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The article deals eith the concept of the advantage of 'backwardness' and its use in comparative research on European parties and party systems. Politics in the 'post-Rokkanian' world, characterized by de-aligning patterns on interest representation and intermediation, raises new questions and challenges in the field of research on political parties, pressure groups, and social movements. The text poses questions that should be asked in regard to this 'post-Rokkanian' transformation of political processes connected to the opening of new research perspectives on multilevel party competition in European countries. The article elaborates the concept of the advantage of backwardness at thee main levels: the organizational patterns of internal life within political parties, party systems, and interest intermediation systems generally. The article also tries to put the whole concept of the advantage of backwardness into the proper geopolitical and historical area in the framework of European countries.