This book examines the role played by the parties themselves in two-party systems. It rejects the argument that the behaviour of the parties is determined largely by social forces or by the supposed logic of the electoral market. Instead, it shows that both structure and agency can matter. It focuses on three major aspects of change in two-party systems: why occasionally major parties collapse; why collapsed parties sometimes survive as minor parties, and sometimes do not; and what determines why, and how, major parties will ally themselves with minor parties in order to maximize their chances ... More

This book examines the role played by the parties themselves in two-party systems. It rejects the argument that the behaviour of the parties is determined largely by social forces or by the supposed logic of the electoral market. Instead, it shows that both structure and agency can matter. It focuses on three major aspects of change in two-party systems: why occasionally major parties collapse; why collapsed parties sometimes survive as minor parties, and sometimes do not; and what determines why, and how, major parties will ally themselves with minor parties in order to maximize their chances of winning. With respect to the first aspect it is argued that major parties are advantaged by two factors: the resources they have accumulated already, and their occupying role similar to that called by Thomas Schelling a ‘focal arbiter’. Consequently, party collapse is rare. When it has occured in nation states it is the result of a major party having to fight opposition on ‘two separate fronts’. The survival of a collapsed party depends largely on its internal structure; when a party has linked closely the ambitions of politicians at different levels of office, party elimination is more likely. The main arena in which agency is significant – when leadership is possible, including the politician acting as heresthetician – is in the building of alliances with minor parties. This is necessary for maximizing the chances of a party winning, but, for various reasons, coalitions are usually difficult to construct.