This is the first full-length book to examine how we interpret evidence of change and stability in modern parties and party systems. Focusing primarily on processes of political adaptation and control, it also concerns how parties and party systems generate their own momentum and "freeze" themselves into place. Amid the widespread contemporary discussions of the challenge to modern democracy and the crisis of traditional forms of political representation, if offers a welcome emphasis on how party systems survive, and on how change, when it does occur, may be analyzed and understood.

The European Union will be a much more diversified entity after the forthcoming eastward enlargement. The applicant states from Eastern Europe are much poorer than the current member states from Western Europe. Their democracy and in some cases even their statehood is newly established and presumably more fragile. Their economic, legal and administrative structures are less developed. This collection of essays will try to examine the origin, nature, scale and implications of this divergence. How much divergence is likely to be imported by the Union and will it hamper the process of European...

The European Union will be a much more diversified entity after the forthcoming eastward enlargement. The applicant states from Eastern Europe are much poorer than the current member states from Western Europe. Their democracy and in some cases even their statehood is newly established and presumably more fragile. Their economic, legal and administrative structures are less developed. This collection of essays will try to examine the origin, nature, scale and implications of this divergence. How much divergence is likely to be imported by the Union and will it hamper the process of European...

How have Europe's mainstream political parties responded to the long-term decline in voter loyalties?

What are the consequences of this change in the electoral markets in which parties now operate?

Popular disengagement, disaffection, and withdrawal on the one hand, and increasing popular support for protest parties on the other, have become the hallmarks of modern European politics.

This book provides an excellent account of how political parties in Western Europe are perceiving and are responding to these contemporary challenges of electoral...

How have Europe's mainstream political parties responded to the long-term decline in voter loyalties?

What are the consequences of this change in the electoral markets in which parties now operate?

Popular disengagement, disaffection, and withdrawal on the one hand, and increasing popular support for protest parties on the other, have become the hallmarks of modern European politics.

This book provides an excellent account of how political parties in Western Europe are perceiving and are responding to these contemporary challenges of electoral...

This text explains how parties are organized, how they have changed and how they have adapted to changing political and organizational circumstances in which they find themselves. The contributors have gathered data on the party systems of their countries.

In recent years there has been a considerable effort in some transnational organizations and institutions to confront a crisis of legitimacy by promising more accountability and openness. This volume takes as its central focus the role of accountability in democratic governance, and attempts to position a broad understanding of the notion of accountability within the overall context of the evolving political system of governance in Europe and in particular of the European Union. Bringing together new work by some of the leading scholars in the field, this volume considers the relationship...

This book confronts and discusses different conceptions of political representation with respect to their application to the system of multi-level governance in the European Union. Political representation is an essentially contested concept. Its meaning has evolved with the development of representative democracy at the level of the nation state, and normative theories of political representation often evolved as a reflection on developing practices rather than the other way around.

Since the EU is not a conventional nation state, and since the effectiveness and legitimacy of classic...

This collection brings together some of the most significant and influential work by leading comparativist Peter Mair (1951-2011). The selection ranges from considerations on the relevance of concept formation to the study of party systems and party organisations; and from reflections on the democratic legitimacy of the European Union to the future of party democracy. Including frequently cited papers alongside lesser-known work, the writings collected in this volume attest to the broad scope and depth of Mair's insights into comparative party politics, and the changing realities of party...

This collection brings together some of the most significant and influential work by leading comparativist Peter Mair (1951-2011). The selection ranges from considerations on the relevance of concept formation to the study of party systems and party organisations; and from reflections on the democratic legitimacy of the European Union to the future of party democracy. Including frequently cited papers alongside lesser-known work, the writings collected in this volume attest to the broad scope and depth of Mair's insights into comparative party politics, and the changing realities of party...