| Description: |
This paper explores party constitutionalization, that is, the form and intensity of provisions about political parties in the postwar constitutions of democratic European states. Using deductive and inductive approaches, we examine the differences between old and new democracies and between continuous and discontinuous democracies. In particular, the length of democratic experience appears to make a fundamental difference in the way political parties are defined in modern constitutions. New democracies regulate parties more extensively. Across time, parties are predominantly seen as positive actors in the parliamentary arena and their association with democratic principles largely corresponds to the waves of democratization. The paper arrives at three different models of party constitutionalization - public utilities, modern party government and defending democracy.
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