T ay lo r & F ra nc is How Political Parties Respond to Voters

How Political Parties Respond to Voters focuses specifically on the question of interest aggregation: do parties today perform that function? If so, how – and if not, in what different ways do they seek to show themselves responsive to the electorate? Until now, such changes have been more widely studied in the United States than in other democracies; this fascinating book studies the question with reference to the following democracies: Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Canada. A chapter on Russia demonstrates how newly powerful private interest groups and modern techniques of persuasion can work together to prevent effective party response to popular interests in systems where the authoritarian tradition remains strong. Introductory and concluding chapters by the editors explore the broader implications of the changes. This book will be of great interest to students and researchers of politics, and party politics in particular; comparative politics and democratic theory.