On Parties, Party Systems and Democracy

Peter Mair was undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in the comparative study of parties and party systems in the past quarter century. This volume – a suitable tribute to an intellectual giant in the field of comparative politics – draws together 25 of his most important contributions, and includes superb intellectual portraits by three of his closest colleagues: Stefano Bartolini, Hans Daalder and Ingrid van Biezen. -- David Farrell, University College Dublin

...this is an outstanding collection of some of the great writings on political parties, party government, party systems and party democracy written over the past quarter century – all by one outstandingly distinguished scholar. The introduction by van Biezen and the intellectual portrait by Bartolini and Daalder are valuable in their own right, too. This volume should, then, be in all libraries where comparative politics is taught as well as on the bookshelves – or digital devices – of scholars and ambitious students -- Mark Donovan, 'Contemporary Italian Politics'

The late Peter Mair was Professor of Comparative Politics at the European University Institute. His publications include Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy (Verso, 2013), Party Patronage and Party Government in European Democracies (co-edited with Petr Kopecký and Marcia Spirova, OUP, 2012), Party System Change: Approaches and Interpretations, and Identity, Competition, and Electoral Availability (edited, Cambridge, 1990).

Ingrid van Biezen is Professor of Comparative Politics at Leiden University. She has previously taught at the University of Birmingham (UK) and Johns Hopkins University, and has held Visiting Fellowships at Yale University, the University of California, Irvine, and European University Institute. She is a co-editor of Acta Politica, a former co-editor of the Political Data Yearbook and the author of Political Parties in New Democracies. Her current research focuses on political parties, party regulation, and democratic theory. She has published in, among others, the British Journal of Political Science, the European Journal of Political Research, the European Political Science Review, Government and Opposition, Party Politics, Perspectives on Politics, and West European Politics.

Stefano Bartolini was born in 1952 and graduated in political science from the University of Florence. From 2006 to 2013 he was Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. Previous to his directorship he was assistant professor at the University of Bologna (1976) and at the European University Institute (1979), associate professor at the University of Florence (1985), full professor at the University of Trieste (1990), the University of Geneva (1991), the European University Institute (1994) and the University of Bologna (2004). He is a member of the editorial board of the Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, and a member of the scientific board of West European Politics, Swiss Review of Political Science, Acta Politica, Electoral Studies, Journal of Theoretical Politics, and Comparative Political Studies. He has been awarded the best book prize of the European Politics section at APSA (2002), the Gregory Luebbert APSA Prize in Comparative Politics (2001), and the UNESCO Stein Rokkan Prize for the Social Sciences (1990). Professor Bartolini's present academic interests are the relationships between the process of European integration and the key features of the European nation-state experience. His research interests have focused on Western Europe political development, comparative methodology, political institutions and European integration.