Party system closure and the liberal dimension of democracy: A double-edged sword

Martin Mölder, Zsolt Enyedi, Fernando Casal Bértoa

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

An institutionalized party system is often regarded as a precondition for a well-functioning democracy. Recent recesses in democracy and, in particular, in the liberal dimension of democracy in relatively established party systems, however, warrant a fresh look into how party system institutionalization shapes liberal democracy. We use a dataset that covers 58 European party systems over more than a century to assess how party system institutionalization in the governmental arena - closure - is related to more robust liberal democracy. Our results show that stable coalition combinations are conducive to higher levels of liberalism, while infrequent government changes and the exclusion of new parties from the governmental arena have a detrimental role.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)104-120
Number of pages17
JournalRivista Italiana di Scienza Politica
Volume53
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 11 Jul 2022

Keywords

  • Democracy
  • Europe
  • liberalism
  • party system closure

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