Dan Pavel

danestedan@yahoo.com
English Section, II
Faculty of Political Science
Definitions of political parties
(1) An organized assembly of men, united for working
together for the national interest, according to the particular principle they
agreed upon
Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontent !""#$
%$ A reunion of men professing the same political doctrine
Ben&amin 'onstant !(!)$
*$ A political party is the organization of the most conscious elements of a
social class
+ar,ist definition
(4) le principal champ daction du parti consiste dans lagitation tendant !
enr"ler du nou#eau$ membres% &uest'ce, en effet, (ue le parti politi(ue
moderne) *ne organisation m+thodi(ue des masses electorales
-o.ert +ichels, ,es parties politi(ues% -ssai sur les tendances oligarchi(ues
des d+mocraties !/!!, Deutsch edition, !/!0, traduit en
francais, avec l1accord de l1auteur$
2$ Partidul politic . o /asocia0ie liber1 de cet10eni, uni0i 2n mod permanent
prin interese 3i idei comune, de caracter general, asocia0ie ce urm1re3te, 2n
plin1 lumin1 public1, a a4unge la puterea de a gu#erna pentru realizarea
unui ideal
Dimitrie 3usti
)$ Political parties are #oluntary groups, more or less organized, pretending,
in name of a certain concept of common interest and society, to assume
alone or in a coalition the functions of go#ernment
-aymond 4ron
"$ a party is an associati#e relation, an affiliation based on free recruitment%
5ts goal is to ensure the power for its leaders within an institutionalized
group, ha#ing as aim the realization of an ideal or obtaining material
ad#antages for its militants
+a, 5e.er
($ A political party is first of all an organized attempt to get power67urke
obscured the issue6but it is e(ually 4ust to say that parties are held
together by the 88cohesi#e power of public plunder99
E. E. Schattschneider, Party :o#ernment 6olt, -inehart and 5inston,
!/0%$, *27*".
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/$ A party is not 6a group of men who intend to promote public welfare
88upon some principle on which they all agreed699 A party is a group
whose members propose to act in concert in the competiti#e struggle for
political power
8oseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, ;ocialism and Democracy !/0%$, %(*
!#$ A party is not a community, but a collection of communities, a union of
small groups dispersed throughout the country <sections, committees, local
associations, etc%=, and linked by co'ordonating institutions
+aurice Duverger
!!$ Any group of indi#iduals constitutes a party whene#er they profess the
same political #iews, they stri#e to impose them, trying in the same time to
rally as many citizens as possible and to con(uer power or, at least, to
influence its decisions
3eorges Bourdeau
!%$ a team of men seeking to control the go#erning apparatus by gaining
offices in a duly constituted election
4nthony Do9ns, An -conomic Theory of Democracy !/2"$
!*$ A party is any group seeking #otes under a recognizable label
:. Epstein, Political Parties in >estern Democracies
!0$ Parties are political groups intent upon gaining and maintaining control
of the instrumentalities of go#ernment
!2$ A party is any political group that presents at elections, and is capable
of placing through election, candidates for public offices
3iovanni Sartori, Parties and party systems% A ?ramework for analysis
!/")$
!)$ 6the cli(ues, clubs, and groups of notables sought to capture and
control the e$ercise of political power and in this sense manifested one of
the salient characteristics of political parties6 when we speak of political
parties6 we do not mean a loosely knit group of notables with limited and
intermittent relationships to local counterparts% @ur definition re(uires
instead
<a= continuity in organization . that is, an organization whose
e$pected life span is not dependent on the life span of current
leadersA
<b= manifest and presumably permanent organization at the local
le#el, with regularized communications and other
relationships between local and national unitsA
<c= self'conscious determination of leaders at both national and
local le#els to capture and to hold decision'making power
alone or in coalition with others, not simply to influence the
e$ercise of powerA and
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<d= a concern on the part of the organization for seeking followers
at the polls or in some manner stri#ing for popular support
when we speak of a political party, we are referring to an organization
that is locally articulated, that interacts with and seeks to attract the
electoral support of the general public, that plays a direct and substanti#e
role in political recruitment, and that is committed to the capture or
maintenance of power, either alone or in coalition with others
:aPalom.ara, 5einer, ;<he =rigin and Development of Political
Parties,> Political Parties and Political De#elopment Princeton
?niversity Press, !/))$
!"$ Parties are organizations aiming mobilization of indi#iduals in a
collecti#e action designed against others, ha#ing as goal access alone or in
coalition to the e$ercise of power% This collecti#e action and this pretension
of ruling public affairs are 4ustified by a particular #iew on general
interest
8ean7:ouis Seiler, ,es partis politi(ues
!($ Political parties are the principal institutional means for translating
segmental clea#ages into the political realm>
4rend :i&phart, Democracy in Plural ;ocieties% A
Comparati#e -$ploration !/""$
!/$ ;a political party is an organization that sponsors candidates for political
office under the organizationBs name>
8anda, Berry, 3oldman, The Challenge of
Democracy% :o#ernment in America
%#$ 5nstitutions that bring people together for the purpose of e$ercising
power within the state% They seek to represent more than 4ust a narrow
interest in the society
Internet definition
%!$ a political party is an organized group that has as its fundamental aim
the attainment of political power and public office for its designated
leaders% A political party has a common commitment by its leaders and its
membership to a set of political, social, economic andC or cultural #alues
<an ideologyB= that distinguish it from other political parties and which
supposedly pro#ide the basis for the policies the party proposes to
implement and maintain through its members that obtain public office
Paul 8ohnson
%%$ There is nothing to be gained by attempting a precise definition of the
term 88party99 at this point6?or the moment it is probably most
con#enient to consider as 88parties99 all political organizations which
regard themsel#es as parties and which are generally so regarded
<homas 6odkin, African Political Parties !/)!$
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