This article presents an interpretation of the present malaise that afflicts the political party in established democracies. Today, parties are not only seen as inefficient or unscrupulous instruments, they are increasingly being labelled as illegitimate. The basic reason for this bad reputation lies in their detachment from society and their encroachment on the state. Parties tried to counteract the difficulties they faced in extracting resources from society (members, party identifiers, militants, money) by turning toward the state, which offered financial support, paid personnel, physical structures and patronage benefits. This shift reinvigorated the parties, which are now richer and more powerful, but it has further diminished citizens’ confidence in the parties themselves. In order to recover their dwindling legitimacy, parties have recently introduced changes, giving members more say in the decision-making process and in the selection of candidates and leaders. However, these innovations have not succeeded in revitalizing them, nor improved their image. Thus, parties continue to be unbalanced: powerful and yet distrusted. In this sense, they resemble a sort of mighty but unsteady Leviathan.
AppletonA (1994) The formal versus the informal rules of French political parties. In: LawsonK (ed.) How Political Parties Work. Perspectives from Within, pp. 3–22. Westport: Praeger.
2.
BardiLIgnaziPOresteM (eds) (2007) I Partiti Italiani: Iscritti, Dirigenti, Eletti. Milano: EGEA.
3.
BaumanZ (2000) Liquid Modernity. New York: Wiley.
4.
BergmanT (2004) Sweden: Democratic reforms and partisan decline in an emerging separation-of-powers system. Scandinavian Political Studies27: 203–225.
5.
BillardoL (2003) Party membership in France: Measures and data-collection. French Politics1: 137–151.
6.
BlondelJ (2002) Party government, patronage, and party decline in Western Europe. In: GuntherRMonteroJRLinzJ (eds) Political Parties. Old Concepts and New Challenges, pp. 233–256. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
7.
BolleyerN (2008) Inside the cartel party. Party organization in government and opposition. Political Studies57: 559–579.
8.
BréchonP (ed.) (2011) Les Partis Politiques Français. Paris: La Documentation Française.
9.
CartyK (2004) Parties as franchise systems: The stratarchical organizational imperative. Party Politics1: 5–24.
10.
CrossWBlaisA (2012) Who selects the party leader?Party Politics18: 127–150.
11.
DaalderH (1983) The comparative study of European parties and party systems: An overview. In: DaalderHMairP (eds) Western European Party Systems. Continuity and Change, pp. 1–28. London: Sage.
12.
DaalderH (2002) Parties: Denied, dismissed, or redundant? A critique. In: GuntherRMonteroJRLinzJ (eds) Political Parties. Old Concepts and New Challenges, pp. 39–57. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
13.
DaltonRCainBScarrowS ( 2003) Democratic publics and democratic institutions. In: CaiBDaltonRScarrowS (eds) Democracy Transformed. Expanding Political Opportunities in Advanced Industrial Democracy.
14.
DaltonRWeldonS (2005) Public images of political parties: A necessary evil?West European Politics28: 931–951.
15.
DaltonRWeldonS (2007) Partisanship and party system institutionalization. Party Politics13: 179–196.
16.
DamgaardE (2004) Developments in Danish parliamentary democracy: Accountability, parties and external constraints. Scandinavian Political Studies27: 115–130.
17.
DeschouwerK (2004) Political parties and their reactions to the erosion of voter loyalty in Belgium: Caught in a trap. In: MairPMüllerWPlasserF (eds) Political Parties and Electoral Change, pp. 179–206. London: Sage.
18.
DuvergerM (1951) Les Partis Politiques. Paris: Armond Colin.
19.
FraenkelE (1974) Il doppio Stato. Contributo alla teoria della dittatura. Milano: Einaudi.
20.
GriffinR (2007) Modernism and Fascism: The Sense of a Beginning under Mussolini and Hitler. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
21.
HaegelF (2004) The transformation of the French Right: Institutional imperatives and organizational changes. French Politics2: 185–202.
22.
HaegelF (2012) Les Droites en fusion. Transformations de l'UMP. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po.
23.
HeidarK (2005) Norwegian parties and party system: Steadfast and changing. West European Politics28: 807–833.
24.
HopkinJMastropaoloA (2001) From patronage to clientelism: Comparing the Italian and Spanish experiences. In: PiattoniS (ed.) Clientelism, Interests and Democratic Representation, pp. 152–171. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
25.
IgnaziP (1996) The intellectual basis of right-wing anti-partysm. European Journal of Political Research29: 279–296.
26.
IgnaziP (2012) Forza senza legittimità. Il vicolo cieco dei partiti. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
27.
IgnaziPBardiLMassariO (2010) Party organizational change in Italy (1991–2006). Modern Italy15: 197–216.
28.
IgnaziPFarrellDRommeleA (2005) The prevalence of linkage by reward in contemporary parties. In: RommeleAFarrellDIgnaziP (eds) Political Parties and Political Systems: The Concept of Linkage Revisisted, pp. 17–35. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
29.
IgnaziPPizzimentiE (forthcoming) The reins of intra-party power: Verticalization, autonomy and stratarchy in Italian political parties (1994–2012).
30.
KatzR (2002) The internal life of parties. In: LutherKRMuller-RommelF (eds) Political Parties in the New Europe, pp. 87–118. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
31.
KatzRMairP (1995) Changing models of party organization and party democracy: The emergence of the cartel party. Party Politics1: 5–28.
32.
