ELECTORAL VOLATILITY IN GEORGIA: QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE STABILITY OF PARTY SYSTEM

Giorgi Melikidze

Abstract


Stable party system is the basic of 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 one of the famous instruments in researches of electoral volatility. The mentions instrument is used into two directions: for measure party stability and the volatile electorate. 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. In this article my purpose was to study regional contest of electoral volatility in post-soviet and post-socialist countries, to analyze the condition in Georgia in this regard and to make conclusions only follow the contextual analysis. In the study I used qualitative methods, monographic study (Case Study) and I divided Georgian party system as the case. The study showed that in Georgia as well as in the many countries of the region the share of parties’ instability in the overall volatility rate is much higher than the share of volatility caused by the volatile electorate. There are the weak state institutions in Georgia for decades, semi-authoritarian regime and difficult social-economical conditions prevents the formation of a stable party system

Keywords


Electoral Volatility; party System; Post-Soviet Countries; Georgia;

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References


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