Political Party. Political parties What is a party

Party, a list of its goals and ways to achieve them.

A political party is a hierarchical political organization that unites on a voluntary basis persons with common social-class, political-economic, national-cultural, religious and other interests and ideals, which sets itself the goal of gaining political power or participating in it.

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Party classification

Social class criterion:
1. bourgeois
2. workers
3. minority parties
4. bureaucratic
5. all-class
By organization (Duverger criteria):
1. massive
2. personnel
By degree of participation in power:
1. ruling
2. systemic opposition
3. non-systemic opposition
4. marginal
By place in the party spectrum:
1. rights
2. centrists
3. left
4. mixed
5. radical
By organizational structure:
1. classical type
2. movement type
3. political club
4. authoritarian-proprietary type
5. based on declarative membership
In relation to power and law:
1. legal
2. illegal
3. semi-legal

Ideal Party Types

Today there are several "non-partisan" states. These are, as a rule, absolute monarchies in the form of government: Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bhutan (until 2008). In these countries, there is either a direct ban on political parties (Ghana, Jordan), or there are no appropriate prerequisites for their creation (Bhutan, Oman, Kuwait). A similar situation can be under an influential head of state, when allowed parties play a small role (Libya at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries).

Party colors and emblems

Aims of political parties

Any party directly sets itself the task of seizing political power in the country or taking part in it through its representatives in the bodies of state power and local self-government.

In the Russian Federation, according to paragraph 4 of Article 3 of the Federal Law "On Political Parties", the main goals of the parties are:

formation of public opinion;
political education and education of citizens;
expression of opinions of citizens on any issues of public life, bringing these opinions to the attention of the general public and public authorities;
nomination of candidates (lists of candidates) at elections of various levels.

Other goals are determined by the political program of the party.

Names of political parties

The name of the party may reflect the party ideology (Communist Party, Union of Right Forces), the main goal (task) of the party's activities (Russian Network Party for the Support of Small and Medium Business, the Renaissance Party of Russia); social (Pensioners' Party), national (Russian Party), religious (Christian Democratic Union) or other group whose interests the party defends. The name of the party may reflect the history of its emergence, as was the case with United Russia: the original name of the party, All-Russian Political Party "Unity and Fatherland - United Russia" reflected the names of the founders - the associations "Unity", "Fatherland" and All Russia. The name can be just a memorable brand that does not carry a special semantic load. There are also other approaches to naming parties, for example, using the initial letters of the names or surnames of the founders ("Yabloko" - I AM vlinsky, B oldyrev, L ukin).

The name of a Russian political party consists of two parts: an indication of the organizational and legal form "political party" and the name of the party. It is interesting that tautology is often found in the names of political parties, for example, the Political Party “Communist Party Russian Federation”. The name of some parties does not contain the word "party" in the name (Political Party "Russian National Unity"). Names of parties can also be short and succinct, such as Will (political party). The tautology in the name, apparently, is connected with the period when there was no law on political parties, and the procedure for creating a political party was not streamlined. The parties then existed in the form of political public associations and, accordingly, their names contained an indication only of this organizational form. In order to show that the association is a political party and not another public organization, the word "party" was included directly in the name of the political public association. Some political parties had "historical" names, such as the Communist Party or the Social Democratic Party of Russia]]. Political parties are characterized by an indication of their organizational and legal form directly in the name of the party.

A political party may use in its name the words "Russia", "Russian Federation" and words and phrases formed on their basis. At the same time, it is exempt from paying the state fee for the use of the names "Russia", "Russian Federation" and their derivatives (clause 1) part 1 article 333.35 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In the Republic of Belarus, on the contrary, a ban is established on the use of the words “Republic of Belarus”, “Belarus”, “national” and “people's” in the name of a political party, unless otherwise determined by the President of the Republic of Belarus (paragraph 4 of Article 14 Law of the Republic of Belarus of October 5, 1994 "On political parties"). The law on political parties does not contain a ban on the use of the names of other states, that is, the name of a political party may even coincide with the name of a foreign state, although this prohibition is established in relation to the symbols of political parties. The laws of the CIS countries on political parties bypass this issue. In some European states (Great Britain, Slovenia, Croatia) it is established that the name of a political party cannot contain the names of foreign states. For example, in the UK, a political party in its name can only use the words "Britain", "British", "England", "English", "national", "Scotland", "Scots", "Scottish", "United Kingdom", "Wales", "Welsh", "Gibraltar", "Gibraltar" and their derivative combinations. This variation is primarily due to the fact that in the UK it is allowed to create regional political parties.

The name of the party may have a semantic load, or it may represent an arbitrary set of words. There is also no restriction on the length of the name (for example, in Ireland, a party may be denied registration due to an excessively long name: as a rule, it should not consist of more than 6 words).

