European Party Systems: Continuity and Change

The debate about the stability or change in contemporary Western European party systems is characterised by a cacophony of contradictory voices. On one side are those who see still the same old blocs of parties on the left and the right, large and small party machines, and dominance of parties’ parliamentary and government leaders over the party membership. On the other side, some see a dramatic process of restructuring in European party systems with new parties, profound shifts of power and strategy within established parties, and novel forms of party organisation. Many of the seemingly contradictory views can be explained by distinguishing different types of party system change. I will first provide a simplified sketch of conventional post-Second World War European party systems and then turn to the changes in European polities since the 1960s or 1970s.