Party System Institutionalization in Post-Soviet Georgia

Journal of Social Research & Policy, Volume: 9, Issue: 2, pp. 5-16

Date: December 2018

ISSN: 2067-2640 (print), 2068-9861 (electronic)

Abstract: Political parties are the unit of analysis for several studies, but this is different from studying party systems. Stable party system is the basis of a consolidated democracy. Despite the fact that many researchers are interested in studying of system stability and institutionalism, the empirical studies about the mentioned issue are rather scarce. Electoral volatility is used as one of the measurements of the party system. Pedersen Index is the famous instrument in researches of electoral volatility. The length of democratic transaction and party system fragmentation determines the electoral volatility. In accordance with the electoral volatility, the post-Soviet and former socialist countries are significantly ahead of the other regions. A little experience of multiparty political system and weak party identification is named as the cause of the mentioned. The effective number of parties (ENP) is the indicator, which allows us to define the institutionalization of party system. By using the effective number of parties, which is determined through the obtained votes of the parties, we can determine their political weight. The present paper aims to examine Georgia’s perspectives within the context of party system institutionalization. In accordance with the research hypothesis, the weakness of program / ideological connection between parties and electorate creates a basis for a weak party institutionalization. In post-Soviet Georgia, the weak institutionalization of the party system played an important role in the point of view of political transformation. This paper explores the most common methods of data collection used in qualitative research: namely: a) Expert interviews with political researchers b) In-depth interviews with representatives of political parties; b) In-depth interviews with selected electorate.

Keywords: Party System Institutionalization; Electoral Volatility; Program / Ideological Connection; Georgia.