BY Graham Hodgson

Prior research on cross-cutting cleavage structures has focused primarily on their influence within political culture, and minimal literature has investigated their institutional effects. In this paper, I present a theoretical discussion and empirical analysis of the impact of cross-cutting systems on government stability in parliamentary systems. I examine the influence of three categories of cross-cuttingness (the degree to which cleavage structures are cross-cutting) on party system fragmentation and government stability in 25 European democracies. My results show a negligible effect on party system fragmentation and an ambiguous relationship with cabinet stability. These findings indicate the importance of typological cleavage variation in determining the influence of cross-cuttingness.

Word count: 5600