A global comparison of the laws governing political parties reveals a significant degree of diversity—in the sources from which these laws derive, the specific functions they target, and the extent to which they regulate parties as political organizations and electoral actors. Previous studies have provided accounts of this diversity as the product of institutional arrangements, historical circumstances, and partisan politics, but little research has been done to establish whether international norms and standards play any role. Is there a set of universally accepted principles that govern the regulation of political parties? If not, what are the opposing principles and competing rights that are at play? Although international conventions and other instruments establish a set of basic principles that recognize the qualified right of parties to exist and to contest elections, significant normative disagreements exist surrounding the desirability of parties as electoral actors, qualifications upon freedoms of association, the extent to which parties should be supported by the state, the nature of party competition, and the extent to which equality interferes with the freedoms of political expression and association (and vice versa). Determining and defining the parameters of the debate, rather than advocating for a universal policy solution, may provide a workable way forward in determining a series of internationally acceptable normative standards.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AisenbreyM. (2006). “Party On: The Right to Voluntary Blanket Primaries,” Michigan Law Review, 105: 603–629.
2.
AllernElin H. and PedersenKarina (2007). “The Impact of Party Organizational Changes on Democracy,” West European Politics, 30(1): 69–92.
3.
BanningL. (1989). After the Constitution: Party Conflict in the New Republic. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
4.
BirchSarah (2011). Electoral Malpractice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
CharlesGuy-Uriel, GerkenHeather, and KangMichael (eds.) (2011). Race, Reform, and Regulation of the Electoral Process. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
7.
Davis-RobertsAvery and CarrollDavid J. (2010). “Using International Law to Assess Elections,” Democratization, 17(3): 416–441.
8.
EppersonJ. (1986). The Changing Legal Status of Political Parties in the United States. New York: Garland.
9.
ForceseC. and FreemanA. (2005). The Laws of Government: The Legal Foundations of Canadian Democracy. Toronto: Irwin Law.
10.
GallagherMichael and MarshMichael (eds.) (1998). Candidate Selection in Comparative Perspective: The Secret Garden of Politics. London: Sage.
11.
GaujaAnika (2015). “The Construction of Party Membership,” European Journal of Political Research, 54(2): 232–248.
12.
GaujaAnika (2010). Political Parties and Elections: Legislating for Representative Democracy. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
13.
GeddisAndrew (2007). Electoral Law in New Zealand: Practice and Policy. Wellington: LexisNexis.
14.
HazanReuven and RahatGideon (2010). Democracy within Parties: Candidate Selection Methods and their Political Consequences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
15.
HazanReuven and RahatGideon (2006). “Candidate Selection: Methods and Consequences.” In KatzR. and CrottyW. (eds.). Handbook of Party Politics. London: Sage.
16.
HofstadterR. (1969). The Idea of a Party System: The Rise of Legitimate Opposition in the United States, 1780–1840. Berkeley: University of California Press.
17.
IgnaziPiero (2003). Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
18.
IssacharoffSamuel (2000). “Introduction: The Structures of Democratic Politics,” Columbia Law Review (Symposium: Law and Political Parties) 100(3): 593–597.
19.
JandaKenneth (2005). Political Parties and Democracy in Theoretical and Practical Perspectives: Adopting Party Law. Washington, DC: National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
20.
JenningsIvor (1959). The Law and the Constitution, fifth edition. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
21.
KarnovenLauri (2007). “Legislation on Political Parties: A Global Comparison,” Party Politics, 13(4): 437–55.
22.
KatzRichard (2004). “Democracy and the Legal Regulation of Political Parties,” Paper prepared for the USAID conference on Change in Political Parties, Washington, DC.
23.
LowensteinD. (2006). “Legal Regulation and Protection of American Parties.” In KatzR. and CrottyW. (eds.). Handbook of Party Politics. London: Sage.
24.
LutzD. (2006). Principles of Constitutional Design. New York: Cambridge University Press.
25.
MolenaarFransje (2010). “The Development of European Standards on Political Parties and their Regulation,” The Legal Regulation of Political Parties Working Paper 4, February 2010.
26.
MorrisCaroline (2012). Parliamentary Elections, Representation and the Law. London: Hart.
27.
MüllerWolfgang and SiebererUlrich (2006). “Party Law.” In KatzRichard and CrottyWilliam (eds.). Handbook of Party Politics. London: Sage.
28.
NassmacherKarl-Heinz (2009). The Funding of Party Competition: Political Competition in 25 Democracies. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
29.
NorrisPippa (2004). Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
30.
NorrisPippa (ed.) (1997). Passages to Power: Legislative Recruitment in Advanced Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
31.
NorrisPippa, FrankRichard W., and Martinez i ComaFerran (2013). “Assessing the Quality of Elections,” Journal of Democracy, 24(4): 124–35.
32.
OrrGraeme (2015). Ritual and Rhythm in Electoral Systems: A Comparative Legal Account. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
33.
OrrGraeme (2014). “Private Association and Public Brand: The Dualistic Conception of Political Parties in the Common Law World,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 17(3): 332–349.
34.
OrrGraeme (2010). The Law of Politics: Elections, Parties and Money in Australia. Sydney: Federation Press.
35.
PersilyN. and CainB. (2000). “The Legal Status of Political Parties: A Reassessment of Competing Paradigms,” Columbia Law Review, 100: 775–812.
36.
Pinto-DuschinskyM. (2002). “Financing Politics: A Global View,” Journal of Democracy, 13(4): 69–86.
37.
PlasserFritz and PlasserGunda (2002). Global Political Campaigning. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
38.
RossiterC. (1961). The Federalist Papers: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. New York: New American Press.
39.
ThamJoo-Cheong, CostarBrian, and OrrGraeme (2011). Electoral Democracy: Australian Prospects. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
40.
van BiezenIngrid (2008). “State Intervention in Party Politics: The Public Funding and Regulation of Political Parties,” European Review, 16(3): 337–353.
41.
van BiezenIngrid and BorzG. (2009). “The Place of Political Parties in National Country Constitutions: A General Overview,” The Legal Regulation of Political Parties Working Paper 1, July 2009.
42.
van BiezenIngrid and KopeckýPetr (2007). “The State and the Parties: Public Funding, Public Regulation and Rent-Seeking in Contemporary Democracies,” Party Politics, 13(2): 235–254.
43.
van BiezenIngrid and PiccioDaniela Romee (2013). “Shaping Intra-Party Democracy: On the Legal Regulation of Internal Party Organizations.” In CrossW. and KatzR. (eds.). The Challenge of Intra-Party Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
44.
van BiezenIngrid, MairPeter and PoguntkeThomas (2012). “Going, Going, Gone … The Decline of Party Membership in Contemporary Europe,” European Journal of Political Research, 51: 24–56.
45.
WinklerA. (2000). “Voters' Rights and Parties' Wrongs: Early Political Party Regulation in the State Courts, 1886–1915,” Columbia Law Review, 100: 873.
