Changing Party Systems In Western Europe

This book analyses the changing pressures and demands placed on the party systems in eleven countries of Western Europe since 1945. It includes studies of the party system in the 'big four' Western European countries: Britain, France, Italy and Germany, as well as the systems in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. Five major themes are examined in each chapter: the broad development of the party system, including a discussion of how different party system typologies have been applied in each country; a detailed discussion of the historical background to party system development; the most important contextual variables in terms of the 'electoral environment' within which the party system operates; the degree of 'unfreezing' of the party system since 1945 and the changing balance between stability and change; and, finally, major questions of change and adaptation which bring the chapters up to the present. The book is important for its identification of broad trends within the mature, Western European party systems. The analyses are up-to-date and empirical, emphasizing the further 'defreezing' in the party systems that has occurred in the 1990s.