dc.contributor.author | BORNSCHIER, Simon | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2009-04-08T15:53:44Z | |
dc.date.available | 2009-04-08T15:53:44Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2009 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1830-7728 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1814/11151 | |
dc.description.abstract | Stein Rokkan’s comparative historical account of party system formation in Western Europe has
proved enormously influential due to the appeal of tying individual political behaviour to large-scale
historical transformations. This article reviews the literature that has studied the genesis of cleavagebased
party systems, as well as theoretical and empirical assessments of the degree to which they have
remained “frozen”. If it is adapted to allow for a more dynamic perspective, the cleavage approach
also helps us to make sense of recent transformations of Western European party systems by pointing
to new “critical junctures” that are likely to have a lasting impact on party competition and on
individual political behaviour.
In the second part of this review, I discuss applications of the approach outside Western Europe,
focusing above all on Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. If it is modified according to the
specific historical trajectories of these countries, the cleavage concept helps us understand both how
party systems become institutionalized in new democracies, as well as the type of conflicts they are
likely to reflect. Furthermore, criticisms of social structural determinism have resulted in a new
generation of scholarship that insists on paying more attention to the interplay of structure and agency
in forging long-term bonds between parties and voters. | en |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.publisher | European University Institute | |
dc.relation.ispartofseries | EUI MWP | en |
dc.relation.ispartofseries | 2009/07 | en |
dc.rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess | |
dc.subject | Linkages | en |
dc.subject | Cleavages | en |
dc.subject | Stein Rokkan | en |
dc.subject | Party systems | en |
dc.subject | Political representation | en |
dc.subject | Western Europe | en |
dc.subject | Democracy | en |
dc.subject | Latin America | en |
dc.subject | Central Eastern Europe | en |
dc.title | Cleavage Politics in Old and New Democracies: A Review of the Literature and Avenues for Future Research | en |
dc.type | Working Paper | en |
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