Political Parties and Political Development

This volume launched the modern behavioral study of political parties as agents of political development.The predominant view was that the institutionalization and expansion of parties was an essential element of democratic politics, and thus party development was a foundation of political development.To some extent, the European history of party development was suggested as a model for new democracies.Today, our images of parties and political development have changed.Few party systems in the developing world have followed this projected course of institutionalization, with strengthening voter bases, growing mass memberships, expanding organizational structures and growing importance in organizing government.The developing democracies of Latin America seem mired in a pattern of weak political parties.The new third-wave democracies in Eastern Europe and East Asia also provide limited evidence that parties are developing as previously envisioned in the party literature.In short, few of these new democracies appear to be following the trend of institutionalization and mass party development that occurred in the evolution of Western democracies over the past century.At the same time, political parties are following a different course in the established Western democracies.After the expansion of mass parties and all that this implied, many features of these mobilizing political parties are eroding.Most notably, identification with parties and trust in parties is declining, and party membership and participation in election campaigns is eroding.Other trends are eroding the parties' role as agents of political representation and political choice.The dealignment of contemporary party systems is apparent in West Europe, North America and other advanced industrial democracies.This special issue of Party Politics examines the theme of parties and political development on the 40th anniversary of the original LaPalombara and Weiner volume.This special issue has two broad goals.First, there