Is party competition still driven by ideology? Nowadays a variety of ideologies and parties is an inevitable and essential feature of democracy. Each party by its nature tends to win the official position in the state legislature, and essentially each party differs from the others in its ideological core. The modern political system, parties, beliefs and attempts are different from those of 50 years ago, and this is the normal subsequent political development of the world. It is argued that modern party competition is no longer driven by ideology. In this essay, the definition of party systems, party competition, and the changing shape of modern parties will be discussed. Furthermore, the question of whether party competition is still driven by ideology will be resolved in accordance with the relevant arguments. The party is an inevitable feature of democracy and is defined as “an autonomous group of citizens whose purpose is to make appointments and contest elections in the hope of gaining control over government power through the capture of public office and the organization of government” ( Caramani, 2011, p.220). Parties are ubiquitous in modern political systems and perform a range of functions, including: coordination, participation in elections, recruitment and representation (Caramani, 2011). Political parties are the product of parliamentary and electoral play, and party systems reflect the social oppositions that characterize society when parties first appear (Coxall et al., 2011). A party system of a state is the set of political parties in a given political system, and is characterized by 3 main characteristics: the number of parties, the political and ideological nature of these parties, the way in which they interact and communicate. .... middle of paper ......or represent the interests of their constituents, but also promote the business of their investors (Norris, 1997). In conclusion, it is certain that competitive party systems give many advantages in case of improvements in the political, economic and civic welfare situation. But modern party competition is not based exclusively on ideological competition in many states, especially developed ones with long-standing democracies (USA, UK, most European countries). The facts supporting this thesis are the following: the changing proportion of parties with mass cadres, globalization, the growing role of the mass media, the dominance of the middle class. This essay provides the definition of party and party systems. The arguments supporting the main conclusion were represented and discussed in detail what led to the above conclusion.