This book examines dominant parties in both established democracies and new democracies and explores the relationship between dominant parties and the democratic process. Combining theoretical and empirical research and bringing together leading experts in the field, it features case studies on Japan, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Italy, France and South Africa.

1. Introduction: Setting a New Agenda for Research Part 1: Concepts and Measures 2. Rethinking Dominant Party Systems 3. Measuring One-Party Dominance with Voting Power Indices 4. District-Level Dominance and Vulnerability under the French Fifth Republic Part 2: Cases and Comparisons i: Sub-national Dominance 5. Big Fish in Small Ponds: A Comparison of Dominant Parties in the Canadian Provinces and German Länder 6. Hard and Soft Dominance: Assessing the Case of the Bavarian CSU ii: The Intra-Party Dimension of Dominance 7. The Factional Politics of Dominant Parties: Evidence from Britain, Italy and Japan 8. Dominance without Factions: The Liberal Party of Canada iii: Dominance and Democracy 9. A Resource Theory of Single Party Dominance: The PRI in Mexico 10. One-Party Dominance in South-Africa 11. Laying a Foundation for Democracy or Undermining It? Dominant Parties in Africa's Burgeoning Democracies 12. Conclusion