From Athens to Zagreb and from London to Ljubljana political parties are losing their grip on electorates. Links between long-established parties and their previously loyal voter-bases are becoming brittle. Even party systems previously categorized as stable such as Austria, Germany, Greece and the United Kingdom have all witnessed the emergence of instability. Such headline-grabbing developments highlight the need for better measures of volatility and party system change across the European continent. Drawing on scholars with diverse brackgrounds and different methodological approaches from both sides of the Atlantic, this panel not only offers innovative methods for measuring the degree and type of change which better capture the dynamism of party politics and help create more robust foundations for explanations of party system change and instability, but also offer contrasting perspectives on the degree and salience of electoral and party system change across Europe.