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In recent years, members of established political parties have received increased powers to select candidates and leaders. Several explanations have been advanced to account for this trend, focusing on the evolution of the political system, the characteristics of party systems or intra-party
dynamics. The aim of this article is to examine the introduction of democratising reforms for leadership selection in Portuguese parties. Despite the high degree of centralisation and the low levels of internal participation, all governing parties have expanded members' rights during the last
decade. The main findings suggest that party leaders have decided to change methods for leadership selection mainly for instrumental purposes in order to consolidate their internal power or gain electoral benefits. Moreover, this organisational transformation has had reduced effects on the
internal party functioning. Regardless of these similarities, the data show that there are important differences between parties with regard to levels of participation and internal competition.

In simple plurality voting systems smaller parties facing resource constraints may struggle to field candidates, particularly when the number of electoral districts is large. In the absence of a strong coordinating party organization, the pattern of contestation may also be sub-optimal – the small party fields candidates where support is minimal, ignoring other electoral districts where voters would support the party if it had stood a candidate. This article considers how and whether the separate operation of an Additional Member voting system running parallel to a simple plurality system assists smaller parties by providing low-cost information about the spatial distribution of voter support. Using aggregate voting data collected at the London ward level for both simple plurality local council elections and the separate mixed-member proportional system used to elect the Greater London Assembly we test whether the Green Party demonstrated an ability to modify and optimize its pattern of contestation. There appears to be little evidence of either a contagion or learning effect in respect of the location of Green candidates, suggesting that a free but valuable data source is unexploited.

This article analyzes the impact of party strategies on the issue structure, and consequently the dimensional structure, of party systems across Europe. Conceptualizing political competition in two dimensions (economic left-right and social traditionalism versus liberalism), the authors demonstrate that political parties in both Eastern and Western Europe contest the issue composition of political space. The authors argue that large, mainstream parties are invested in the dimensional status quo, preferring to compete on the primary dimension by emphasizing economic issues. Systematically disadvantaged niche parties, conversely, prefer to compete along a secondary dimension by stressing social issues. Adopting such a strategy enables niche parties to divert voter attention and challenge the structure of conflict between the major partisan competitors. The authors test these propositions using the 2006 iteration of the Chapel Hill Expert Surveys on Party Positions. Findings indicate that while the structure of political conflict in Eastern versus Western Europe could not be more different, the logic with which parties compete in their respective systems is the same. The authors conclude that political competition is primarily a struggle over dimensionality; it does not merely occur along issue dimensions but also over their content.

Beurteilung der Parteien und Einstellung zu aktuellen politischen
Fragen. Kumulierter Datensatz der monatlichen Umfragen von 1996.

Themen: Wahlbeteiligung und Wahlentscheidung 1996; Zufriedenheit mit
den Ergebnissen der Wahl; Beteiligung und Entscheidung bei den
Senatswahlen; Vertrauen in den Senator; Politikinteresse; Zufriedenheit
mit der politischen Situation; Links-Rechts-Selbsteinstufung; Vertrauen
in Institutionen und Politiker (Präsident Vaclav Havel, Milos Zeman
(CSSD), Vaclav Klaus (ODS)); Umgestaltung der tschechischen Wirtschaft;
Religion; Haushaltsausstattung; Region, Gemeindegröße.

Beurteilung der Parteien und Einstellung zu aktuellen politischen
Fragen. Kumulierter Datensatz der monatlichen Umfragen von 1998.

Themen: Wahlbeteiligung und Wahlentscheidung 1998; Parteipräferenz;
bevorzugtes Datum der Vorwahlen; Beteiligung an den Vorwahlen;
Einschätzung des Ergebnisses der Vorwahlen; Verbesserung der allgemeinen
Situation durch die Wahlen; Ausgang der Wahlen; bevorzugte
Regierungskoalition; Zufriedenheit mit den Ergebnissen der Wahlen;
Wahlentscheidung 1996; Beteiligung an den Senatswahlen; Vertrauen in den
Senator; Zusammensetzung des Senats; Zufriedenheit mit der politischen
Situation und mit der Demokratie; Links-Rechts-Selbsteinstufung;
Vertrauen in Institutionen und Politiker (Präsident Vaclav Havel, Milos
Zeman (CSSD), Vaclav Klaus (ODS)); Umgestaltung der tschechischen
Wirtschaft; EU-Mitgliedschaft; Religion; Haushaltsausstattung; Region;
Gemeindegröße

Beurteilung der Parteien und Einstellung zu aktuellen politischen
Fragen. Kumulierter Datensatz der monatlichen Umfragen von 1999.

Themen: Wahlbeteiligung und Wahlentscheidung; Parteipräferenz;
Zufriedenheit mit der politischen Situation und der Demokratie;
Links-Rechts-Selbsteinstufung; Vertrauen in Institutionen und Politiker
(Präsident Vaclav Havel, Milos Zeman (CSSD), Vaclav Klaus (ODS));
Umgestaltung der tschechischen Wirtschaft; Wahlentscheidung 1996 und
1998; Wahlentscheidung bezüglich der EU-Mitgliedschaft; Religion;
Haushaltsausstattung; Region; Gemeindegröße

Beurteilung der Parteien und Einstellung zu aktuellen politischen
Fragen. Kumulierter Datensatz der monatlichen Umfragen von 2000.

Themen: Wahlbeteiligung und Wahlentscheidung; Parteipräferenz;
Zufriedenheit mit der politischen Situation und der Demokratie;
Links-Rechts-Selbsteinstufung; Vertrauen in Institutionen und Politiker
(Präsident Vaclav Havel, Milos Zeman (CSSD), Vaclav Klaus (ODS));
Beteiligung bei den Senatswahlen und den Wahlen 1998; Vertrauen in den
Senator; aktuelle wirtschaftliche Situation; Wahlentscheidung 1996 und
1998; Wahlentscheidung bezüglich der EU-Mitgliedschaft; Vor- und
Nachteile der EU-Mitgliedschaft; Religion, Haushaltsausstattung; Region;
Gemeindegröße.

In this book, Carol Mershon and Olga Shvetsova explore one of the central questions in democratic politics: how much autonomy do elected politicians have to shape and reshape the party system on their own, without the direct involvement of voters in elections? Mershon and Shvetsova's theory focuses on the choices of party membership made by legislators while serving in office. It identifies the inducements and impediments to legislators' changes of partisan affiliation, and integrates strategic and institutional approaches to the study of parties and party systems. With empirical analyses comparing nine countries that differ in electoral laws, territorial governance and executive-legislative relations, Mershon and Shvetsova find that strategic incumbents have the capacity to reconfigure the party system as established in elections. Representatives are motivated to bring about change by opportunities arising during the parliamentary term, and are deterred from doing so by the elemental democratic practice of elections