Political parties and democracy / edited by Larry Diamond and Richard Gunther.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Diamond, Larry Jay.

Gunther, Richard.

Series:

Journal of democracy book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political parties.

Democracy.

Political science.

Physical Description:

xxxiv, 356 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, MD : Johns Hopkins University Press, [2001]

Summary:

Political parties are one of the core institutions of democracy. But in democracies around the world -- rich and poor, Western and non-Western -- there is growing evidence of low or declining public confidence in parties. In membership, organization, and popular involvement and commitment, political parties are not what they used to be. But are they in decline, or are they simply changing their forms and functions? In contrast to authors of most previous works on political parties, which tend to focus exclusively on long-established Western democracies, the contributors to this volume cover many regions of the world. Historically, they trace the emergence of parties in Western democracies and the transformation of party cleavage in recent decades. Theoretically, they consider the essential functions that political parties perform in democracy and the different types of parties. Empirically, they analyze the changing character of parties and party systems in post-communist Europe, Latin America, and five individual countries that have witnessed significant change: Italy, Japan, Taiwan, India, and Turkey. As the authors show, political parties are now only one of many vehicles for the representation of interests, but they remain essential for recruiting leaders, structuring electoral choice, and organizing government. To the extent that parties are weak and discredited, the health of democracy will be seriously impaired.

Contents:

I. Theoretical and Historical Perspectives

1. Types and Functions of Parties / Richard Gunther, Larry Diamond 3

2. The Rise of Parties in Western Democracies / Hans Daalder 40

3. The Americanization of the European Left / Seymour Martin Lipset 52

4. Parties Are Not What They Once Were / Philippe C. Schmitter 67

5. The Party Effects of Electoral Systems / Giovanni Sartori 90

II. Parties and Party Systems After Reform

6. The Three Phases of Italian Parties / Leonardo Morlino 109

7. Japan's "1955 System" and Beyond / Bradley Richardson 143

III. Developing and Postcommunist Systems

8. Political Darwinism in Latin America's Lost Decade / Michael Coppedge 173

9. Toward Moderate Pluralism: Political Parties in India / E. Sridharan, Ashutosh Varshney 206

10. The Institutional Decline of Parties in Turkey / Ergun Ozbudun 238

11. The Legacy of One-Party Hegemony in Taiwan / Yun-han Chu 266

12. Divergent Paths of Postcommunist Democracies / Herbert Kitschelt 299

13. Challenges to Contemporary Political Parties / Stefano Bartolini, Peter Mair 327.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0801868637

OCLC:

47623816