Balancing between consolidation and cartel. The effects of party law in Estonia.

Abstract

Over the last decade the institutionalist study of political parties has taken a new turn. The turn has been toward the in-depth study of party law and party regulation. Such institutions ostensibly operate as uniform determinants of behavior, regardless of population size. Hence, the case of Estonia, while being small in size and population, is interesting because it has been one of the more successful post-communist party systems to consolidate over the last 20 years. The argument in this chapter is therefore that this outcome has been a combination of increasing regulation in five particular domains: constitutional provisions, electoral rules, party registration requirements, parliamentary rules, and party finance. These are profiled as they appear across a chronological overview of changes in party law and party regulation over the last 20 years.