In Praise of Political Parties

PartI
Party Politics and Democracy
John Samuel

This is the first part of a series of reflections on political parties in the context of democratic governance.


The quality and stability of democratic process depend on the quality and strength of the institutional frame-work and socio-political process that sustain the body politics of a country. While a good constitutional framework and electoral process are important indicators of a democratic system, elections are not in themselves a guarantee for the success of a democracy.

Political Parties are one of the most crucial factors for the sustenance of a viable democratic system. There seems to be a direct connection between the health of the political party system and the vitality and long term viability of a democracy. A vibrant system of political party serves the role of blood vessels of the body politics of a given country.

Political parties are socio-political institutions, in the public sphere, that help citizens to interface and negotiate with the state. Political parties are also primary legitimizing agents of the government and governing systems of the state. On the one hand they play the most crucial role of representing the citizens, people, and societal interests and issue that concern a large number of people at a given point in time. On the other hand, political parties also serve as the network mechanism of the institutions of the state and major forces of power, operating in a given context. So, there are very important political, social, cultural and class dimensions of political party system. The more political parties are rooted in the the real issues mneeds and aspirations of the people, there is more chance for the party to thrive.

In the absence of a multi-party system- with grass-roots presence, a committed cadre of leaders and wide network with in the society- democratic process can be subverted and political process can be appropriated by a minority of vested interests. Though such vested interests may conveniently use one political party or even create one to serve their purpose of sustaining power, they tend to annihilate and subvert all other political party process. This is one of the single biggest challenges for the sustenance of a vibrant democratic system of governance

The social function and legitimizing role of political parties are under unprecedented strain. In most of the countries, political parties have rather less institutional history and social roots. Many of them emerged as a corollary to the state power and an instrument to sustain the state power. In most of the countries, particularly decolonized countries, the nation states as well as political parties are the consequences of decolonization rather than causes of decolonization

One of the key distinctions between mature democracies and vulnerable democracies is the state of political parties in the respective countries. In many ways, the strength, limitations and the contradictions of the political party system get reflected in the process of governance and the character of the state.

An educated and economically sustainable middle class play a very crucial role in the making and unmaking of the political parties. In many of the countries, the absence of a vibrant middle class, and the presence of a very small minority of political elites undermine the process of democracy. Political Parties, as institutions, do require funds and this requires an active economy with people or organisations with surplus money to fund the parties, either because of an interest or an issue. In most of the countries, the absence of a middle class or vibrant economy makes political parties as unviable institutions.


Political parties across the world are facing a crisis. They have been reduced to mere electoral mechanism or network to capture the power of the State. They are less and less social institutions or legitimizing agents of political process and increasingly turned in to “interest-networks” promoted by the larger economic forces and identity politics of various shades. In most of the so-called democracies, elections and politics are shaped and mediated by the big media empires and funded by big corporate power. This increasing dependence on media and corporate funds undermine the very character and autonomy of political party system. As a result, the new political-corporate elites are in the business of subverting politics and policy framework of the state to maximize profit for few dominant economic forces in a given economy.

Many of the political parties are now controlled by a “power-clique” and “fund-managers”, blessed by media and sustained by the corporate funds. The validity of the Presidential Candidate in the USA depends of how much money they raise from the corporate powers and how much rating they got from the surveys conducted by media empires. As a result, elections are reduced to media stunts with “brand” slogans, empty “policy rhetoric”, devoid of any in-depth political process or social mediation.

When media mediation replaces the social mediation, the very values of democracy get undermined and subverted. Political parties are filled with career politician with a single point agenda of getting of piece of state power and the privileges and paraphernalia that come with the package. There are less and less poets, philosophers, visionaries, scholars, social activists, or policy experts in political parties. As many social activists, writers and intellectuals choose to work within the civil society, political parties are facing an acute deficit of creative and ethical leadership.