Abstract
The overall stability of the party system is usually studied on the basis of system-level aggregates such as electoral volatility or the effective number of political parties. Such an approach can be problematic, because it primarily measures just one dimension of stability, which is defined as the stability of electoral support. The article argues that this external dimension of stability should be further analysed in the context of the development of intra-party structures. The institutionalisation theory includes both dimensions, so it is capable of interpreting complex relations between them. Based on empirical data, the article systematically compares nine relevant political parties in the Czech Republic to better understand differences in the stabilisation of different types of party organisations in the context of party system changes in recent years.
Highlights
The Czech party system was considered relatively stable in the region of East Central Europe
Very little is known about differences between the institutional characteristics of new and established political parties and about the different strategies used by political parties in general to ensure persistence in nationwide party politics
The analysis describes the main differences between newly established parties and those with a longer tradition or rather a more stable position in the party system, because initial success has far reaching consequences for the development of the internal organisational structure of new political parties
Summary
The Czech party system was considered relatively stable in the region of East Central Europe. Despite the fact that the article analyses a relatively small number of empirical cases, its construction is especially useful when it is necessary to observe differences among different political parties and changes in time This fact combined with conceptual multidimensionality results in the necessity to develop a more systematic approach to comparison. For the operationalisation of the theoretical concept, a new Political Party Institutionalisation Index is developed This index is based on indicators defined in scientific discussion on political parties and includes indicators connected with the abovementioned dimensions (e.g. the number of alternations, party membership, multisource funding, or electoral stability)
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