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Political Organizations

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
International Encyclopedia of Civil Society

  • 87 Accesses

Definition

Political organizations are systemic mediators between the society and the political process (Wilson 1995). Most of them, including parties, are nonprofit organizations. Many theoretical approaches use political organization as an operational term, but few build on it as a central idea. Most literature narrows down the definition of political organization to various nonprofits, including parties, which, in one way or another, take part in the political process. They range from political parties and committees that run candidates for elections to antiestablishment and movement groups that question the status quo of the political system. Among them are advocacy organizations that campaign for one or against another cause, special interest groups that lobby politicians and top public servants, and think tanks that produce policy alternatives. They vary from spontaneous local grassroots groups to hierarchical (national and international) peak bodies (umbrellas) and loose...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Roumen Dimitrov

  2. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Roumen Dimitrov

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  1. Roumen Dimitrov
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Correspondence to Roumen Dimitrov .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Regina A. List

  2. Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  3. Schar school, George Mason University, ARLINGTON, VI, USA

    Stefan Toepler

Section Editor information

  1. Hamburg, Germany

    Regina A. List

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Dimitrov, R. (2020). Political Organizations. In: List, R., Anheier, H., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_119-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_119-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

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