ABSTRACT
One of the most popular conceptions of the state of political parties in contemporary democracies is their ‘decline’. Since David Broder’s (1972) “The Party’s Over”, there has been an ‘avalanche’ of publications lamenting the sorry state of parties in many established democracies (van Biezen et al. 2012; Bille 1994; Clarke and Stewart 1998; Coleman 1996a; Crotty and Jacobson 1980; Daalder 1992; Scarrow 2002; Togeby 1992; Wattenberg 1984, 2002; Webb 1995; Widtfeldt 1999). The 2005 introduction to a special issue of Parliamentary Affairs on British parties had as its subtitle: “Do parties have a future?” (Needham 2005). The widespread perception of decline is partly understandable, as parties are among the least trusted institutions across democracies. However, ‘decline’ is a term for a change of something in a direction perceived as negative, and for some indicators of party strength, decline is discernible, but there are also aspects of political parties in which they have not been declining. Moreover, we must distinguish between decline of particular parties vs. decline of the party as a collective actor. Another problem with the notion of party decline is that it is sometimes conflated with change. When existing parties decline and are being replaced by new parties, we have a case of party system change , not of decline of the party as an institution (Ignazi 1996).
