How do we measure party system change when such first occurs? Most of what has been written about and studied in relation to party system change involves already democratized states – we aim to measure how democratic factors change with time and attempt to explain why this happens. Ultimately, however, our aim is stability – finding the conditions which when applied in different quantities, increase or decrease party system stability and thus democracy. An interesting question that springs from here is how does it all start – what initial steps of party system development set out for more or less change in the party system in the future, for more or less volatility or party system institutionalization? Thus, if we want to understand the ‘new patterns of party system change which affect political systems,’ we ought to look at where party system change begins. Setting out to examine the initial steps of party system change, this paper develops an index of party system establishment and makes a comparative study of the change in key political institutions responsible for party system development, especially the parties and the legislative framework guiding their existence. The study focuses on the four Arab Spring countries which overthrew their authoritative governments and began steps towards democratic political representation.
