Though researchers have devoted much attention to analysing electoral reforms in recent years, most have concentrated on reforms that affect the proportionality of the system. Yet there are good reasons – at least in theory – to expect interesting trends in electoral reforms on other dimensions too. This paper explores one such dimension: namely, the degree to which electoral systems are personalized. By ‘personalization’ we mean the degree to which electoral rules place more emphasis upon candidates rather than upon political parties. The paper pursues four objects. First, it defines in greater detail what personalization is and how different aspects of electoral systems affect it. Second, it develops theoretical expectations regarding the circumstances in which we should expect personalization of electoral systems to occur. Third, it employs a new dataset in order to gather evidence on how electoral reforms have influenced personalization throughout Europe since 1945 and whether a trend towards greater personalization exists. Finally, it draws out inferences regarding underlying causal processes.
