What is the relationship between democracy and political parties? The prevalent view is that political parties have a vital role to play in democratic consolidation. Although political parties are not usually included in the definition of democracy, the emergence of some form of multi-party system is generally seen as both an unavoidable consequence of basic democratic rights such as freedom to associate and freedom of expression, and as a necessary component of democracy as is practised in the real world.
This article forms an introduction to a special issue of the journal Democratization, which includes a selection of papers presented to the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Joint Sessions workshop on ‘Parties, party systems and democratic consolidation in the Third World’ in Easter 2001. While there is a consensus on the importance of the actual or potential contribution parties can make to the democratisation process, and specifically to democratic consolidation, there is not an extensive body of writing that explicitly seeks to pin this contribution down. This special issue of the journal intends to fill that gap.
A functional approach to parties is required to analyse their contribution to democracy. This introduction argues that a series of potential functions exist: Representation, integration, aggregation, recruitment and training, making government accountable, and organising opposition. Key findings concerning these functions include:
- These functions, while reasonably specific, are not mutually exclusive. They combine to ensure other broader, more system-level functions: Conflict resolution, the institutionalisation of democracy and contributing to the stability and legitimacy of the (democratic) regime
- Parties help to induct and integrate the people at large into the democratic political system. One aspect of this function is described as ‘mobilisation’. Parties are also an important ingredient in the institutionalisation of democracy, socialising the public to democratic values
- Political parties play a central role in both vertical and horizontal accountability.
Logically, there is a distinction to be drawn between what parties care to contribute, and what they need to be like, in order to make this contribution, though actual discussion often blurs the two. Policy implications drawn from this introduction include:
- The ability of parties to perform functions associated with democratic consolidation should be seen as a function of both the characteristics of parties and of party systems generally
- The contribution political parties can potentially make in democratic consolidation depends on the political, and economic, context of party politics, including national and international dimensions.
