ABSTRACT
The development of democracy in Europe has been neither a smooth nor a steady process. In this century it has undergone reversals and even complete breakdowns in many countries. In all instances, and regardless of the types or actions of the intervening regimes, many scholars have noted that with redemocratization familiar-looking party systems quickly re-emerged (Ehrmann 1976; Gunther et al. 1988; Pickles 1955; Rudzio 1991; Zariski 1972). That some type of party system develops is a necessary component of redemocratization, but why might party systems look and operate in the same manner after redemocratization as before a collapse? Can we predict where, or under what conditions, a collapse will instead lead to party system change?
