The Impact of Legislative Changes on Party System Stability: Comparative Evidence from European Countries

This paper provides a detailed account of how rules impact on party system development and stability in a post-communist context. We trace all legislative changes relevant to political parties since the collapse of communism until 2015, changes which include amendments to constitutions, electoral law, party finance law and party laws. The analysis provides a longitudinal study on the impact of rule change on relevant dimensions of European party systems. It draws attention to the importance of rules and their implementation on the process of party system institutionalization while also accounting for intervening party level and institutional level variables. The analysis has implications for the literature on party development and party system institutionalization.