Inter-party Competition in Advanced Democracies

Kaare Strom

Journal of Theoretical Politics, 1989, vol. 1, issue 3, 277-300

Abstract: Political competition, and especially inter-party competition, is a key concept in liberal democratic thought. This article develops three conceptions (or dimensions) of inter-party competition: (1) Contestability, (2) Conflict of Interest and (3) Performance Sensitivity. Each dimension is operationalized, and comparative time series data are presented for 15 advanced democracies, 1950-87. Inter-party competition is shown to vary mostly between countries, but also inter-temporally. The second part of the article investigates socio-demographic, economic and organizational explanations of cross-national differences in inter-party competition. A causal model based on these theories is specified and estimated. The model yields stronger results for contestability and performance sensitivity than for conflict of interest. Finally, possible consequences of inter-party competition for individuals, organizations and political systems are discussed.

Keywords: political competition; democracies; political parties; Western Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1989
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:1:y:1989:i:3:p:277-300

DOI: 10.1177/0951692889001003002

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