International political associations

Organization and structure of a political party

Different countries have different approaches to organizing the work of political parties. In Russia and many other countries there is a fixed membership, while in the US there is no fixed membership in the parties. In Russia, the structure of the party is built according to approximately the same system at three levels: party - regional branches - local branches. At the level of the party itself, the supreme body is the congress, which forms the permanent governing bodies, at the regional level - the assembly (conference) and the governing bodies of the regional branch. Certain requirements for the structure and governing bodies are contained in Law No. 95-FZ “On Political Parties”, which prescribes the existence of regional branches, collegiate governing bodies and the leading role of the congress.

Subjects of the Russian Federation, have at least fifty (from 2010 - forty) thousand (from April 2, 2012 - 500) members, its governing and other bodies must be located on the territory of the Russian Federation.

In Russia, political parties have the right to nominate candidates for any elective office and any representative bodies, and the exclusive right to nominate lists of candidates during elections to the State Duma, as well as during elections to the legislative (representative) bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation under the proportional system. According to Article 30 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, political parties are created freely, without any permission at the founding congress or conference of the party. Membership in the party, according to the same article, is voluntary, and no one can be forced to join the party or prevented from leaving it. The freedom to join the party is limited by law in relation to certain officials (judges, military personnel).

Along with the freedom to create and operate parties, their equality, state support, the legal status of parties includes their obligations to society and the state, financial transparency, compliance of program settings and activities with the constitutional legal order. The Constitution prohibits the creation and activities of political parties whose goals and actions are aimed at forcibly changing the foundations of the constitutional order and violating the integrity of the Russian Federation, undermining the security of the state, creating armed formations, inciting social, racial, national and religious hatred (Article 13, part 5).

There are federal parties, state parties and municipal parties in Mexico. State parties can run only in their state, and municipal parties only in their municipality, while they can have several registrations in different states and municipalities. At the same time, the party automatically loses registration if it does not pass to the parliament of the corresponding level in the elections.

A. S. Avtonomov Legal regulation of the activities of parties in capitalist and developing countries // Sov. state and law. 1990. No. 6.
Anchutkina T. A. Legal foundations of the parliamentary activities of political parties in the Russian Federation // Theoretical problems of Russian constitutionalism / Ed. ed. T. Ya. Khabrieva. M., 2000.
Bayramov A. R. Legal regulation of the activities of political parties in modern conditions: Abstract of the thesis. dis. : cand. legal Sciences. M., 1993.
Beknazar-Yuzbashev T. B. Party in bourgeois political and legal doctrines. Moscow: Nauka, 1988.
Gambarov Yu. S. Political parties in their past and present. SPb., 1904.
Danilenko V. N. Political parties and the bourgeois state. M., 1984.
Danilenko V. N. Legal status of political parties of bourgeois countries. M., 1986.
Duverger M. Political parties: Per. from fr. M.: Academic project, 2000.
Evdokimov V. B. Parties in the political system of bourgeois society. Sverdlovsk: Publishing House of the Ural State University, 1980.
Evdokimov V. B. Political parties in foreign countries (political and legal aspects): Proc. allowance. Yekaterinburg: Sverdl Publishing House. legal in-ta, 1992.
Zaslavsky S. E. Legal Forms of Organization of Political Parties in Russia // Legislation and Economics. 1997. N 1-2.

THE CONSIGNMENT

THE CONSIGNMENT

1. A political organization that is part of a class and protecting its interests. “The ruling classes of capitalist society and their individual strata, respectively, have several parties that fight among themselves on particular issues, but jointly defend the foundations of the capitalist system. “Where there are not several classes, there cannot be several parties, for the party is part of a class.” Stalin .

2. All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). “The most active and conscious citizens from the ranks of the working class and other sections of the working people are united in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), which is the vanguard of the working people in their struggle to strengthen and develop the socialist system and represents the guiding core of all organizations of working people, both public and state ." USSR Constitution . "The party is the highest form of the class organization of the proletariat." Stalin . The Komsomol is the party's reserve. Party Congress.

3. A group of people united by a common interest (predominantly spiritual), views, aspirations. Pushkin in his youth kept to the party of Karamzin. This incident has divided our society into two parties..

4. A group of persons collected or singled out from some target, squad. “The party of Moldovans, with which I worked, went to the seashore.” Maksim Gorky . The hunters were divided into parties. Foot, equestrian party(military).

5. What-n. a certain amount of goods. A batch of galoshes has been received. New party book. stocking party.

|| Notes for such a separate part.

|| Solo role in opera (theatre, music). Onegin's part was written for baritone. crown party(the performance of which the artist became especially famous for). title part(i.e., the role of the person to whom the opera is named).

