Authors: Duhamel & Mény
Summary: In this entry of about 1000 words, the author stresses the difficulty of defining this concept even if the definition of party as an organisation whose aims are the conquest and the exercise of power is commonly accepted.
The party-centred organisation of political life is a rather recent phenomenon, linked to the 19th century democratisation processes. Party studies can look at the cleavages (i.e. Church vs. State) on which political ideas aggregated and from which parties originated (genetic approach); or develop typologies such as Duverger's distinction between cadre party, electoral party and mass party or Kirchheimer's catch-all party.
Another perspective considers party internal structure and the tensions between its components. An example is given by Sorauf who distinguishes between an exerting power "party in office" and a party formed by identified electors, in order to stress the fragmentation of party structure more than their monolithic feature.
A third manner to define parties is to look at their number in a political system, specifying between single-party systems, two-party and multiparty systems. Finally, regarding their functions, parties aggregate and articulate interests, structure vote and formulate political programs, while the term "partyism" or "party politics" indicates party influence in government formation.