Herbert P. Kitschelt

Kitschelt is primarily known for his studies on how European multiparty systems are structured. Throughout his career, he has investigated how political parties, in competition with each other and as a result of changing attitudes and behaviors within the electorate, have shaped party systems, primarily in post-industrial societies with multi-party competition.

He was one of the earliest researchers to study the emergence of the new green parties in Western Europe in the 1980s. He also studied the factors behind the liberalization of many social democratic parties' economic policies that occurred at the same time. Above all, he pioneered comparative research on the rise of radical right-wing parties in the 1990s Europe. Just as Kitschelt's research has been important for understanding developments in established democracies in Western Europe, he has also made several important contributions to the formation of party systems in the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe.

On a more global scale, Kitschelt has provided important insights into the differences between ideological and clientelist party systems, both in their emergence and formation. Importantly, his research has shown that clientelist party systems do not necessarily disappear as societies develop. Instead clientelist parties adapt to new conditions as education levels, prosperity, and the middle class increase.