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It is widely remarked that advanced industrial democracies are now undergoing a period of political dealignment resulting in unstable electoral alliances. Such factors as embourgeoisement, social mobility, mass society, community disintegration, cognitive mobilization, an aging party system, & value change are adduced as explanations for this, but which reasons predominate is not generally agreed on. It is proposed that dealignment logically should lead to geographical instability in electoral patterns; however, analysis of electoral data from eleven nations does not support this. It is proposed here that political choices must be understood in their local contexts. Parties & movements based on issues polarization rely on individual rather than community strategies & thus do not undermine community support for specific parties. This perspective accounts for trends in European countries; Third World countries on the other hand, are better seen as examples of "the politics of failure." In the US, traditional party solidarity -- based on sectional loyalties -- has largely been replaced by candidate solidarity, weakening the link between issues & parties -- even though issues remain linked to regions. Overall, three types of electoral system can be contrasted: traditional party politics, individual politics, & politics of failure; the dealignment era reflects increased reliance on individual rather than community strategies. Comments are offered by: Kevin R. Cox who sees the relation between the contextual & the compositional as poorly defined & proposes an alternative account; Russell J. Dalton (Florida State U, Tallahassee), who distinguishes between patterns of realignment & dealignment & sees Johnston's findings as more relevant to realignment; John O'Loughlin (U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), who argues that the breakdown of traditional party divisions & loyalties is not as great as has been claimed & points to the importance of voting systems for individual electoral choices; & Fred M. Shelley (U of Southern California, Los Angeles), who speculates on inherent characteristics of democratic governments that may give rise to the phenomena Johnston describes. In The Context of a Paradox, Johnston replies to these comments, emphasizing two main questions: the validity of the paradox of geographic stability, & the relative importance of compositional & contextual approaches to understanding electoral behavior. 2 Tables, 68 References. W. H. Stoddard

G Bingham Powell's core intellectual contribution to the study of politics has been to help us understand fundamental normative tradeoffs that are inherent to institutional choice in democratic political systems. The tradeoffs involve dimensions of political performance of central concern in the discipline, including political violence, political participation, political representation, political accountability, and political stability. In offering innovative insights about these substantive topics, Powell's research has played a crucial role in shaping the subfield of comparative politics by offering important lessons about how to advance the study of democratic systems.

Assessing the trajectory of democratization in East Asia, this volume offers a systematic and tightly integrated analysis of party-system development in countries across the region. The authors utilize unprecedented cross-national survey data to examine the institutional structure of party systems, the range of choices these systems represent, and their connection to voting preferences. They also investigate the consequences of partisanship for citizen support of the democratic process. While revealing that party development in the region is still incomplete, the book highlights areas of progress as it explores the potential for enhanced representation