7. The complete game from start to finish. Played 5 games of chess. Picket Party.

8. A group of persons necessary for the implementation of the game (preferably in cards; colloquial). “I composed your party: Monsieur Kok, Foma Fomich and myself.” Griboyedov . Made up a party in preference.

9. Marriage, marriage or marriage (without definition - in the meaning of a profitable marriage), as well as a person in terms of suitability, acceptability as a spouse for another (colloquial obsolete). “Think! what kind of party is this for you? Turgenev . “For a short time, a thought lurked in a young maiden: “to neglect such a beautiful party is madness.” Nekrasov . He (she) is not your party. Make a party(It is advantageous to get married or, less often, to get married). "She was sure that he would make a brilliant match that would set everything right." L. Tolstoy .

Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935-1940.

Synonyms:

See what "PARTY" is in other dictionaries:

- "Party of Socialist Revolutionaries" Date of foundation: January 1902 Date of dissolution: 1922 Ideology: Socialism Party press: "Revolutionary Russia", "People's Messenger", "Thought", "Conscious Russia" ... Wikipedia

- (fr. partie, from lat. partire to divide). 1) a combination of many persons with the same goal; like-minded comrades in opinions, beliefs. 2) marriages, mostly arranged. 3) in trade, a known quantity of a homogeneous commodity obtained for ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Female, French about people: supporters, side, society, defenders, like-minded people, accomplices, brothers, comrades in opinions, beliefs, aspirations; an alliance of some individuals against others who have different motives. The noble assembly was divided into ... ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

- (from the Latin partio I divide, I share), 1) a group of people united by a commonality of ideas, interests and goals (for example, a political party), and also allocated to perform some kind of work (for example, a search party). 2) Certain (usually ... ... Modern Encyclopedia

- (musical), one of the components of the texture of a polyphonic (orchestral, chamber, vocal, etc.) musical work; performed by an individual musician or a homogeneous timbre group (for example, a violin part in a string quartet, a part ... Modern Encyclopedia

- (from Latin pars genus partis part, participation, share), 1) a group of people united by a commonality of ideas, interests (see political party), as well as allocated to perform any work (for example, a search party) .2) Playing up to a certain ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

See society, part ... Dictionary of Russian synonyms and expressions similar in meaning. under. ed. N. Abramova, M .: Russian dictionaries, 1999. party group, association, with ... Synonym dictionary

- (from Latin pars, genus partis part, participation, share) 1) a group of people united by a commonality of ideas, interests (for example, a political party), and also allocated to perform some kind of work (for example, a search party) ; 2) game up to a certain ... ... Political science. Dictionary.

PARTY, and, wives. 1. The political organization of what n. the social stratum, expressing and protecting its interests, guiding it to achieve certain goals and having its own program. parliamentary parties. Democratic, Republican, ... ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

the consignment- the consignment; Leninist party Leninist party Nanai-Russian Dictionary

Books

Party of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. T. 2. Part 2, . Party of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. T. 2. Part 2…

Definition of the term political party.

Constitutional definition of the term Political Party.

- Political Party and political literature.

Typology of political parties.

Ideal types of parties.

Non-partisan, one-party, two-party and multi-party governments.

Names of political parties.

Party colors and emblems.

Party funding.

Transformation of the status of the party as a political institution.

Political party, party

Partia - uhthen a group of people united by a commonality of ideas, interests, or singled out to perform some kind of work.

The political party is stable hierarchical political, uniting on a voluntary basis persons with common social-class, political-economic, national-cultural, religious and other interests and ideals, setting itself the goal of gaining political power or participating in it.

The political party is an independent public association of enterprises, which has a stable structure and a permanent nature of activity, expressing the political will of its members and supporters.

Political Party — it public firm (association of enterprises), which directly sets itself the task of seizing state power, keeping it in its hands, using the state apparatus in the interests of certain social strata.

The political party is public association of enterprises, the main purpose of whose participation in the political process is the conquest and implementation (or participation in the implementation) of the state authorities within the framework and on the basis of the fundamental Law of the state and the current legislation.

The political party is company which unites individuals on the basis of common political views, recognition of a certain system of values, which are embodied in a program that outlines the main directions of state policy.

Definition of the term political party

A political party is an association of enterprises that operates on a permanent basis and has a formalized organizational structure.

A political party is a political party that expresses the interests of a social class or its stratum, unites their most active representatives and guides them in achieving certain goals and ideals.

Unlike trade unions, youth, women's, anti-war, national, environmental and other organizations that implement the function of expressing and protecting the interests of certain social strata and groups, mainly in the role of pressure groups on state structures, political parties are guided by the direct use of political authorities.

Often in the definition of political parties, emphasis is placed on their role in the electoral process. process. K. von Beime characterizes parties as public companies competing with each other in elections in order to achieve power. However, this approach does not take into account that, depending on its ideological platform or the prevailing situation, one or another political party can seek to gain power or participate in its implementation not only by parliamentary methods, observing the rules of political struggle accepted in society, but also resorting to violence.

