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Cited by 690Electoral Systems and Political ParticipationPolitical Theory and DemocracyPolitical Conflict and Governance

The Quantity and the Quality of Party Systems

Dalton, Russell J.·2008·Comparative Political Studies
DOI 10.1177/0010414008315860
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Abstract

Previous research claims that the number of parties affects the representation of social cleavages in voting behavior, election turnout, patterns of political conflict, and other party system effects. This article argues that research typically counts the quantity of parties and that often the more important property is the quality of party competition—the polarization of political parties within a party system. The author first discusses why polarization is important to study. Second, the author provides a new measurement of party system polarization based on voter perceptions of party positions in the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, which includes more than 50 separate elections from established and developing democracies. Third, the author compares party polarization and party fractionalization as influences on cleavage-based and ideological voting and as predictors of turnout levels. The finding is that party polarization is empirically more important in explaining these outcomes.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0010414008315860

Cites

39 of 39 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Para haber polarización del sistema político, debiera haber un número significativo de partidos en los extremos políticos (Dalton, 2008).

    “Según Dalton (2008), para haber polarización del sistema político, debiera haber un número significativo de partidos en los extremos políticos.”

    From “Vital testimonio confirm󔦔: Polarización de fuentes y redes en el Caso Catrillanca en Twitter (2021) · cites this paper as Dalton, 2008

  • Simón y Rodríguez-Teruel utilizan el índice de polarización de Dalton, al igual que nosotros.

    “Al igual que nosotros, utilizan el índice de polarización de Dalton, aunque los resultados que obtienen son diferentes a los nuestros, debido principalmente a nuestro ajuste del modelo y a la diferencia en el periodo analizado.”

    From Cuarenta años de polarización ideológica en España (2022) · cites this paper as Dalton, R. J. (2008)

  • La decisión de Dalton de usar un divisor de cinco está motivada por el hecho de que en la encuesta que utilizó, la ubicación de los partidos se medía en una escala de 0 a 10, por lo que 5 era el valor medio, ya que había una diferencia de cinco puntos entre cada polo y el medio.

    “Esta decisión está motivada por el hecho de que en la encuesta que Dalton utilizó, la ubicación de los partidos se medía en una escala de 0 a 10, por lo que 5 era el valor medio, ya que había una diferencia de cinco puntos entre cada polo y el medio.”

    From Cuarenta años de polarización ideológica en España (2022) · cites this paper as Dalton, R. J. (2008)

  • Comparando estos resultados con los datos europeos aportados por Dalton, España se encuentra en una posición muy polarizada desde 2015.

    “Si se compara estos resultados con los datos europeos aportados por Dalton 41 , puede verse que España se encuentra en una posición muy polarizada desde 2015.”

    From Cuarenta años de polarización ideológica en España (2022) · cites this paper as Dalton, R. J. (2008)

  • Dalton (2008) establece un divisor de cinco para asegurar que el índice devuelve 0 cuando no hay polarización y 10 en el caso de polarización absoluta.

    “Dalton (2008) establece un divisor de cinco para asegurar que el índice devuelve 0 cuando no hay polarización y 10 en el caso de polarización absoluta.”

    From Cuarenta años de polarización ideológica en España (2022) · cites this paper as Dalton, R. J. (2008)

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Harmel, R., Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association
  2. Inglehart, R. & Klingemann, H. (1976). Party identification, ideological preference and the Left-Right dimension among Western mass publics. In I. Budge, D. Crewe, & J. Farlie (Eds.), Party identification and beyond (pp. 243-273). London: Wiley.
  3. Kim, H., Paper presented at the annual meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association Meeting
  4. Knutsen, O. (1999). Left-Right party polarization among the mass publics . In H. Narud & T. Aalberg (Eds.), Challenges to representative democracy (pp. 229-277). Bergen, Sweden: Fagbokforlaget.
  5. Lijphart, A., 1999, Democracies
  6. Taagepera, R., 1989, Seats and votes

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Related

Authors
Dalton, R. J.
Affiliations
University of California, Irvine (US)
Corresponding author
Dalton, Russell J.
ORCID
Dalton, Russell J.
Venue
Comparative Political Studies
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2008-02-13
Volume
41
Issue
7
Pages
899-920
ISSN
  • 0010-4140 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-3829
DOI
10.1177/0010414008315860
OpenAlex
W2127664981
Semantic Scholar
3c6794142aad2842669b4122c89c3869382f6542
Cited by
690
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 39 · 2025: 93 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 51 · 2022: 83 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 65 · 2019: 65 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 14
FWCI
72.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Comparative Political Studies (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
Keywords
party system, party system polarization, party competition, ideological voting, voter turnout, Comparative Study of Electoral Systems

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