THE EMERGENCE OF NEW POLITICAL-PARTIES FROM A GAME-THEORETIC PERSPECTIVE

The literature on new political parties is vast but often neglects str ategic aspects that are important in the formation period. In this art icle I develop a simple incomplete information game consisting of the interactions between an established party and a potential new party. T he game shows that higher 'costs' for forming a party decrease the lik elihood of new actors appearing on the electoral scene. Apart from thi s intuitive result the paper also shows that important demands from po tential new parties are less likely to be taken seriously by the estab lished party than more modest demands. Consequently,established partie s often change their policies only marginally and are likely to refuse important modifications to their platform.