Introduction

Abstract

AbstractPolitical parties are central actors in modern representative democracies and in the democratic decision-making process (e.g. by Kittilson and Scarrow Democracy transformed? Expanding political opportunities in advanced industrial democracies, 59–80, 2003). Therefore, they also play a crucial role in the consolidation of new and young democratic systems (e.g. by Pridham Europeanising party politics? Comparative perspectives on Central and Eastern Europe, 44–68, 2011; Designing democracy. EU enlargement and regime change in Post-Communist Europe 2005; Securing democracy. political parties and democratic consolidation in Southern Europe, 1–41, 1990). The role of political parties in the democratic process can be best described by drawing on their functions in a political system. In modern democracies, political parties are intermediary institutions, which do not only help to organize parliamentary majorities, but are also the main source and mechanism of candidate recruitment and interest aggregation and, furthermore, they fulfill a representative function which links voters to the state (by Hague and Harrop Comparative government and politics, 231–232, 2007; by Lawson When parties fail. Emerging alternative organizations, 13–38, 1988; by Poguntke Parteiorganisation im Wandel. Gesellschaftliche Verankerung und organisatorische Anpassung im Europäischen Vergleich 2000; and by Sartori Parties and party systems. A framework for analysis 1976). The extent to which political parties are actually able to fulfill these functions, depends not least on the level of intra-party democracy (IPD) and its structuring effect. This structuring effect refers to the relationship between the rhetoric of party platforms and models of intra-party organization (by Kittilson and Scarrow Democracy transformed? Expanding political opportunities in advanced industrial democracies, 64, 2003).KeywordsPolitical PartyLegal TextPolitical OpportunityModern DemocracyDemocratic ConsolidationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.