The Role of Small Political Parties in Democracy

Abstract

It is problematic to define the term ‘small political parties’. However, the panel will look at different notions of small parties within the political science and democracy theory. The wide definition of the subject allows incorporating contributions from various fields of study. On the one hand, it is possible to look on the role of small political parties in the parliament where they are usually very important part of the bargaining process between major political parties. On the other hand, the term can describe small political subjects who, if they participate in major elections, usually do not cross the threshold and therefore their votes are re-allocated. Hence another question can be the long-term voter’s support for small political parties resulting in the increasing re-allocation of votes and thus decreasing representation. Yet another field of study is the character of small political subjects per se and their typology according to various theorists (e.g. Duverger).

Title	Details
Title: TBA	View Paper Details
Small Parties in the Party Systems of New Central European Democracies	View Paper Details