ABSTRACT
It has frequently been supposed that institutionalized parties and a high level of partisanship are prerequisites for a well-functioning representative democracy (Hadenius 2006; Mainwaring and Torcal 2005). It has equally been supposed that weakly institutionalized party systems may lead to a breakdown of democracy by providing a fertile breeding ground for demagogues (Mainwaring and Torcal 2005) and by making the electorate susceptible to mobilization by extremist forces (Bermeo 2003).