The first political parties appeared in ancient Greece (of course, not in the form in which they exist now). For modern political parties, it is characteristic, in particular, that they:

Represent political firms;

They are public (non-state) companies;

They are stable and fairly broad political associations with their own bodies, regional branches, ordinary members;

Have their own program and charter;

Built on certain organizational principles;

Have a fixed membership (although, for example, the US Republican and Democratic parties traditionally do not have a fixed membership);

They rely on a certain social stratum, a mass base in the person of those who vote for the representatives of the party in the elections.

In democratic states, parties are prohibited that use subversive, violent methods of struggle for, parties of a fascist, militaristic, totalitarian type with a program aimed at overthrowing the government, abolishing fundamental law of the land, and with discipline of the military and paramilitary type.

All parties are required to strictly observe the constitution and the democratic regime of internal party life. Parties are civil society organizations and cannot assume the functions of state power. In the international document of the Copenhagen meeting in 1990, within the framework of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), it is written that parties should not merge with states. This entry warns against repeating the experience of totalitarian one-party regimes, including the Soviet one, when a single party absorbed not only but to a large extent civil society as well. In such cases, so-called "party states" are formed. In itself, the concept of a "party state" ("state of parties") initially does not carry anything bad in itself: it served only as a justification for the need for legal regulation of the activities of parties. The main idea of this concept is the recognition of parties as essential elements for the functioning of democratic state institutions.

The role and significance of political parties in societies with different levels of economic, social and cultural development, specific historical and national traditions are not the same. However, some general functions of the parties can be distinguished.

The most important function is to harmonize and generalize the heterogeneous interests and needs of various groups and individuals. Then these generalized interests are formulated in programs, requirements, slogans and brought to the attention of power structures.

This is a representation function. In addition, parties can also perform “government” functions, participating in the development, application and implementation of rules for the interaction of political institutions, subordinating or controlling government bodies.

Representing and expressing the interests of social groups, bringing them to the authorities, the parties carry out the function of communication, that is, they provide the relationship between power and society. By cultivating certain values and stereotypes of behavior with the help of agitation and propaganda, political parties realize the function of political socialization, that is, the function of transferring political experience, traditions, and culture to subsequent generations. Finally, by selecting the best candidates for leadership positions, parties contribute to improving the quality of the elite, performing the function of political recruiting. However, in totalitarian systems, political parties can directly perform the function of exercising power. Usually these are monopoly ruling parties that concentrate the entire range of power functions in their hands.

Constitutional definition of the term political party.

In the constitutions of various countries, including the Russian one, there is no legal definition of a political party. These constitutions define only the goals and objectives of the parties: political parties “facilitate the expression of opinions by voting” (Article 4 fundamental law of the state France); parties contribute to "the expression of the people's will and the firm of political power" (Article 47 of the Constitution of Portugal). More precisely, the function of a political party is defined in the Basic Law of the country of Italy: parties are created in order to “contribute in a democratic way to the definition of a national politicians”(Article 49). Art. 29 of the Basic Law of the State Greece: "Parties must serve the free functioning of the democratic regime."

The constitutions of these states enshrined the principles of free formation of parties, a multi-party system, and political pluralism. The idea of political pluralism is that there are various interests in society and, therefore, they are expressed by various parties that compete in the struggle for power, for votes.

At present, the fundamental law of the country of the Russian Federation has brought the legal status of political parties into line with world democratic standards: political pluralism is recognized, in the struggle for power by winning votes, parties of a totalitarian type that profess violence as the main means of political struggle are prohibited (Article 13 fundamental law of the state RF). The party is organized on the initiative of the founders and can start legal activities after registering its charter with the Ministry of Justice Russia. Its activities may be banned if it violates the constitutional framework, violates the requirements of the fundamental Law of the country and the law applicable to political parties.

political party andpolitical scienceand Iliteraturea.

In political science literature, a political party (from Latin pars, partis - part) is defined as the most active and organized part of the social stratum or class, formulating and expressing its interests. Or, more fully, as "a specialized organizationally ordered group that unites the most active adherents of certain goals (ideologies, leaders) and serves to fight for the conquest and use of political power in society."

Both parties and the state are political organizations, political public institutions. Moreover, the state and parties are traditionally considered "elements of the political system of society." At the same time, it is emphasized that the state is the central link of the political system, which establishes the "rules of the game" for all political forces and acts as a factor integrating the elements of the political system into a single whole.

It seems, however, that such a construction as a "political system" in many respects requires revision. It was convenient for Soviet political thinking, when all political institutions had to be in the same harness, revolve around one political "core".

