Cutting Both Ways: Party System Stability and Democracy in Europe

• In Event: Democratic Breakdown and Erosion: The Role of Political Parties and Elections

Abstract

Despite a wealth of research into party system stability, its nature and democratic role has remained contested. This article presents new insights into this question using a unique and extensive data set on party system stability measured in the governmental arena – closure. We contrast governmental closure, operationalized using the percentage of minister-changes, to indicators of stability pertaining to the parliamentary (fragmentation) and electoral (volatility) arenas. Our results from multiple methods show that systemic closure is positively related to the duration of democracy while the other measures are not. However, the stability of party relations in government is found to undermine – rather than support – certain aspects of democracy, particularly the deliberative and egalitarian dimensions

Authors

• Fernando Casal Bertoa, University of Nottingham

• Zsolt Enyedi, Central European University

• Martin Mölder