Inter-party Competition in Advanced Democracies

Abstract

Political competition, and especially inter-party competition, is a key concept in liberal democratic thought. This article develops three conceptions (or dimensions) of inter-party competition: (1) Contestability, (2) Conflict of Interest and (3) Performance Sensitivity. Each dimension is operationalized, and comparative time series data are presented for 15 advanced democracies, 1950-87. Inter-party competition is shown to vary mostly between countries, but also inter-temporally. The second part of the article investigates socio-demographic, economic and organizational explanations of cross-national differences in inter-party competition. A causal model based on these theories is specified and estimated. The model yields stronger results for contestability and performance sensitivity than for conflict of interest. Finally, possible consequences of inter-party competition for individuals, organizations and political systems are discussed.

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