Handbook of Party Politics

"Political parties are ubiquitous, but their forms and functions vary greatly from regime to regime, from continent to continent, and from era to era. The Handbook of Party Politics captures this variation and richness in impressive ways. The editors... Read more

"Political parties are ubiquitous, but their forms and functions vary greatly from regime to regime, from continent to continent, and from era to era. The Handbook of Party Politics captures this variation and richness in impressive ways. The editors have assembled an excellent team, and the scope of the volume is vast and intriguing." -Kaare Strom, University of California, San Diego Political parties are indispensable to democracy and a central subject of research and study in political science around the world. The Handbook of Party Politics is the first major work to comprehensively map the state-of-the-art in contemporary party politics scholarship. The Handbook is comparative in overall approach but also addresses some topics to be addressed in nationally or regionally specific ways. The resulting collaboration has brought together the world''s leading party theorists to provide an unrivalled resource on the role of parties in the pressing contemporary problems of institutional design and democratic governance today. Key Features: Provides an invaluable survey of the major theories and approaches in this dynamic area of study and research Gives students and researchers a concise ''road map'' to the core literatures in all the sub-fields of party related theorizing and research Identifies the theories, approaches and topics that define the current ''cutting edge'' of the field Less