Political parties need new research roadmap as democracy faces crisis
A new framework restructures how scholars should study political parties across three critical arenas—internal organization, elections, and governance—to understand why parties are faltering worldwide. For policymakers and business leaders tracking democratic stability, this research agenda signals that old assumptions about party behavior no longer hold in rapidly changing democracies.
Originaltitel: A foundation for thinking about political parties in democratic systems
<p>Political parties are essential to the functioning of liberal democracy, yet contemporary party politics is undergoing profound transformations often described in terms of a “crisis of political parties”. This book argues that to understand these developments, party research must be both theoretically and methodologically renewed. Building on Gunnar Sjöblom's classic framework, the book conceptualizes party politics as unfolding across three key arenas: the internal party arena, the electoral arena, and the decision-making arena. Within and across these arenas, parties pursue goals such as vote maximization, policy influence, office-seeking, and internal cohesion. The book highlights how new data sources and methodological innovations challenge established party typologies and call for theoretical reconsideration. By structuring the volume around the three arenas, the book provides a comprehensive and forward-looking research agenda for the study of political parties in contemporary democracies.</p>