This paper introduces a new approach to the conceptualization of patterns of democracy. The concept is based on a three dimensional approach that combines power-concentrating and power-dispersing effects of electoral and legislative decision-making rules as well as configurations of political actors. This dimensional approach is better suitable to map changes in institutional arrangements than the classical, mostly bipolar, typologies because changes in each dimension can be traced individually. The paper corroborates its conceptual reasoning with empirical findings from ten Central Eastern European parliamentary democracies (1995–2004). Thus, the paper contributes to the theoretical and empirical debate about how to map institutional developments in modern democracies.
