It offers a valuable and long overdue assessment of the role of political parties in the theory and practice of consociational demococracy. Combining valuable theoretical and comparative analyses with sensitive in-depth case studies.

Part 1 Introduction: The Significance of Party Elites 1. A framework for the comparative analysis of political parties and party systems in consocational democracy Kurt Richard Luther 2. The utility of party and institutional indicators of change in consocational democracies Paul Pennings, Vrije University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Part 2. Comparative Country Studies 3. Must what goes up always come down? Of pillars and arches in Austria's political architecture Kurt Richard Luther 4. From consocation to federation: how the Belgian parties won Kris Deschouwer 5. Parties, pillars and the politics of accommodation: weak or weakening linkages? The case of Dutch consocationalism. Rudy Andeweg, Leiden University, The Netherlands 6. The odd fellow: parties and consocationalalism in Switzerland Pascal Sciarini and Simon Hug both at University of Geneva, Switzerland 7. Israel and the consocational model: religion and class in the Israeli party system, from consocationalism to consensualism to majoritarianism Reuvan Hazan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Part 3. Party Dimensions in Comparative Perspective 8. Electoral consequences of depillarisation: the case of Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands (1945-1996) Monica Mendez-Lago, University of Salamanca, Spain 9. The consocational party system Steve Wolinetz, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada 10. 'Prudent leadership' to successful adaptation? Pillar parties and consocational democracy thirty years on Kurt Richard Luther and Kris Deschouwer