The balance of political forces, their balance and interaction, existing in a free, democratic society, is a special system. In any case, this is not the same political system as it was presented in Soviet state studies and totalitarian political thinking. From the point of view of modern ideas, along with the state, one should also take into account the integrating role of civil society, its determining influence on the state. But political parties are one of the institutions of civil society.

At the same time, unlike parties, the state expresses the interests of society as a whole, is the official representative of the entire people. In this regard, the state has only its inherent capabilities and attributes - the "levers" of political power, for the possession of which political parties are fighting in order to ensure the implementation of their programs with the help of the mechanism of state power. The ruling political parties, that is, those that have already gained access to the mechanism of state power in one way or another, exercise power mainly through the placement of members of their parties in the most important state posts.

Sociologist Robert Michels noted that any centralized party, in particular a political party, is a corporation that competes with others like it.

ThypologistsI ampolitical parties.

The world of political parties is extremely diverse. Therefore, attempts to typify the parties are rather conditional. However, they aim at deep insight into the nature of parties and their possibilities.

The generally recognized and most successful is the classification of M. Duverger, based on differences in the structure of parties and the company of their inner life. On this basis, he singled out cadre and mass parties.

Cadre parties arose when the right to vote was still limited. In a closed political space, cadre parties were a means of expressing the political interests of the ruling classes, primarily the bourgeoisie. Their activities were aimed at winning the elections. To do this, they sought not to increase their ranks, but to unite elite enterprises that could influence voters. The main structural element of cadre parties are committees. The Committee is formed on a territorial basis, and its membership is usually small. It has a permanent composition of activists, which is renewed if necessary by co-optation and does not seek to expand its ranks. Committees are tight-knit, authoritative groups with the skills work among the population. Their main purpose is to conduct and firm election campaigns. Members of the committee select candidates for elections to government bodies, study public opinion, the sympathies and interests of voters, their expectations and requirements, and help leaders in the formation of election programs. The activity of the committees is usually of a "seasonal" nature: it is sharply activated on the eve and during the election campaign for parliament or local authorities and fades after it ends. The committees are autonomous and loosely connected to each other. All their activities are concentrated around a candidate for an elective post. Such a party is concerned with ideological issues insofar as they can help their candidates. In parties built on this principle, there is no membership system with proper registration and regular payment of membership fees. This gave reason to M. Duverger to call such parties cadre.

In the organizational structure of a political party, four main elements are usually distinguished: 1) the supreme leader and headquarters, which have a leading role; 2) a stable administrative apparatus that follows the instructions of party leaders and communicates with party members; 3) party members actively participating in its activities; 4) passive members of the party and adherents adjoining it, who have little influence on party life.

Differences in the organizational structure, acquisition conditions and features of party membership, largely dependent on the place and role of the party in society, the nature of its relations with the political and social environment, underlie the division of modern parties into personnel and mass parties, which is widespread in Western political science - the classical typology proposed by M. Duverger. Personnel parties are distinguished by their orientation towards conducting election campaigns, their low membership, rather free membership and relative autonomy of their basic structural organizations - committees created on a territorial basis from among permanent activists, as well as relying primarily on professional politicians and representatives of the financial elite who are able to provide material support to the party (typical examples are the two leading parties USA- Democratic and Republican). Mass parties, which first appeared in Europe in the spread of universal suffrage, can unite in their ranks up to several hundred thousand people on the basis of a fixed membership, have a fairly rigid structure and are characterized by strict internal discipline, which implies the implementation of decisions of higher bodies, congresses and conferences, not only lower party organizations and rank-and-file members, but also parliamentarians elected on behalf of the party and with its support (workers', social democratic and socialist parties were originally based on such principles; subsequently, a similar organizational structure with increased emphasis on centralism in leadership and subordination of the minority to the majority began to be used by communist parties, and in a "softer" form - by some bourgeois and less ideological "electoral-mass" or "electoral" parties that appeared several decades ago, which are often called "all poisonous").

There are other approaches to the typology of political parties. So, according to the nature of participation in the exercise of state power, ruling and opposition parties are distinguished; the latter, depending on their place in the political system, are divided into legal, semi-legal and illegal. According to the method of communication with the parliamentary faction, “hard” and “flexible” parties are distinguished: in the first case, when making important political decisions, deputies must vote in strict accordance with the position developed by the party leadership or congress (for example, the Labor and Conservative parties of England); on the contrary, the “flexibility” characteristic, in particular, of both leading parties USA, means that congressmen or senators perceive the point of view of the leading party bodies only as a “recommendation”, vote more freely, and as a result, sharp contradictions may arise between the president and members of Congress from the same party.

Depending on the ideological and political orientation in the conventional coordinate system “left-right”, communist, socialist and social-democratic, liberal-democratic, conservative, neo-conservative and right-wing (including fascist) parties stand out “from left to right”.

