Inner-party democracy has to exist before parties can perform their function in the political system together with the other intermediate organizations, as they have been described in this basic course. Without internal democracy, political parties have no legitimate base for the important role they play in democracy. The text on this page names the minimum requirements and reasons for inner-party democracy and addresses some of the problems (using examples from Germany).

[Parties] must (...) have statutes and articles, a political program, divide themselves into local divisions (...) and hold regular elections. General meetings and the reelection of the party leadership in intervals of no longer than 2 years and across all levels of the organization are among the elements essential to any party (...). The German law on political parties emphasizes the importance of allowing the membership to contribute to forming the political will of a party and also refers to the protection of minority groups within the party. The "right to call a motion" within the party should be organized "in such a way as to ensure that the forming of democratic policy is possible" (...).

Inner-party democracy is necessary in order to increase the weight of politically committed citizens within the party. A democratic state cannot be governed by parties with undemocratic internal structures (examples include "leadership principle" or "democratic centralism"). Regardless of all legislation, however, the possibilities open to individual party members to bring influence to bear is relatively limited. Reasons for this include apathy of many party members, the tendency of the party bureaucracy to detach itself from the grassroots and lastly the unavoidable practical necessities associated with large and modern party democracies, namely the ability to demonstrate decisive leadership and quick decision-making skills (...).

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In order to counter widespread party disaffection, the "established" parties have been making efforts over the last few years to strengthen participation rights for their memberships. These democratic parties are going through a process of reform and its end is not yet in sight. Election by direct vote is seen as one way of bridging the gap between the party leadership and its grassroots. All party members affected by policy or personnel decisions (election of party leadership, candidate nomination) are and should be entitled to vote. Polling the membership might also offer one way of finding solutions to certain internal party disputes. Other efforts might include making parties more open to sympathizers, currently shying away from becoming official members (...).

Inner-party democracy also means that individual party groupings largely air their objections in public. There is often a strong belief both in parties and among the electorate that airing differences of opinion in public provides evidence of weakness, a lack of credibility and an absence of party unity. Parties that do not stifle dissent are often regarded as being "split" and "divided". In actual fact, this is sometimes true in extreme cases where opposing factions have become so distant that the party leadership is forced to devote much of its energy into preventing clashes and where the party's policy-making process it being dominated by conflicts. In most instances, however, healthy inner-party differences serve in stimulating political debate. Therefore, it might also be a sign of strength and dynamism when parties are prepared to tolerate dissent instead of stepping in to quash it the moment it raises its head.

[Taken and translated from: Uwe Backes/Eckhard Jesse, aus: Informationen zur politischen Bildung 207, Parteiendemokratie, Bonn BpB 1997]

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Subjects:  Human Rights  I  Democracy  I  Parties  I  Examples  I  Europe  I  Globalisation  I  United Nations  I  Sustainability

Methods:    Teaching Politics    II    Peace Education    II    Methods