The decline in party membership across Europe means that political parties need to reconsider how they engage with the electorate.

Is party membership still an important part of European political systems? Ingrid van Biezen outlines results from a study, co-authored with Peter Mair and Thomas Poguntke, of party membership rates in 27 European democracies. She notes that party membership levels vary significantly between European countries, with Austria and Cyprus containing the highest levels as a percentage of national electorates. Despite this variation, numbers are declining in almost all of the countries studied, which may mean that parties have to reconsider the forms of organisation appropriate to politics in the 21st century

Models of Party Democracy : Patterns of Party Regulation in Post-War European Constitutions

This article investigates the ways in which political parties are codified in modern democratic constitutions, providing a unique cross-sectional and longitudinal overview of the patterns of party constitutionalization in post-war Europe. Although the constitutions of western liberal democracies traditionally have paid little attention to the role of parties, evidence suggests that in contemporary democracies, both old and new, they are increasingly accorded a formal constitutional status. Little is known, however, about the substantive content of their constitutional position or about the normative connotations of their constitutional codification. In this article, we demonstrate that there is a clear correlation between the nature and the intensity of party constitutionalization and the newness and historical experience of democracy and that, with time, the constitutional regulation of the extra-parliamentary organization and the parties’ rights and duties has gained in importance at the expense of their parliamentary and electoral roles. The analysis furthermore suggests that three distinct models of party constitutionalization can be identified – Defending Democracy, Parties in Public Office, and Parties as Public Utilities – each of which is related to a particular conception of party democracy

Failure of tibial bone grafting for femoral head necrosis

We treated 20 hips with femoral head necrosis in 16 patients using the Phemister tibial bone grafting procedure. After a mean follow-up of 3 years, the Harris hip score had improved in 15 out of 18 hips, however without radiographic improvement. In 2 hips, an arthrodesis and an arthroplasty were per-formed. We concluded that the aim of our treatment was not achieved

De financiering van politieke partijen – een internationale vergelijking

The Institutions of Politics; Design, Workings, and implications ( do not use, ended 1-1-2020