Interacting in the struggle for the conquest of power or participating in its implementation, political parties form a party system that reflects the specifics of the position of each party in the state and civil structure of society, as well as the features of the inter-party competition in the course of the struggle for the conquest of power or participation in its implementation. R.-J. Schwarzenberg showed that in Western countries the actual level of inter-party competition largely predetermined by the electoral system established in society: a proportional electoral system often leads to the emergence of a “full multi-party system” - the emergence of five or more parties with approximately the same degree of political influence; the introduction of an “electoral barrier”, when parties claiming parliamentary representation must gain a certain minimum of votes from the total number of voters, contributes to the gradual formation of a “moderate multi-party system”, represented by 3-4 influential political forces; a majoritarian system in two rounds of voting leads to the formation of a two-block system (“imperfect two-party system”), a majoritarian system with voting in one round leads to the formation of stable two-party systems. However, in developing countries the nature of party systems is largely influenced by historical and national cultures

The majority electoral system often leads to the fact that for a long time, and with a constant large advantage, the same party wins elections, thereby gaining the opportunity to form stable government bodies almost individually. The main reasons due to which other political forces cannot really compete with such a “dominant” party are the lack of the required number of generally recognized leaders, the presence of stable conservative traditions in society, the small number and large number of parties that do not have sufficient experience in the democratic struggle for power.

In recent years, a number of foreign researchers have recorded a decline in the role of political parties: countries West - against the background of the activation of socio-political movements of a non-party type, in developing countries - against the background of trends towards a wide etatization of parties.

Ideal Party Types.

elite parties

popular/mass parties

ethnically oriented parties

electoral associations of enterprises

parties of certain movements.

Each of these types also has further branches: for example, electoral trusts are divided into individual parties, majority parties, program associations of enterprises.

A key role in this respect was played by Maurice Duverger, who distinguished between two types of parties: "cadre" and "mass". The heyday of "cadre parties", or, as they are also called, "elite parties" - the XIX century, when the power of the people was still developing, and the right to vote was limited. Such parties most often represented the interests of the ruling classes.

In the first half of the 20th century, along with the introduction of universal suffrage, "mass" parties came to the fore. These parties are already orienting themselves towards the broader strata. They are numerous, united, have a clear ideology, they are headed by a centralized hierarchical organizational structure. The future, as Duverger believed, was precisely for the mass parties.

The next stage of evolution/degradation was noticed by Otto Kirkheimer. In the 1950s-1960s, based on the material of German realities, he formulated the thesis of "all-encompassing" parties. Mass parties, striving to get as many votes as possible, "can no longer stand on a unique ideological platform, they have to become" all-inclusive ", that is, sacrifice ideology in the name of electoral support.

However, the same Kirkheimer noticed another decisive trend: "all-inclusive" parties began to gradually merge with the state. This trend was conceptualized in 1995 by Richard Katz and Peter Meir as a theory of "cartel parties" that they had observed emerging since the 1970s. The "cartel" party is a new stage in the evolution/degradation of parties. They are increasingly moving away from the voters, they are beginning to be interested not in the implementation of this or that policy, but in the very fact of being in power. Moreover, they become dependent on government subsidies. Large parties merge with each other, forming a cartel, seeking to retain power and oust competitors.

Not all researchers share this four-part scheme of evolution from elite parties to cartel parties through mass and inclusive parties. Other concepts are put forward that claim to describe the current situation. However, almost all researchers agree on one thing: we are witnessing a rapid emasculation of popular government accompanied by the erosion of representative institutions.

If we take this into account, it is easy to assume the emergence of a new phenomenon in the near future: we dare to call it "the party of the whole people." It will be a party that combines elements of "all-inclusive", "cartel" and other models. Such a party will be aimed at capturing the entire electorate by turning the existing class and ideological contradictions in society, which trigger party competition, into factional differences. These differences will henceforth be resolved not in process public policy, but through elite dialogue. The well-known domestic political scientist Vitaly Ivanov, in his study of the history of the United Russian Federation, following Yuri Pivovarov, calls such an elite association of enterprises "power plasma", within which conflicts must "flow, be resolved and extinguished", capable of "destroying the regime and the system from the outside."

However, not everything is so simple: the "parties of the whole people", which, in addition to the "United Russian Federation", also include the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, the Indian National Party, almost always fail to achieve their goal. After all, no largest, loosest association of enterprises is capable of including all political identities, reflecting the interests and values of all segments of the population at once. Any one recalcitrant, rebellious radical identity inevitably falls out. Islamists in the Arab countries, Hindu fundamentalists in India, the heirs of Lenin and the radical followers of Gaidar in the Russian Federation. The most curious thing is that at some point it is this rebellious identity that may turn out to be the most in demand, the most acceptable for the whole society, simply because of its specificity and fundamental intransigence.

