Political parties of the World/ edited by Bogdan Szajkowski

The quarter-century that has passed since publication of the first edition of Political Parties of the World in 1980 has seen an immense increase in the num ber and diversity of political parties worldwide an expansion reflected in the ever-growing size of successive editions of the book. Since the "big bang" in party formation triggered by the collapse of single-party systems in the Soviet bloc and many developing countries in the early 1990s, there has been a con tinuing churn as new parties emerge, are tested, grow, fragment or perish, and many of the currently most significant parties in the former one-party states are of very recent formation. In addition, the diversity of parties grows ever greater, with issues of national, regional, ethnic and religious identity in partic ular being increasingly to the fore and fewer parties being readily placed on the traditional left-right continuum that provided the dominant framework for much of the twentieth century.

This new edition retains all the traditional features of the book - coverage of every country in the world, with details of all currently active parties of any consequence as well as concise overviews of national parliamentary and consti tutional arrangements. Compiled by nearly 80 contributors, Political Parties of the World is the most complete guide to its subject available, designed to be used both as a tool for quick fact checking and for more detailed research.