This book focuses specifically on the question of interest aggregation: do parties today perform that function? If so, how and if not, in what different ways do they seek to show themselves responsive to the electorate?

1. Do Parties Respond to Voters? Challenges to Political Parties and their Consequences Thomas Poguntke 2. Speaking for Whom? From 'Old' to 'New' Labour James E. Cronin 3. From Disaster to Landslide: The Case of the British Labour Party Patrick Seyd and Paul Whiteley 4. From People's Movements to Electoral Machines? Interest Aggregation and the Social Democratic Parties of Scandinavia Nicholas Aylott 5. From Aggregation to Cartel? The Danish Case Karina Pedersen 6. How Parties in Government Respond: Distributive Policy in Post-Wall Berlin K. Davidson-Schmich 7. Reaggregating Interests? How the Break-Up of the Union for French Democracy has Changed the Response of the French Moderate Right Nicholas Sauger 8. Radicals, Technocrats and Traditionalists: Interest Aggregation in Two Povincial Social Democratic Parties in Canada Brian Tanguay 9. Paying for Party Response: Parties of the Centre-Right in Postwar Italy Jonathan Hopkins 10. Latecomers but 'Early-Adapters': The Adaptation and Response of Spanish Parties to Social Changes Laura Morales and Luis Ramiro 11. Representative Rule or the Rule of Representations: The Case of Russian Political Parties Susanna Pshizova 12. Five Variations On A Theme: Interest Aggregation By Party Today Kay Lawson