The membership of political parties in European democracies, 1960-1990

Amidst a now extensive literature on the imputed decline of party in Western democracies, particular emphasis has been placed on the theme of organisational decline, and on the supposed erosion of the organisational links which tie parties to electors. Much of this emphasis, inevitably, has been impressionistic, since, at least up to now, there has been a notable absence of systematic, cross-nationally comparable data on the development of party organisations over time. And while this general absence has been bemoaned at regular intervals by students of comparative party politics, regret has been most often focussed on the absence of cross-nationally comparable data concerning the development of party memberships, since it is these particular data which have generally been regarded - if not always appropriately (Katz & Mair, 1990) - as providing the most direct indicator of party organisational hold.