The PSAI Peter Mair Memorial Lecture 2024 Ruling The Void , a decade on: reflections on Peter Mair's legacy

After briefly rehearsing the arguments set out in Peter Mair's rather downbeat assessment of contemporary democracy, 'Ruling The Void' (2013), I want to focus on two main themes in the book. The first is Mair's claim that party systems have become more convergent: this rather depends on how you measure 'convergence' – manifesto data generally confirm Mair's view, whereas the electoral strength of radical parties points to the polarization of many party systems. I proceed to reflect on the implications of these findings for the quality of party government. Second, I address Mair's claims about the internal organization life of political parties – especially those relating to intraparty democracy. In essence, he saw modern parties as being generally less democratic than they purported to be, but it is far from clear that recent research confirms this claim.