Study title

Although political parties in modern democracies are to a growing extent regulated by public law, there is very little comparative research on the legal regulation of parties, and even less on their constitutionalisation. This project will systematically investigate the process by which political parties in European liberal democracies have gradually become recognized and codified by the national constitutions, and explore the different modes and dimensions of party constitutionalisation and their development over the post-war period. The comparative and longitudinal analysis of these processes will give us an indication of the extent and intensity of party constitutionalisation and the variation between countries, in particular between the older and the more recently established democracies. The project will also investigate to what extent the constitutionalisation of political parties, insofar as it is indicative of an increased public control of party activity through public law, should be understood as part of the process by which the linkages between parties and the state have become stronger over time. Furthermore, by exploring the normative dimensions of party constitutionalisation, the research will shed light on the way in which the constitutional regulation of parties should be understood in light of particular conceptions of democracy.