Mainwaring (1993, p. 3) defines a weakly institutionalized party system as one that features “considerable instability in patterns of party competition, weak party roots in society, comparatively low legitimacy of parties, and weak party organizations.” In such systems, political parties...

Paradoxically, the American party system is both highly polarized and unable to confront issues of vital importance. This paper examines the limitation of debate, and in some cases the complete absence of debate, on four major issues in the 2012 election: economic policy, climate change,...

The following article examines the emergence of parties in post-communist Romania concluding that the theoretical basis of cleavages (the Lipset-Rokkanian model) is almost impossible to apply in this country. Accordingly, the historical evolution of the post-communist society and the strategic...

With a focus on Latin America, this literature review considers the extent to which electoral systems affect different aspects of parties and party systems. We find that standard electoral system variables fail many empirical tests that try to tie them to any facet of parties or party systems....

This paper argues that institutions and political party systems are simultaneously determined. A large change to the institutional framework, such as the creation of the euro by a group of European countries, will realign – after a transition period – the party system as well. The new...

This paper argues that institutions and political party systems are simultaneously determined. A large change to the institutional framework, such as the creation of the euro by a group of European countries, will realign - after a transition period - the party system as well. The new political...

A rich theoretical literature argues that, in contradiction to the Duverger's law, the plurality voting rule can fail to produce two-party system when voters do not share common information about the electoral situation. We present an empirical operationalization and a series of tests of this...

A rich theoretical literature argues that, in contradiction to the Duverger's law, the plurality voting rule can fail to produce two-party system when voters do not share common information about the electoral situation. We present an empirical operationalization and a series of tests of this...

Is politics a lucrative business? The question is approached in this paper, as one of few to quantify the monetary returns to holding political office in a typical developed democracy where parties are the main political actors. By applying a difference-in-difference setting with a carefully...