ABSTRACT
The three preceding chapters have analyzed three core components of party systems: the electoral, office-related and policy-related aspects of party competition. These aspects affect parties in their roles of vote-seekers, office-seekers and policy-seekers. This concluding chapter of Part 1 examines party system change in relation to the three main party goals that are conceptualized by Strom: votes, office and policy (Strom 1990). Party competition and cooperation are the result of both the office-seeking and policy-seeking motives of parties, which are in turn modified or intensified by the party system. Although the causes and consequences of party system change are manifold and although numerous authors have stressed the multi-dimensionality of party system change, there are few studies that actually analyze the diversity in these changes (Lane 1989; Laver 1989; Wolinetz 1988). Most studies are limited to particular aspects of change and its consequences for interparty relationships. Many studies focus on either the electoral or the office-related or the policy-related aspects of party system change. Examples are studies on the changes in electoral volatility and voting behavior (Bartolini and Mair 1990; Mair and Smith 1990; Pedersen 1979), coalition formation (Blondel 1968; Taylor and Herman 1971; Warwick 1994) or policy positions (Klingemann et al. 1994; Laver and Schofield 1990). Until now, only very few studies provide an all-encompassing empirical outlook on several of these key elements of party system change.
