Böcker av Lauri Karvonen

This book is the story of what happens to parties, governments and voters when the fundamental features that conditioned party formation and voter alignments undergo rapid change. It is this that makes the Finnish case interesting and, as far as possible, this book examines Finland in a comparative perspective. Karvonen's study is based on a wealth of new primary evidence. It demonstrates that Finland is indeed a special case in certain respects, especially when it comes to the attenuation of ideological rivalry and the recurrent waves of populist protest.

By examining four central dimensions of personalisation - institutions, candidates, party leaders and media - and by including data from most stable parliamentary democracies, this book attempts to fill part of that gap.

The breakdown of democracy in large parts of interwar Europe has often been attributed to the fragmentation of party systems, executive stability, and the ultimate fate of democracy in Europe between the World Wars.This study comprises intensive case studies of sixteen countries, including both successful democracies and countries where democratic rule was replaced by authoritarian regimes.