From 1998 onwards, the Costa Rican bi-partisan system – which had historically known high levels of voter turnout – saw itself confronted by voter abstention, high volatility levels, and the proliferation of political parties. These dynamics were mainly ascribed to voter discontent with a rigid party system that had held on for too long to a strong neoliberal policy line in the face of strong public disapproval. It is unclear, however, whether supply-side, elite-driven phenomena played a role in party system reconfiguration as well. This paper addresses this puzzle through a longitudinal analysis of political party organization and change between 1983 and 2012 in order to gauge the effect of party organizational and sub-national party development on the stability of the party system. By incorporating changes in political finance and candidate nomination procedures in the distinction between continuity and change of (new) political parties, this paper sheds light on whether or not party system reconfiguration did indeed put new players on the political scenery. Through an analysis of the effect of changes in sub-national structures on regional volatility and turn-out scores, this paper explores whether party system dynamics are region-specific rather than presenting complete national party system change. The aim of the paper is threefold, namely to develop a better understanding of the effect of elite-induced party change on party system dynamics; to contribute to the measurement of party system dynamics by taking into account both intra-organizational and regional factors of political party development; and to explore whether the changing party system dynamics which appeared from the 1998 elections onwards constituted a complete or only a partial party system reconfiguration.
