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Intro -- Title -- Copyright -- Table of contents -- INTRODUCTION Regulating Political Parties: European Democracies in Comparative Perspective -- CHAPTER 1 Democracy and the Legal Regulation of Political Parties -- CHAPTER 2 Dilemmas of Regulating Political Finance, with Special Reference to the Dutch Case -- CHAPTER 3 Lessons from the Past: Party Regulation in the Netherlands -- CHAPTER 4 The Constitutionalization of Political Parties in Post-war Europe1 -- CHAPTER 5 Party Laws in Comparative Perspective -- CHAPTER 6 Explaining Legislative Conflict over the Adoption of Political Financing Law in the European Union -- CHAPTER 7 The SGP Case: Did it Really (Re)Launch the Debate on Party Regulation in the Netherlands? -- CHAPTER 8 Will it All End in Tears? What Really Happens when Democracies Use Law to Ban Political Parties -- CHAPTER 9 Ethnic Party Regulation in Eastern Europe -- CHAPTER 10 On the Engineerability of Political Parties: Evidence from Mexico -- About the authors -- Index.

In representative democracies, political parties organize the public will, giving expression to political differences in society (see Katz and Mair 1995; Klingemann, Hofferbert, and Budge 1994; Sartori 1967). Parties can also deepen democracy by broadening the connections between representatives and constituents, helping to hold political institutions accountable and increasing the participation of previously marginalized groups (see Costain 2005; Kitschelt 1993; Shugart 1994; Kittilson and Tate 2005; Young 2000).

Arguing that a complete understanding of the functioning of modern liberal democracies entails analysis of the challenges facing political parties, key findings from empirical political science are reviewed & directions for future theory & research are outlined. Focus is on recent changes within & between Western European polities -- particularly those related to European integration -- & the challenges these pose for political party functioning as purposive organizations, including shifts in political values, national political cultures, socioeconomic transformations, the structures of political communication, & political issues & policy agendas. The mobilization & linkage functions of political parties in relation to the wider society are explored, along with parties' internal structure, organization, & behavior. Figures. K. Hyatt Stewart

In this article we have attempted to improve our understanding of the influence of various factors, such as the level of organizational resources, age, ideology and values, on the digitalization of political parties oriented towards participation and resource mobilization. To do this, we use version four of the Political Party Database Round (PPDB) (2022), which covers 187 parties in 26 European countries. We focus on 10 of the largest party families. The data and variables have been analyzed using various descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicate an important level of similarity between political parties in the adoption of digital instruments. The level of resources, age and ideology, and values associated with the different party families present important explanatory and predictive limitations. We consider that the indicated results may be a consequence of a process of institutional isomoformism.

"Engagingly written and employing a fruitful mix of comparative research methods, this book explains how and why small parties, while they may not be entirely masters of their own fate, are more than simply corks tossed on the ocean. It adds significantly to our understanding, and deserves to be widely read."--Tim Bale, University of Sussex, UK "Spoon uses innovative methods for examining the effect of green party behavior on their electoral fortunes, electoral presence, and visibility to the public ... This book makes an important contribution to the fields of niche party fortunes, party politics, and comparative politics in general."--Bonnie Meguid, University of Rochester "Political Survival of Small Parties in Europe offers the rare treat of a small-n comparison that engages with broad political science issues of small party flair, feat, and fate. Mixed methods means that the depth of knowledge about individual cases is balanced with a theoretical ambition. In contrast with many other approaches, Spoon demonstrates the agency of small parties in adapting and using the constraints of their political and institutional environments."--Florence Faucher, Sciences Po--Centre d'études européennes, France It is often thought that small party survival or failure is a result of institutional constraints, the behavior of large parties, and the choices of individual politicians. Jae-Jae Spoon, in contrast, argues that the decisions made by small parties themselves determine their ability to balance the dual goals of remaining true to their ideals while maximizing their vote and seat shares, thereby enabling them to survive even in adverse electoral systems. Spoon employs a mixed-methods approach in order to explore the policy, electoral, and communication strategies of West European green parties from 1980 to the present. She combines cross-national data on these parties with in-depth comparative case studies of two New Politics parties, the French and British green parties, that have survived in similar national-level plurality electoral systems. Both of these green parties have developed as organizations and now run candidates in elections at the local, national, and European levels in their respective countries. The parties' survival, Spoon asserts, results from their ability to balance their competing electoral, policy, and communication goals. Jacket design: Heidi Hobde Dailey

The experience of the past decade has shown that despite their unpopularity, political parties remain indispensable for the functioning of democracies in Europe—when they are present, plural, and organized, democracy is doing well. To prove this assertion, this paper will look at four telling examples in recent European history.