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Taxonomy of Political Parties

- Types of classications:

-> uni-dimensional (using only one criterion and resulting usually in

dichotomies)

-> multi-dimensional (using multiple criteria)

- Types of classications:

-> functionalist (classies parties on the basis of the specic, peculiar goal

they pursue)

-> organizational (makes distinction taking into account the manner in

which parties are structured)

-> sociological (puts the emphasis on the aspect that parties represent theinterests of and are the outcome of certain social classes groups)

!) The functionalist classications of political parties

!"a" #igmund $eumann, %&odern 'olitical 'arties (hicago: *ni+ersity of

hicago 'ress, !.)

-> %parties of indi+idual representation (represent the interests and

demands of a specic social group class)

-> %parties of social integration (represent the interests of a wider

community, possessing a well-de+eloped network of organizations and a

+eritable %partisan community/ they pro+ide +arious %ser+ices to

their members and they recei+e, in e0change, %nancial contributions

and +olunteered ser+ices of members during electoral campaigns)

-> %parties of total integration (%ha+e more ambitious goals of

seizing power and radically transforming societies, demanding the full

commitment and un1uestioning obedience of members)

!"b" 2erbert 3itschelt, %The 4ogic of 'arty 5ormation (6thaca, $ew 7ork:

ornell *ni+ersity 'ress, !8)

-> parties that put forward %the logic of electoral competition

-> parties that emphasize %the logic of constituency representation

(e.g. the %left libertarian parties)

!"c" &a0 9eber, %conomy and #ociety

-> %simple patronage parties (functioning based on clientelar

relations between the leaders and the acti+e members)

-> %ideological parties (functioning and mobilizing people based onthe same +ision of the world)

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;) The organizational classications of political parties

;"a" 5erdinand & %centralist clubs

-> %4eninist cadres

-> %decentralized clubs

-> %decentralized mass parties

;"d" ngelo 'anebianco, %'olitical 'arties: Brganization and 'ower ($ew

 7ork: ambridge *ni+ersity 'ress, !88)

-> %the mass-bureaucratic parties

-> %electoral-professional parties

;"e" &aurice @u+erger, % aucus and Cranch, adre 'arties and &ass

'arties (!.D), distinguishes between D partisan families: %the bourgeois

parties (today, conser+ati+e and liberal parties), %the socialist parties and an

heteroclite type called %the communist and the fascist parties/ by !.D, he

make a nal distinction between communist and fascist parties (%la cellule and

%la milice):

-> %the caucus (%la comité) (narrow character regarding

organization and membership aspects)

-> conser+ati+e (consisting of aristocrats, industrial magnates,bankers, churchmen, etc")

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-> liberal (composed of trade people, writers, Eournalists, ci+il

ser+ants, lawyers, etc")

-> %the branch (%la section) (the party of an assembly, with broad

membership and multi-layered structure)

-> %la cellule (the communist model of %the branch: local and

professional base party, with constant and permanent contacts between

members, solidarity being the dominant relation among adherents)

-> %la milice (the fascist model of %the caucus)

;"f" &a0 9eber, %conomy and #ociety (pp"DF-DF.)

-> %ephemeral parties

-> %permanent parties

;"g" &aurice @u+erger, %'olitical 'arties uses the distinction between the

unitary and the federal state for the diGerentiation between:

-> %parties with direct structure (the members forming at the same

time the %partisan community)

-> %parties with indirect structure (constituted as a union of social

groups with trade unions and corporations)

-> socialist parties

-> agrarian parties

-> catholic parties

;"h" &aurice @u+erger, %'olitical 'arties using the criterion of the strength

of the structures of parties)

-> parties with thin structural links (% partis avec faible articulation)

-> parties with strong structural links (% partis avec forte

articulation)

 This results in another classication, pro+ided also by @u+erger:

-> decentralized parties

-> locally decentralized parties

-> federally decentralized parties (e.g. in #witzerland, the

cantonal parties)

-> ideologically decentralized parties (retaining, promoting a

certain autonomy regarding factions, tendencies within parties/

e.g. the Colshe+iks and the &enshe+iks within =#@4', the

=ussian #ocial- @emocratic 4abor 'arty)

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-> socially decentralized parties (separating the party into

social, corporate sections)

