The fourth edition of this text continues to unite the theoretical analysis of representative government and its application to the real world of politics - with a unique focus on the core features of representative government as they manifest themselves across the whole of modern Europe. The book identifies and examines broad themes and patterns in the politics of the whole of "modern Europe" - not, as some other books do, only with regard to a handful of often atypical countries. Europe has been transformed by the dramatic democratization of many of the former Communist states of central and eastern Europe; reflecting this change, the fourth edition has also been transformed: country coverage has been extended to include all of the eight post-communist states that are now members of the EU, and discussion of politics in these countries has been integrated into the main body of text and tables. The "modern Europe" discussed in this book is thus the Europe that came into being in May 2004, and the text reflects the ways in which thinking about representative government has changed as a result of these dramatic developments.

Table of Contents

Preface 1. Introduction 2. The Executive 3. Parliaments 4. Constitutions, Judges, and Politics 5. The European Union and Representative Government 6. Levels of Governance 7. Patterns in Party Politics and Party Systems 8. Party Families 9. Cleavage Structures and Electoral Change 10. Inside European Political Parties 11. Elections, Electoral Systems, and Referendums 12. Building and Maintaining Government 13. Does Representative Government Make a Difference? 14. Politics Outside Parliament

Author Biography

Michael Gallagher is associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Trinity College at the University of Dublin. He is co-author of Candidate Selection in Comparative Selection (London, 1988), The Referendum Experience in Europe (Basingstoke, 1996), and Politics in the Republic of Ireland, 3rd Edition (London, 1999). His current research interests include a study of the backgrounds, attitudes and roles of members of political parties. Peter Mair holds the chair of Comparative Politics in Leiden University in the Netherlands and previously taught at the University of Limerick, the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, the University of Manchester, and the European University Institute, Florence. He is the author (with Stefano Bartolini) of Identity, Competition, and Electoral Availability (Cambridge, 1990), which was awarded the Stein Rokkan Prize, and of Party System Change (Oxford, 1997). Recent co-edited books include How Parties Organize (London, 1994), and Partien auf komplexen Wahlermarkten (Vienna, 1999). He is co-editor of the European Journal of Political Research and is currently engaged in a project on the long-term development of elections, parties, and governments in Western Europe over the period from 1950 to 2000. Michael Laver holds the chair of Political Science at Trinity College, University of Dublin. He previously taught at Queens University, Belfast, the University of Liverpool, University College Galway and has been a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Harvard University and Duke University. Recent books include Private Desires, Political Action (London, 1997), Playing Politics: The Nightmare Continues (Oxford, 1997) and (with Kenneth A. Shepsle) Making and Breaking Governments (New York, 1996). He is currently working on the impact of intra party politics on inter party coalition bargaining, and on the development of more dynamic models of government formation.