Economic Crisis, New Parties and Electoral Reform

Economic crisis has led to a growing number of incumbents defeated at polls. Moreover, euro-crisis can involve a real threat to status quo parties, especially in those countries were new protest parties have appeared. Can this recognized uncertainty provide incentives for electoral reform? First, we want to test if it is the case or parties prefer to do not open the “Pandora´s box”. Second, we want to disentangle under what conditions they prefer to follow a “maximin” strategy to reduce their electoral penalty or a restrictive strategy and cartelize the party system.