ABSTRACT
In order to assess the extent to which engagement in strategies impacts upon the fates of established parties in western Europe, this chapter selects cases and proposes measures to assess this impact. The task of the first part of this chapter is to select the countries that have experienced high and low levels of use of electorate-orientated and institutional strategies. Subsequent chapters analyse these countries as case studies to learn more about the effect of these strategies. The second part of this chapter discusses how the impact of party strategies on established parties and party systems can be assessed, focusing on developing the ideas of Peter Mair, and also putting forward the concept of ‘systemic centrality’ to assess the fate of established parties.
