"The introductory chapter identifies a remarkable gap in the growing literature on the crisis of democracy and democratic backsliding, namely the discussion of the role of political parties in this process. While there is little doubt that parties play an essential role for modern democracy, surprisingly little attention has been devoted to possible failures of political parties and, likewise, to examples where parties have helped to augment democratic governance. Is it really true that parties are increasingly 'ruling the void', as the late Peter Mair famously wrote? Are they in danger of being side-lined by strong leaders? Or is technocracy waiting in the wings? The chapter formulates a number of research questions that guide the case studies dealing with countries around the globe"-- Provided by publisher.