The Political Parties

Abstract

After the Second World War most West European countries developed more or less stable party systems as democratic channels of popular representation, based on the principle of electoral competition. Periodic elections gave assurance of at least a hypothetical alternation of power and ensured governmental accountability. Most of these party systems reflected a democratic tradition that stretched back into the late nineteenth century. Some were a continuation of the pre-war system (for example in Sweden and Britain). Others learned from the negative outcome of their previous experiences (for example in Germany and Italy). But all of them shared a common element—a historical blueprint to refer to and adapt. Although in some cases one can speak of a discontinuity of party systems and political regimes, all of them were characterised by continuous political learning to improve the ambivalent relationship between stability and conditions of optimum representation, such as electoral law, universal suffrage and the nature of party structures. This continuous political learning is crucial to shaping democratic behaviour and removing the uncertainty that may be inherent during the early day of a new party system.