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An overview of the subjects
addressed by the basic courses:
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Basic
course 1: What is a party?
Before we take a look at the different types of
parties in basic course
2, consider the function of parties in modern-day democracies in basic
course
3, address the different party systems in basic
course
4 and reflect on the problems faced by party democracies in basic
course
5, we first ask: What is a party? A brief definition
of a party might read as follows:
A
party is "a group of like-thinking citizens looking to realize
their shared political ideas".
[Rainer-Olaf Schultze; taken and
translated from: Pipers
Wörterbuch zur Politik]
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The definitions below are a little more
detailed:
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"Parties are free associations of
like-thinking citizens making keynote suggestions for the solution of
political problems and electing candidates for parliamentary and
government office in order to implement their policies in the event of
an election victory."
[taken
and translated from: Waldemar Besson/Gotthard Jasper,
Das Leitbild der modernen Demokratie, Bonn BpB 1990] |
"Parties are associations of citizens that
continually or for a long period (...) set out to influence political
opinion and that want to play a part in representing the people (...) if
with regard to the totality of the actual circumstances, particularly
with regard to the size and stability of their organization, the number
of their members and their willingness to come forward in public, they
offer adequate guarantee for the sincerity of their aims (...)"
[German
Party Act 1967,
§ 2 Abs. 1] |
The definitions above touch upon some of the
important aspects characteristic of parties. Whether an organization decides to
call itself a "party" is irrelevant. Neither is its ideology nor its
policies relevant for determining whether an organization is actually a party or
not. The following text provides a summary of the criteria to be met:
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When does
an organization become a party? |
Criteria
 | A party has to influence political opinion.
Its aim is to influence the entire political landscape. Its efforts to
participate in shaping political opinion are directed over the long-term and
focused on large areas of politics. This means that political associations
acting at a purely municipal level do not meet the test (...). |
| A party must demonstrate its determination
to participate regularly in the political representation of the people. To
this end, a political party is different from associations, whose political responsibility
covers certain areas only, and also from civil action groups, whose aim is
to influence certain areas of policy but do not want to hold political
office. This, however, does not mean that a political party has to achieve a
parliamentary mandate (...). |
| The independence of an organization is
important both with regard to its size and its durability. Neither organizations
active only at the time of elections nor (...) groups using the party
apparatus of another political union can be regarded as having party status. |
| A party represents a union of citizens. The
principle of individual membership is intended to prevent infiltration of a
party by another association. The membership of a party should not exceed a
certain limit in order that the sincerity of its aims and the chance of
achieving them remain clear. |
| Any political union that wants to be
recognized as a party must come forward in public. Organizations that hide
away from the public gaze and carry out their work in secret do not meet the
conditions necessary to be regarded as a political party. |
[taken and translated from: Uwe Backes/Eckhard Jesse; aus: Informationen zur politischen Bildung 207,
Parteiendemokratie, BpB 1996]
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Encyclopedias also provide a number of short explanations
about the history of political parties and party types, which we will be addressing
in the next basic course:
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Encyclopedia
definition of:
"Party" |
[latin pars, "part, direction"], Party is generally used to
describe an association of like-thinking people with regard to politics, social
issues, economic policy and a general view of the world. They form a party to influence
state politics. In this sense parties have existed, albeit as loose groupings,
since the Ancient city-states in Greece and in republican Rome as well as during
the political and religious movements of the 16th and 17th century.
The development of modern parties into firmly established bodies took place
during the 18th and 19th centuries. This process was strongly influenced by the
example set by political life in England, where, during the 18th century, the
Tories and Whigs established themselves as relatively solid parties. They
followed party policy when making comments in public and replaced the former
system for governing the state (two-party system). The party groupings that
formed during the American struggle for independence, the French Revolution and
some time later during constitutional movements in Germany known as the "Vormärz"
were more sharply outlined (...).
The aim of a political party or a group of similar parties is to form a majority
in parliament (coalition parties, or single-party majority) and thereby gain
dominance over state political policy; political opponents form the parliamentary
opposition. This interplay between the parties is a fundamental condition of the
modern constitutional state, particularly in parliamentary systems of
government. Where a single party alone claims to embody the political will of
the people (as a majority or minority) or regards itself as being the elite talk
is of a one-party system (i.e. in a dictatorship).
(...) Although political parties belong to the most fundamental and influential
elements of a constitutional state, they are not recognized in the constitutions
of most nations, since members of parliament are regarded as representatives of
the people and not of a particular party. Only in Germany and to a certain
extent in the UK are political parties formally recognized by the constitution.
[Taken from: Bertelsmann Discovery Lexikon 1997]
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