IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/abh/wpaper/17-048.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Measuring Party System Change: A Systems Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Zim Nwokora

    (Deakin University, Australia)

  • Riccardo Pelizzo

    (Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan)

Abstract

The term ‘party system’, explained Giovanni Sartori, refers to the pattern of interactions among major parties. That pattern can be represented as a type and treated as a proper unit of analysis. When ‘party system’ is defined in this way, it becomes clear that the scholarship lacks a direct measure of ‘party system change’. The Sartori approach to party system change is not the only legitimate way to understand this concept, but it does target an undoubtedly important feature of political systems—namely, the stability of major-party interactions. This article develops a new indicator, the index of fluidity, which measures the extent of such stability. Applying the index to Africa, we show there is significant cross-national variation in fluidity and weak correlation between fluidity and (Pedersen) volatility.

Suggested Citation

  • Zim Nwokora & Riccardo Pelizzo, 2017. "Measuring Party System Change: A Systems Perspective," Research Africa Network Working Papers 17/048, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    • Handle: RePEc:abh:wpaper:17/048
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://publications.resanet.org/RePEc/abh/abh-wpaper/Measuring-Party-System-Change-A-Systems-Perspective.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2017
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tavits, Margit, 2008. "Party Systems in the Making: The Emergence and Success of New Parties in New Democracies," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 113-133, January.
    2. Gordon Smith, 1989. "A System Perspective on Party System Change," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 1(3), pages 349-363, July.
    3. Adcock, Robert & Collier, David, 2001. "Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 95(3), pages 529-546, September.
    4. Basedau, Matthias & Stroh, Alexander, 2008. "Measuring Party Institutionalization in Developing Countries: A New Research Instrument Applied to 28 African Political Parties," GIGA Working Papers 69, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    5. Peter Mair, 1989. "The Problem of Party System Change," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 1(3), pages 251-276, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Inclusive development in environmental sustainability in sub‐Saharan Africa: Insights from governance mechanisms," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 713-724, July.
    2. Asongu, Simplice A & Odhiambo, Nicholas M, 2019. "Governance,CO2 emissions and inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 25253, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph Nnanna, 2019. "Foreign aid, instability and governance in Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 19/022, Research Africa Network (RAN).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schakel, Arjan Hille, 2009. "A Postfunctionalist Theory of Regional Government," MPRA Paper 21596, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Gustav Lidén, 2013. "What about theory? The consequences on a widened perspective of social theory," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 213-225, January.
    3. Malte Luebker, 2019. "Can the Structure of Inequality Explain Fiscal Redistribution? Revisiting the Social Affinity Hypothesis," LIS Working papers 762, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    4. Yuriy O. Guyvoronskiy & Svetlana A. Karandashova & Elena V. Sirotkina & Anastasia Y. Shishorina, 2014. "The Institutionalization Of The Party System In Russia: Opportunities And Threats At The Elections Of Governors," HSE Working papers WP BRP 17/PS/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    5. J. C. Sharman, 2007. "Rationalist and Constructivist Perspectives on Reputation," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 55(1), pages 20-37, March.
    6. Jørgen Møller, 2016. "Composite and Loose Concepts, Historical Analogies, and the Logic of Control in Comparative Historical Analysis," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 45(4), pages 651-677, November.
    7. Wagner, Matthew L, 2016. "The civil war puzzle revisited: The use of post-conflict elections as part of peace agreements," International Journal of Development and Conflict, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 1-24.
    8. Nora Lustig, 2013. "Commitment to Equity: Diagnostic Questionnaire," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 02, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    9. Muhammad Nabeel Siddiqui, 2013. "Impact Of Work Life Conflict On Employee Performance," Far East Journal of Psychology and Business, Far East Research Centre, vol. 12(3), pages 26-40, September.
    10. Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks, 2015. "Delegation and pooling in international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 305-328, September.
    11. Jose Antonio Alonso & Ana Luiza Cortez & Stephan Klasen, 2014. "LDC and other country groupings: How useful are current approaches to classify countries in a more hetergeneous developing world?," CDP Background Papers 021, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    12. Jacint Jordana & Xavier Fernández‐i‐Marín & Andrea C. Bianculli, 2018. "Agency proliferation and the globalization of the regulatory state: Introducing a data set on the institutional features of regulatory agencies," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(4), pages 524-540, December.
    13. Vanessa Alexandra Boese & Matthew Charles Wilson, 2023. "Contestation and participation: Concepts, measurement, and inference," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 26(2), pages 89-106, June.
    14. Willem E. Saris & André Pirralha & Diana Zavala-Rojas, 2018. "Testing the Comparability of Different Types of Social Indicators Across Groups," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 927-939, February.
    15. Anete Veidemane & Frans Kaiser & Daniela Craciun, 2021. "Inclusive Higher Education Access for Underrepresented Groups: It Matters, But How Can Universities Measure It?," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 44-57.
    16. Riccardo Pelizzo & Zim Nwokora, 2016. "Bridging the Divide: Measuring Party System Change and Classifying Party Systems," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 16/042, African Governance and Development Institute..
    17. Svend-Erik Skaaning, 2018. "Different Types of Data and the Validity of Democracy Measures," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(1), pages 105-116.
    18. Maria J. Debre & Hylke Dijkstra, 2023. "Are international organisations in decline? An absolute and relative perspective on institutional change," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(1), pages 16-30, February.
    19. Peter Mascini & Yannis Bacharias, 2012. "Integrating a Top‐Down and a Bottom‐Up Approach: Formal and Informal Risk‐Handling Strategies in a Utility Company," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(9), pages 1547-1560, September.
    20. Todd Landman, 2018. "Democracy and Human Rights: Concepts, Measures, and Relationships," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(1), pages 48-59.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    party systems; party system change; Africa; Sartori typology; fluidity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H89 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Other
    • O00 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - General - - - General
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:abh:wpaper:17/048. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Anutechia Asongu Simplice (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.resanet.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.