ABSTRACT
Political parties are central actors within western European political systems, and the choices they make in terms of electoral, parliamentary and governing strategies can significantly influence their success or failure as political actors. It may be a truism that parties compete for ‘policy, office and/or votes’ (Müller and Strøm 1999b), but exactly how political parties compete and, more specifically, what impact the competitive choices made by political parties have on their own fate, and the party systems in which they compete, remains an understudied area of research. The significance of party strategies has been highlighted in the work of Müller and Strøm (1999b) among others, and the role that political parties can play in the process of party system change has also been highlighted, most notably by Peter Mair (1997, 2002). However, the work of Müller and Strøm does not consider the systemic impact of a party's strategic choice and the impact that these choices can have on party competition. In contrast, the work of Mair focuses on the role of political parties in the process of party system change, but does not consider in detail the strategic decisions and actions that influence party behaviour, ultimately influencing the shape of the party system. This book seeks to fill a gap in the literature by developing the work of Mair, and Müller and Strøm to combine these approaches and to address specifically how established political parties may seek to influence the process of party system change, and with what impact.