Thus, the bureaucratization of party life threatens to turn into its paradoxical radicalization. However, this conclusion is still nothing more than our, very likely, hasty assumption.

Non-partisan, one-party, two-party and multi-party governments.

In a non-partisan system, there are either no officially registered political parties, or law prohibits the appearance of the latter. In non-partisan elections, each candidate stands for himself and, thus, is a bright and independent politician. A historical example of such a system is the administration of George Washington and the very first convocations of the US Congress.

Today there are several "non-partisan" states. These are, as a rule, absolute monarchies in the form of government: Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bhutan (until 2008). In these countries, there is either a direct ban on political parties (Ghana, Jordan), or there are no appropriate prerequisites for their creation (Bhutan, Oman, Kuwait). The situation can be similar under an influential head of state, when the allowed parties play a small role (Libya at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries).

In a one-party system, only one political party is officially allowed; its influence is enshrined in law and is undeniable. There is a variation of this system where there are also minor parties that are legally required to recognize the leadership of the main party. Often, in such a situation, the position within the party may be more important than the position in the state apparatus. A classic example of a country with a one-party system is the USSR.

In ruling party systems, opposition parties are allowed; deep democratic traditions may even be present, but "alternative" parties appear to have no real chance of gaining power. An example from recent history is Russia at the beginning of the 21st century. In some cases, the ruling party can keep the country under its control for a long time by all means, including electoral fraud. In the latter version, the difference with the one-party system is only official.

The two-party system is typical for states such as the United States and. At the same time, there are two dominant (less often they are also called ruling) parties, and conditions have developed under which one party has practically no opportunity to gain the necessary advantage over the other. A possible option could also be one strong left and one strong right party. Relations in a two-party system were first described in detail by Maurice Duverger and are called law Duverger.

In multi-party systems, there are a few parties that have a real chance of gaining broad popular support.

In countries like Canada and Britain, there may be two strong parties and a third that achieves enough electoral success to really compete with the first two. She often takes second place, but almost never officially headed the government. The support of this party may, in some cases, tip the scales on an acute issue in one direction or another (thus, a third party also has political influence).

The concept of a political party

Political parties occupy a special place among the subjects of political activity, acting as intermediaries between citizens and the state. The classic definition of a party belongs to the French political scientist Roger Gerard Schwarzenberg (b. 1943):

Political Party is a continuously operating organization, existing both at the national and local levels, aimed at obtaining and exercising power and striving for this purpose to broad popular support.

Parties unite the most active representatives of social groups who have similar ideological and political views and strive for state power.

Party signs are:

functioning on a long-term basis, organization, the presence of formal norms and rules of intra-party life, reflected in the charter;
the presence of local branches (primary organizations) that maintain regular links with the national leadership;
focus on the conquest of political power and the disposal of it (groups that do not set such a goal are called pressure groups);
availability of popular support, voluntary membership;
the presence of a common ideology, goals and strategies expressed in a political program.

In modern society, parties perform a number of specific internal and external functions.

Internal functions relate to recruiting new members, securing funding for the party, establishing effective interaction between the leadership and local branches, etc.

External functions are decisive for party activity:

expression, upholding and protection of the interests of large social groups and strata; o integration of people within social groups on the basis of common goals, mobilization of the masses to solve important social problems;
development of ideology, the formation of public opinion, the spread of political culture;
creating opportunities for the political socialization of the individual;
training for political institutions, participation in the formation of the political elite;
organization of election campaigns and participation in them;
struggle for state power and participation in political governance.

Several typologies of political parties have been proposed:

on ideological orientation allocate liberal, conservative, communist parties, etc.;
on territorial basis - federal, regional, etc.;
on social base- workers, peasants, entrepreneurs, etc.;
towards social transformations - radical and moderate, revolutionary and reformist, progressive and reactionary;

on participation in power ruling and opposition, legal and illegal, parliamentary and non-parliamentary.

The most well-known classification of parties according to organizational structure, according to which cadre and mass parties are distinguished.

Personnel parties are focused on the participation of professional politicians, parliamentarians and are united around a group of leaders - a political committee. Such parties are usually small and elitist and receive funding from private sources. Their activities are activated during the elections.

Mass parties numerous, funded by membership dues. They are centralized organizations with statutory membership, they are organized and disciplined, they carry out extensive propaganda work on the ground, as they are interested in increasing the number of their members (and, consequently, the amount of membership fees). If the cadre parties strive to mobilize the elites, then the mass parties strive to mobilize the broad masses of the people.

Group subjects of political activity also include mass movements, public organizations, pressure groups, etc.

Political party concepts

Political Party is a voluntary non-profit public association based on ideological considerations and political principles, striving to achieve political goals and using political means.

