The future of the liberal party family: a survey of new liberal parties and other trends

This article is an overview of recent developments in the liberal party family. It examines the fortunes of the party family in selected countries. It presents a qualitative survey of certain selected new political parties, which are either too new or too obscure to have been formally classified, and/or which have not appeared in the Comparative Manifesto Project. The article provides arguments as to why these parties may be candidates for future inclusion in the liberal party family. It also examines Marie Demker's (2008) conception of the virtue party, a scheme for examining certain new political parties which overlaps with many traditional features of liberalism.