“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,” our Research Affiliate Zsolt Enyedi, Martin Molder (University of Tartu) and Fernando Casal Bertoa (University of Nottingham) write in their article in Italian Political Science Review, published by Cambridge University Press.

“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,” they argue.

The authors 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.”

Read the full article here.