FROM COMMUNITARIAN PROTEST TOWARDS INSTITUTIONALIZATION - THE EVOLUTION OF HYBRID PARTIES IN CANADA AND ITALY

Lawson and Merkl have identified four alternative organizations that e merge when major parties fail to provide linkage with electorates. The y include communitarian parties, which target their appeals to demogra phic subgroups, and supplementary parties, which champion general issu es that have been ignored by established parties. Italy's Lega Nord an d the Canadian Reform Party are two parties that have distanced themse lves from their 'communitarian' roots in efforts to attract a broader cross-section of voters. Through a combination of strategic positionin g and major party failure, they have transformed themselves from parti es with a very limited support base into supplementary parties with 'c atch-all' appeal. Nevertheless, both the Lega and Reform have failed t o bridge crucial regional or linguistic cleavages. Their ability to ex pand is also threatened by internal dissension and revitalized major p arties.