Book reviews

Hauptstadtsuche. Hauptstadtfunktionen im Interessenkonflikt zwischen Bonn und Berlin, Frankfurt a. M. By Klaus von Beyme. (Edition Suhrkamp 1709, Neue Folge 709) Suhrkamp Verlag, 1991.

Enlargement without Accession: The EC's Response to German Unification. RIIA Discussion Paper no. 36. By David Spence. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1991. £5.00 pb.

A History of Germany 1815–1990. Fourth Edition. By William Carr. London: Edward Arnold, 1991. £12.95 pb.

The End of the East German Economy. By Philip J. Bryson and Manfred Melzer. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1991. £40.00 hb.

Federal Republic of Germany and EC Membership Evaluated. Edited by Carlchristoph Schweitzer and Detlev Karsten. London: Pinter, 1990. £30.00 hb.

Postmodern Politics in Germany: The Politics of Resentment. By Hans‐Georg Betz. Macmillan: Basingstoke and London, 1991. £35.00 hb.

Germany in the Twentieth Century. By David Childs. London: Batsford, 1991. £25.00 hb.

Upheaval against the Plan: Eastern Europe on the Eve of the Storm. Edited by Peter R. Weilemann, Georg Brunner and Rudolf L. Tökes. Oxford: Berg, 1991. £27.50 hb.

Germany and European Integration. The Common Agricultural Policy: an Area of Conflict. By Gisela Hendriks. Oxford: Berg, 1991. £25.00 hb.

Britain's Policy for West German Rearmament 1950–1955. Cambridge Studies in International Relations 13. By Saki Dockrill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. £27.50 hb.     

Western European party systems: On the trail of a typology

Existing typologies frequently fail to bring out the extent of the development which has occurred in West European party systems. The purpose of this article is to propose a construction which is specifically applicable to the parliamentary form of government and which is of use in non‐static conditions. Whilst admitting that problems of measurement exist, the principal argument is that a distinction can be made between two levels of cohesion in a party system, the governing and the societal references. Their independent variation provides a typology which is sensitive and well‐articulated. The four major types are discussed and illustrated and some conclusions are drawn concerning the apparantly predominant West European type.