Early postwar political scientists in the United States yearned for a strengthening of parties that would allow “party government” their aspirations are echoed today by observers of new democracies in Eastern Europe and Latin America who blame the shortfalls of these democracies on the absence or weakness of political parties.
Later normative theorists, many of them no less skeptical than Madison or Jefferson of parties as promoters of the public good, seem to regard political parties as an unpleasant reality, a hardy weed that sprouts up in what would otherwise be the well-tended garden of democratic institutions.Īmong positive theorists and empirical students of democracy, regard for political parties is higher. 1The founders of the American republic tried to create institutions in which parties and “factions” would wither yet parties appeared when American democracy was still in its infancy, just as they have reappeared in every democracy on earth. Despite this achievement, Schattschneider complained, political theorists were at the founding, and remained a century and a half later, silent on parties.
Schattschneider believed that political parties “created” American democracy out of a “small experiment in republicanism” ( 1942:3) by drawing the masses into political life. Political parties created democracy…modern democracy is unthinkable save in terms of the parties.Į. I also review debates about the origins of parties, about the determinants of party-system size and characteristics, and about party competition. I review competing theories of parties, sketch their testable implications, and note the empirical findings that may help adjudicate among these theories. I show that our view of the impact of parties on democratic responsiveness hinges on what parties are-their objectives and organization. The debate about parties and democracy takes on renewed importance as new democracies around the globe struggle with issues of representation and governability. Yet, according to others, parties give voice to extremists and reduce the responsiveness of governments to the citizenry.
Political parties organize politics in every modern democracy, and some observers claim that parties are what induce democracies to be responsive. ▪ AbstractA central claim of democratic theory is that democracy induces governments to be responsive to the preferences of the people.
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