In a little-cited chapter in Peter Merkl's Western European Party Systems , Stephen Fischer noted that the study of small or minor parties was neglected for four main reasons: concentrating on large parties delimited analysis of party polities, and thus made it more manageable; data collection problems were reduced; minor parties were thought to be irrelevant; and minor parties were considered dysfunctional elements of a system (1980: 609-10). Since 1980, two families of minor parties have come under considerably greater scrutiny, namely Green parties and Extreme Right parties (ERPs), not least because whilst in many cases they may still be small, they are no longer regarded as minor. It is still true, however, that at least as far as the latter family is concerned, data collection and dysfunctionality are two facets, which inform much, if not all research into the constituent parties.