“Things Fall Apart, the Center Cannot Hold”: Fractionalized and Polarized Party Systems in Western Democracies

This article examines the evolution of party systems in Western democracies since the 1960s, reassessing Jean Blondel’s classic typology of party competition. Norris analyzes trends in party system fragmentation and ideological polarization using measures of the effective number of electoral and parliamentary parties across multiple democracies. The study explores whether growing fragmentation contributes to polarization and democratic instability, highlighting broader transformations in voter behavior, political parties, and representative institutions. The findings contribute to debates on democratic resilience, political fragmentation, and the changing structure of party competition in contemporary democracies.