differentiated typology of party systems. Contradictory research results do not pose...

The basic patterns of the initial Indonesian party system have reemerged after more than four decades of authoritarianism. The cleavage model by Lipset and Rokkan is well-suited to analyzing the genesis of and the most salient features of this party system. However, in applying the approach,...

Recent research on political parties and ethnicity has challenged the conventional wisdom about ethnicity as the major factor that explains voter alignment in Africa. The paper maintains that the cleavage model, although modified to include ethnicity, still provides heuristically the best...

Indische Parteien und das indische Parteiensystem als Ganzes können nach den gängigen, aus der Diskussion westlicher Vorbilder gewonnenen Kriterien nur als teilweise konsolidiert bzw. institutionalisiert gelten. Dieser Befund ergibt sich, obwohl die indischen Parteien auf eine lange...