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Key Text Political Parties and Party Systems

Author: B Smith
Date: 2003
Size: 22 pages

Summary

Political parties are the most important institutions of political mobilisation in mass politics. Political parties in the developing world exhibit wide variation. How can these parties be defined? What are the important factors in the survival and development of party politics in developing countries? This chapter conceptualises developing world parties according to function and ideology and analyses their survival in terms of party systems and parties as institutions.

Single party systems in parliamentary governments are a variant particular to the developing world. Single party systems often evolved out of strong and popular national parties that won the struggle for independence. Decentralisation is a key factor in the institutional organisation of parties. Parties that enable upward communication from the masses are more likely to survive than those that only allow communication from the leadership down.

It is easier to classify developing world political parties according to their function and ideology that to define what they are. The main functions include endowing regimes with legitimacy, acting as a medium for political recruitment and providing opportunities for the formation of coalitions.

Other potential roles for political parties include acting as conduits of upward pressure from membership and the electorate, influencing public policy and encouraging political stability.
Political party ideology provides a framework of common values. Party ideologies often resemble those in developed and transitional countries.
Distinctively, developing world ideologies are more often derived from religion than Western material ideologies and defend cultural, rather than class, interests.
Developing world parties are frequently populist. They deny the significance of any class-based ideology, and stress homogeneity rather than diversity.

The development and survival of party politics in the developing world has been mainly analysed in terms of party systems and parties as institutions. Distinctions have been made between pragmatist-pluralist and revolutionary-centralizing parties and competitive systems and non-competitive party systems. The emergence of the single party system post-independence has been a departure from the anticipated Western style multi-party system. A more worrying trend has been the collapse of party politics under the weight of political crisis. It is also noted that the significance of the party for the process of democratisation is immense.

Single party systems emerged from an inheritance of autocratic systems of government that tended towards authoritarianism. These were shored up by the view of the state as the centre of professional knowledge, the classless nature of politics in some countries and the rewards of political office.
An institutionalised party system seems to be a necessary condition for the consolidation of democracy, although there is some debate around the effect that the number of parties in any given system has on the stability of democracy.
Parties as institutions differ according to organisational structure, size and nature of membership, finances, functions, methods and patterns of authority. There are no clear explanations for the survival of political parties as institutions, although economic prosperity and social structure may be contributory factors.
Decentralisation in party organisation is important. Firm grassroots and effective bi-directional communication between grassroots and leadership are indicators of party success and survival.
Parties can also be analysed according to the distribution of patronage and factionalism within the party. These two factors interact to determine the fragmentation of parties and individual and party success.

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Source: Smith, B.C., 2003, ‘Political Parties and Party Systems’, in Understanding Third World Politics: Theories of Political Change and Development, Macmillan Press Ltd, Chapter 6, pp. 198-220