The enduring Scandinavian party system

The frozen party hypothesis has been rejected in several contemporary studi es. However, by conceptualizing the Scandinavian parties in three categorie s, and by focusing the study on the three pole parties originally emphasize d by Stein Rokkan, the bulk of the Scandinavian party system is still froze n. Diminishing class voting and electoral instability are inefficient measu res of how well cleavages structures are reflected in the party system. Cle avages must be understood in a broader context where the struggle between t he three fronts to incorporate new categories of voters is the very essence of an enduring cleavage structure.