Political Party- this is the political organization of the most active part; an association (political or class) that directly expresses the interests of a class or society and consists of its most active representatives, aware of its interests, fighting for their implementation and possession of state power (or its retention).

In the Marxist tradition parties are regarded as the highest form of organization of a particular class or stratum, embracing its most active part, reflecting its fundamental political interests and pursuing long-term class goals. Parties as political organizations directly participate in social and political life, express their attitude to the existing government, are created in the name of preserving and strengthening this government or changing it.

In the liberal democratic tradition parties are interpreted as organized political forces that unite citizens of the same political tradition and serve to win or participate in power in order to realize the goals of their adherents. By embodying a person's right to political association with other people, parties reflect the general group interests and goals of heterogeneous sections of the population (social, national, religious, etc.). Through this institution, people put forward their group demands to the state and at the same time receive requests from it for support in resolving certain political issues.

Mandatory political party elements:

every party is the bearer of a certain ideology or, at least, expresses a specific orientation of the vision of the world and man.
this is a relatively long-term association, i.e. an organization with a specific structure and territorial dimension (national, regional, local, and sometimes international).
the goal of any party is to win power or participate in it along with other parties.
each party seeks to secure the support of the people, from inclusion in its membership to the formation of a wide circle of sympathizers.

Signs of a political party:

the presence of an organizational structure;
program and charter;
payment of membership dues;
party discipline;
organizational connection between party members;
formation of public opinion;
participation in the formation of parliamentary and government institutions.

The role of the political party in the life of society:

link between the masses and the state;
regulator of the socio-political life of society;
leader of the class struggle in society.

The main task of a political party is to capture and participate in.

The consignment

noun, f., use often

Morphology: (no) what? parties, what? parties, (see) what? party, how? party, about what? about the party; pl. what? parties, (no) what? parties, what? parties, (see) what? parties, how? parties, about what? about parties

1. The consignment- this is an organization that has political goals, a specific program for the economic, social, etc. development of society or some part of it.

Democratic Party. | Join the party. | bourgeois party. | The majority of young people (52%) are still apolitical and do not sympathize with any parties or movements. | For this person, the nomination as a presidential candidate is an opportunity to campaign not so much for himself personally, but for the party, for reforms, for democracy in Russia.

2. Party called a group of people who have common political interests, the same opinion on some issue.

The Green Party called for no leather goods to be worn. | The crackdown party in the leadership is constantly growing.

3. Party called a group of people who go somewhere (usually to hard-to-reach places) to conduct research or to perform some difficult task.

Research Party. | At the age of sixteen, Makarov first joined the geological party and went to Siberia to look for minerals. | In 1988, a special search party discovered here the remains of a ship that sank on January 26, 1512.

4. parties called groups of people, animals, into which a large group is divided and which go somewhere in turn.

The last batch of prisoners was brought to the place only in the evening. The construction of the health complex has been completed, and in the second quarter it is planned to take the first batch of miners on vacation.

5. Party goods, objects, etc., a sufficiently large number of goods, objects, etc., with which some actions are performed (they are produced, sold, transported) are called.

Yesterday, the largest consignment of drugs in the last two years was detained at the border. | The company could not find buyers, but Ptakhin, fortunately, managed to sell the first batch of lamps to his friends.

Party of Lensky. | Piano part. | Bass part. | The violin part was beautifully played by a young violinist. | This part is designed for a female voice with a wide range of pitches.

7. Party notes are called for a part of a polyphonic musical work, which is performed by one voice (singer), instrument or group of homogeneous voices, instruments.

After discussing the future production, the performers were given their parts.

8. Party one game is called (from beginning to end) of chess, cards, etc.

The game began interestingly, and soon a dense ring of spectators formed around their table - lovers of chess and thrills. | I won the first game easily, because I had a good card and my opponent could not do anything.

9. Party they called a man or a woman, talking about the benefits of entering into marriage with him, with her.

Everyone thought that she could count on a better game, and they were surprised that she chose the poor Knyazev. | Friends hinted to him that the young Ilyinskaya was a great match for him - with money, and even a beauty.

10. If in classical literature a man or a woman made (amounted to) good (profitable, brilliant, etc.) party means that he or she entered into a marriage with profit.

At eighteen, she made a fine match by marrying a Spanish envoy.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Dmitriev. D.V. Dmitriev. 2003 .

Synonyms:

See what "party" is in other dictionaries:

parties, women [from Latin. pars part]. 1. A political organization that is part of a class and protecting its interests. “The ruling classes of capitalist society and their separate sections have, respectively, several parties ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

See society, part ... Dictionary of Russian synonyms and expressions similar in meaning. under. ed. N. Abramova, M .: Russian dictionaries, 1999. party group, association, with ... Synonym dictionary