Ingrid van Biezen provides a comprehensive and illuminating comparative analysis of party formation and organizational development in recently established democracies. Focussing on Spain, Portugal, Hungary and the Czech Republic, this is the first book to address political parties in new democracies from a cross-regional perspective. It analyzes the historical, social and institutional contexts in which parties in new democracies emerge and the incentives such environments offer for strategies of political mobilisation and organization. Featuring a wealth of new information on party organization, it provides a valuable theoretical and empirical contribution to our understanding of political parties in both new and old democracies.