Institutional stepping stones for democracy: how and why multipartyism enhances democratic change
Abstract
Jan Teorella & Michael Wahmanb Department of Political Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden Department of Political Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA Jan Teorell is a Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, Lund University. His research interests include political methodology and comparative politics, particularly corruption, comparative democratization and state making. His published work has appeared in journals such as American Political Science Review, European Journal of Political Research, Journal of Democracy, Party Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and Studies in Comparative International Development, Michael Wahman in an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Missouri. He specializes in Democratization and elections in new democracies, particularly on the African continent. His earlier work is published or forthcoming in journals such as Comparative Politics, Democratization, Electoral Studies, Journal of Peace Research, and Party Politics. CONTACT Jan Teorell jan.teorell@svet.lu.se ABSTRACT Scholars of electoral authoritarianism and comparative institutions have emphasized how authoritarian regimes implement multiparty elections to stabilize authoritarian rule and diffuse political opposition. Consequently, the literature has advised against the notion that multiparty elections constitute a general lever for democratization. This article presents evidence in support of a more posi…
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Turkish opposition parties have struggled to achieve unity around a democracy-authoritarianism cleavage and to coordinate candidate selections.
“Finally, the Turkish opposition parties have struggled to achieve some unity around a 'democracy-authoritarianism cleavage' and by coordinating their candidate selections.”
From Pernicious polarization, autocratization and opposition strategies (2021) · cites this paper as [48]
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“Rather what sets them apart is that they have maintained a reservoir of opposition in civil society, often with links to movements and parties that existed before the transition to multiparty rule (Teorell and Wahman 2018).”
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“Prior studies have solved this problem using dichotomous (Teorell and Wahman, 2017) or trichotomous (no legislature, one party, many parties) measures (Gandhi, 2008).”
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- Authors
- Teorell, J., & Wahman, M.
- Affiliations
- Lund University (SE)
- University of Missouri (US)
- Corresponding author
- Teorell, Jan
- Venue
- Democratization
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-05-09
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 78-97
- ISSN
- 1351-0347 (ISSN-L)
- 1743-890X
- OpenAlex
- W2613051854
- Cited by
- 50
- References
- 83
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 23 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 20.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Democratization (publishedVersion)
- Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Keywords
- multiparty system, multiparty elections, authoritarian regimes, opposition parties, economic crisis, demonstrations, democratic change, electoral authoritarianism
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