KatzRMairP (2002) The ascendancy of the party in public office: Party organizational change in twentieth-century democracies. In: GuntherRMonteroJRLinzJ (eds) Political Parties. Old Concepts and New Challenges, pp. 113–135. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
33.
KenigO (2008) Democratization of party leadership selection: Do wider electorates produce more competitive contests?Electoral Studies28: 240–247.
34.
KirchheimerO (1966) The transformation of the Western European party system. In: La PalombaraJWeinerM (eds) Political Parties and Political Development, pp. 177–200. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
35.
KitscheltH (2007) Patrons or Policies? Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
36.
KitscheltHWilkinsonS (eds) (2007) Patrons, Clients and Policies. Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37.
KittilsonMCScarrowS (2003) Political parties and the rhetoric and realities of democratization. In: CainDalton RScarrowS (eds) Democracy Transformed? Expanding Political Opportunities in Advanced Industrial Democracies, pp. 59–80. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
38.
KopeckyP (2006) Political parties and the state in post-communist Europe: The nature of symbiosis. Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics22: 251–273.
39.
KopeckyPMairPSpirovaM (eds) (2012) Patronage and Party Government in European Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
40.
KopeckyPScherlisG (2008) Party patronage in contemporary Europe. European Review16: 355–371.
41.
LefebvreR (2011) Les primaires socialistes. La fin du parti militant. Paris: Raison Ld'agir.
42.
LinzJ (2002) Anti-party sentiments in Southern Europe. In: GuntherRMonteroJRLinzJ (eds) Political Parties. Old Concepts and New Challenges, pp. 257–290. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
43.
LisiM (2010) The democratisation of party leadership selection: the Portuguese experience. Portuguese Journal of Social Science (9): 127–149.
44.
LutherKR (1997) Die Freiheitlichen. In: DachsH. (eds) Handbuch des politischen Systems Österreichs, Die zwente Republik, pp. 286–303. Wien: Manzsche Verlags- und Univeristätsbuchhandlung.
45.
MairP (1997) Party System Change: Approaches and Interpretations. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
46.
MairP (2005) Democracy Beyond Parties. In: Working Paper of the Center for the Study of Democracy, University of California, Irvine, USA.
47.
MairPvan BiezenI (2001) Party membership in twenty democracies, 1980–2000. Party Politics7: 5–21.
48.
MeyerJWScottRW (1992) Organizational Environments. Ritual and Rationality. London: Sage.
49.
MorelL (2000) Vers une démocratie directe partisane?Revue Française de Science Politique50: 765–778.
50.
MosseG (1975) The Nationalisation of the Masses. New York: H. Fertig.
51.
MüllerW (2000) Patronage by national governments. In: BlondelJCottaM (eds) The Nature of Party Government, pp. 141–160. London: Macmillan.
52.
MüllerWPlasserFUlramP (2004) Party responses to the erosion of voter loyalties in Austria: Weakness as an advantage and strength as a handicap. In: MairPMüllerWPlasserF (eds) Political Parties and Electoral Change, pp. 145–178. London: Sage.
53.
NarudHMStrømK (2004) Norway: Madisonianism reborn. Scandinavian Political Studies27: 175–202.
54.
NeumannS (1956) Toward a comparative study of political parties. In: NeumannS (ed.) Modern Political Parties: Approaches to Comparative Politics, pp. 395–424. Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press.
55.
OlivierL (2003) Ambiguïtés de la democratisation partisane en France (PS, RPR, UMP). Revue Française de Science Politique53: 761–790.
56.
PanebiancoA (1988) Political Parties: Organization and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
57.
PiattoniS (2001) Clientelism in historical and comparative perspective. In: PiattoniS (ed.) Clientelism, Interests and Democratic Representation, pp. 1–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
58.
RahatG (2009) Which candidate selection method is the most democratic?Government and Opposition44: 68–90.
59.
RaunioT (2004) The changing Finnish democracy: Stronger parliamentary accountability coalescing political parties and weaker external constraints. Scandinavian Political Studies27: 133–152.
60.
RokkanS (1970) Citizens, Elections, and Parties. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
61.
SartoriG (1976) Parties and Party Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
62.
ScarrowS (2004) Embracing dealignment, combating realignment: German parties respond. In: MairPMüllerWPlasserF (eds) Political Parties and Electoral Change, pp. 86–110. London: Sage.
63.
ScarrowSGezgorB (2010) Declining members, changing members? European political party members in a new era. Party Politics16: 823–843.
64.
SeydP (1999) New party, new politics: A case study of the British labour. Party Politics5: 387–409.
65.
SeydPWhiteleyP (2004) British party members: An overview Party Politics4: 355–366.
66.
ShawE (2002) New Labour in Britain? New democratic centralism?West European Politics25: 147–170.
67.
SkinnerQ (1978) The Foundation of Modern Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
68.
TurnerEBaleT (2012) Modernisation in small steps? Comparing the organisational reforms of the British Conservative Party and the German Cdu. Paper presented at the 2012 Conference of the Political Studies Association, Belfast (UK), 3–5 April 2012.
69.
van BiezenI (2003) Political Parties in New Democracies: Party Organization in Southern and East-Central Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
70.
van BiezenI (2004) Political parties as public utilitiesParty Politics10: 701–722.
71.
van BiezenI (2011) Constitutionalizing party democracy: The constitutive codification of political parties in post-war Europe. British Journal of Political Science42: 1187–1212.
72.
van BiezenIMairPPoguntkeT (2012) Going, going, … gone? The decline of party membership in contemporary Europe. European Journal of Political Research51: 24–56.
