Introduction and Background

Abstract

Is this the end of democracy as we know it? Over the past three decades — and despite a small turn of fortune in recent French, Polish, and Irish elections — turnout has declined by an average 15 points across European democracies (IDEA, 2004).¹ In addition, the proportion of citizens enrolled in political parties has been halved between the early 1980s and the late 1990s (Mair and van Biezen, 2001).² A large number of studies conclude that membership in Western political parties is generally in decline (Mair and van Biezen, 2001; Pedersen et al., 2004; Scarrow, 2000; Seyd and Whiteley, 2004; Webb et al., 2002).