Party and state development: sequencing and the institutionalisation of party systems in South Asia

This research project introduces a new framework for understanding the role of political parties’ relationship to the state on the institutionalisation of party systems. Conventional understandings of party system institutionalisation assume that institutionalised parties are necessary for interparty competition to stabilise. However, this approach fails to recognise the role of the state in shaping interparty competition and the development of political parties. This research project shows how parties’ relationship to the state at critical junctures in the development of the political system have important effects on the trajectory of party system formation and institutionalisation. This is shown through a comparative study of the development of political parties and party systems in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, using process tracing and survey data collected through expert surveys.

The study finds that the sequencing of party and state development has a significant effect on the formation of party systems and their institutionalisation. This sequencing effect is defined by the comparative level of institutional development between political parties and the state. It is argued that at critical junctures, this relationship has a defining effect on the formation and development of party systems. Further, this relationship influences the development of political parties and the institutionalisation of party systems over time. This framework which incorporates the role of the state proposes a new way for understanding the institutionalisation of parties and party systems