Anti‐party sentiment ‐ Conceptual thoughts and empirical evidence: Explorations into a minefield

Abstract

Abstract The literature about ‘crisis of party’ or ‘decline of party’ abounds, but most studies in this genre refer to underlying social changes when trying to explain these phenomena. Normative reservations about political parties have thus far been widely neglected in this debate. This article argues that more attention should be given to the interaction between elite theorizing about, and mass orientations towards, political parties. Even though direct survey evidence on popular attitudes towards political parties is largely unavailable, these attitudes can be indirectly measured using several attitudinal and behavioural indicators. Based on a survey of longitudinal data for 13 Western democracies, this article shows that signs of anti‐party sentiment have become more visible as we have moved into the 1980s; but that sweeping generalizations are unfounded.