Development of Parties and Party Systems in ... - lah@sam.sdu.dk

. consolidationthe ”two turn over testen” passedfair and free electionsfair play between government and oppositionformation of stronger civile societiesrule by lawsdepersonalization, rutinization and erosion of charismakonsensualism and consocietalismde-ideologisation and pragmatisationfreezing and de-freezing of cleavagesinstitutionalisationfunctional market economy1.2. Political parties and party systemsPolitical parties can be defined in minimalistic ways, in which case they may be considered as “anypolitical group that presents at elections and is capable of placering through elections candidates forpublic office” (Sartori, 1976:64), in opposition to the more maximalistic and demandingformulations, used by Jan-Erik Lane and Svante Ersson (Lane and Ersson, 1999:132), who say that“political parties are organized collectivities orientated towards the pursuit of some combinationof the goal of electoral success and in the end of political effectiveness, i.e. the capacity of parties tohave an impact upon government policy-making. Differences in strategy and tactics between partiesmay help explain the variation in the capacity of parties to cope with a changing if not turbulentenvironment”.Using a more maximalist definition the demand of a more robust party organisation can beincluded. Seen in a functionalistic perspective the parties must be able to recruit people to importantposts in society, control and coordinate and secure more quality and stability in publicadministration. Moreover, parties are considered as political associations which by competing withother parties take part in election campaigns with the aim to gain governmental power and takingresponsibility for the state 1 . Parties may also be seen as functional agencies, as they serve specific1 Inka Slodkowska,”Partie i ugrupowania polityczne polskiej transformacji”, in: Jacek Wasilewski (ed), 1997.7