Party Governments: European and American experiences

Abstract

This is the second volume from the project on "The Future of Party Government." For a general introduction to the project, the reader should consult the introduction to the first volume. Volume II of the series, "European and American Experiences", is by its very nature closely connected to volume I, "Visions and Realities of Party Government." Whereas volume I raised general questions about party government, volume II deals with eight selected countries. Each chapter by itself may give an adequate analytic description of the country which is its empirical subject, but at the same time each is a part of a realistic analysis of the various forms of democratic party government. We have tried to describe these eight countries not like single pearls on a string but rather as important elements of a mosaic representing today's ruling formula of the organization of power in democracies. The chapters are at the same time "empirical" and "theoretical". Without volume I, this book could not have been written as it has been written; without volume II, present day realities of party government would have been treated only as an abstract conceptualization. Volume III, which is scheduled to appear shortly, will try to answer more explicitly the questions of whether and to what extent the institutional set-up of party government, in all its rich variety, influences policies. We know generally that "institutions" shape "behavior", that is, in our context, that they shape "policies" in general. However, it is necessary to be more specific and to illustrate this process with examples from important policy fields. We ask for the reader's tolerance that the problematic of party government is treated as a "palimpsest", that each of the succeeding volumes is based on, or connected with, its predecessors, but, at the same time, provides a further contribution to intensified insights. This mode of work, however, is based on a specific line of theoretical reasoning. The individualistic school of political science looks for a (single) "theory" (and we may be criticized for not delivering such a theory). It very often tries to explain macro phenomena with individualistic theories, falling into the trap of the individualistic fallacy and reduction. However, we believe that the existing organization of power, namely party government, can never be explained by just one individualistically based theory, but that different theoretical and methodological approaches coordinated into a conceptualization are necessary to understanding the problematic. It is also wise to remember that "the art of governing" is an art at least as much as it is a science.