Chapter 5 Parties How the Past Affects the Present, and an Uncertain Future – Chapter Summary The way parties organize themselves varies over time and, to some extent, according to ideology. Parties perform a range of crucial tasks in all European democracies: representing and packaging interests and values so that alternatives are simplified and meaningful; recruiting and supporting candidates; and forming governments with coherent programmes. Countries' party systems - and the parties themselves can usefully be categorised into 'ideal types' to facilitate comparison and contrast: systems vary in the extent to which they are fragmented and polarized, or open to innovation; parties vary according to ideology and organization. A country's party system is influenced not only on historical and contemporary social and value conflicts, but also by institutions like the electoral system. Party systems are changing: in the west there are more new parties and the fortunes of (and the alliances put together by) parties fluctuate more than they used to; further east, things will not necessarily 'settle down'. But change should be expected and is rarely wholesale: left and right score about the same as they ever did. Parties may not be popular but there is no better alternative: partly because of this they are increasingly publicly funded and are likely to be with us for the foreseeable future. Parties are adapting to European integration but it has not undermined their primary 'domestic focus', although its indirect effects may pose problems as time goes on. Useful websites (For general web materials on European Politics see ) Type in 'politics' plus the name of the country for links to parties Guide to, and database on, the legal regulation of parties andpolitical funding throughout Europe Party funding plus more besides Discussion questions
Chapter 5 Parties – How the Past Affects the Present, and an Uncertain Future Chapter Summary The way parties organize themselves varies over time and, to some extent, according to ideology. Parties perform a range of crucial tasks in all European democracies: representing and packaging interests and values so that alternatives are simplified and meaningful; recruiting and supporting candidates; and forming governments with coherent programmes. Countries' party systems - and the parties themselves can usefully be categorised into 'ideal types' to facilitate comparison and contrast: systems vary in the extent to which they are fragmented and polarized, or open to innovation; parties vary according to ideology and organization. A country's party system is influenced not only on historical and contemporary social and value conflicts, but also by institutions like the electoral system. Party systems are changing: in the west there are more new parties and the fortunes of (and the alliances put together by) parties fluctuate more than they used to; further east, things will not necessarily 'settle down'. But change should be expected and is rarely wholesale: left and right score about the same as they ever did. Parties may not be popular but there is no better alternative: partly because of this they are increasingly publicly funded and are likely to be with us for the foreseeable future. Parties are adapting to European integration but it has not undermined their primary 'domestic focus', although its indirect effects may pose problems as time goes on. Useful websites (For general web materials on European Politics see ) Type in 'politics' plus the name of the country for links to parties Guide to, and database on, the legal regulation of parties andpolitical funding throughout Europe Party funding plus more besides Discussion questions
Chapter%205%20Parties.docx