Abstract
Political parties act in the political system in order to translate the main social issues in political terms, bringing together interests that are not simply exogenous to the political process. Through the production of collective identities, they are able to reaffirm their raison d’être, elaborating ideologies and preparing programmes that they hope will gain them the citizens’ support. The historical evolution of the parties follows the dynamics of democratisation. The need to politically organise a large number of citizens meant that the old parties of notables were replaced by large mass bureaucratic organisations in which a multitude of political professionals contributed to the strong local roots of the party and to the socio-political integration of individuals and social groups. Over the years, the mass party too has undergone transformations with the gradual easing of its organisational structure and the weakening of its capacity to produce collective identities. In this regard, scholars talk about the transition from the mass party to other forms that, following a typological approach, we can call catch-all-party, electoral party, or professional party, in which the so-called party-in-public-office becomes central, relegating the “party-in-central-office” and above all the “party-on-the-ground” to a marginal position. Political parties have nonetheless maintained a leading role in the political and administrative organisation of democratic regimes. To understand these dynamics, it is necessary to look at the power exchanges that take place within them and at the ability of the leadership to manage change without ever losing the strength to produce incentives that guarantee the loyalty of the members. With the endogenous crisis of the mechanisms of representation in western countries, many parties suffered a decline. New parties were born everywhere, especially in Europe, often under the impulse of social movements or populist movements. We are talking about hybrid parties, movement parties, or populist parties that most often assume the form of right-wing xenophobic movements, but in other cases are clearly on the left side of the system. The last section of this chapter will be devoted to these issues.
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de Nardis, F. (2020). The Parabola of Political Parties. In: Understanding Politics and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37760-1_9
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