-> centralized parties

-> autocratically centralized parties

-> democratically centralized parties

;"i" &aurice @u+erger, %'olitical 'arties using the criterion of the sense of

the structures of parties)

-> %parties with horizontal links (e+ery two organisms within the

party are on the same foot, they are hierarchically e1ual)

-> %parties with +ertical links (one organism within the party issubordinated to another, they are not hierarchically e1ual/ e.g. the

communist parties)

A) The %mi0ture classication of political parties (neither functionalist, nor

organizational, nor sociological, but a combination of the three, or making no

distinction between the three)

A"a" Btto 3irchheimer, %The Transformation of the 9estern uropean 'arty

#ystem (in Hoseph 4a'alombara and &yron 9eimer (eds"), %'olitical 'arties and

'olitical @e+elopment, 'rinceton, $ew Hersey: 'rinceton *ni+ersity 'ress,

!..)

-> %bourgeois parties of indi+idual representation

-> %class-mass parties

-> %denominational-mass parties

-> %catch-all peopleIs parties

A"b" $orberto Cobbio, %@reapta Ji stKnga (CucureJti: 2umanitas, !)

uses the ideological criterion

-> %left-wing (%leftist) parties

-> %right-wing (%rightist) parties

A"c" 3are #trom uses the rational choice theory as a criterion

-> %+ote-seeking parties

-> %oLce-seeking parties

-> %policy-seeking parties

A"d" &aurice @u+erger, %'olitical 'arties uses the origins as a criterion

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-> %parties with parliamentary origin (generally linked to the

interests of the middle and upper strata)

-> %parties with e0tra-parliamentary origin (the 4abor 'arty, the

#candina+ian agrarian parties, the parties of the religious groups:

more centralized and disciplined, representing the interests ofthe lower classes)

) &ulti-dimensional classications

"a" #tein =okkan, %'arty #ystems and Moter lignments, then @aniel 4"

#eiler, %Les partis politiques, %'artidele politice din uropa (6aJi: 6nstitutul

uropean, !, transl" ugenia NOinescu) use the concept of %clea+age for

classifying parties" %lea+age is dened as a %bureaucratized and

routinized conPict and e+ery re+olution produces a clea+age/ each

re+olution produces ; clea+ages: one functional, one territorial

-> the religious re+olution in the !.th century determined the

clea+ages: the hurch Q the state (functional) and the center Q the

periphery (territorial)/ the ; clea+ages produced:

-> the clerical parties vs. the anti-clerical (lay, secular) parties

-> the centralist parties vs. the autonomist parties

-> the industrial re+olution in the !8th-!th centuries determined the

clea+ages: the owners Q the workers (functional) and urban Q rural

(territorial)/ the ; clea+ages produced:

-> the bourgeois parties vs. the labor parties

-> the agrarian the green parties (cities and town did not

organized themsel+es in parties, as a response to this clea+age)

 Taking into account the intensity of the clea+age, there is the distinction

between:

-> the moderate parties (when the clea+age is attenuated)

-> the e0tremist parties (when the clea+age is sharpened)

last clea+age is mentioned by #eiler: the state Q the ci+il society, which

determined the distinction between:

-> the totalitarian parties

-> the anarchical (%auto-administered) parties

"b" 4arry @iamond and =ichard ?unther, %'olitical 'arties and @emocracy

(Caltimore, &aryland: The Hohns 2opkins *ni+ersity 'ress, ;RR!) use the

following criteria:

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Criterion Classification

The varying electoral strategies - clearly programmatic or ideological parties

- pragmatic, unprincipled parties

Social representation - parties that are exclusively based on a

 particular ethnic, religious, socioeconomic

group

- heterogeneous or promiscuously eclectic

 parties

Principal objectives - parties that are intensely committed to

securing some specific social objective

- parties that merely want to win elections

Organiational capacities - organiationally thin parties

- large and complex parties

PLURALISTIC PROTO-HEGEMONIC

ELITE PARTIES   Local Notable

ClientelisticMASS-BASED PARTIES

IDEOLOGICAL/SOCIALIST

IDEOLOGICAL/NATIONALIST

RELIGIOUS

Class-mass

Pluralistic Nationalist

Denominational-mass

Leninist

Ultranationalist

Religious un!amentalist

ETHNICITY-BASED PARTIES   Et"nic

Congress

ELECTORALIST PARTIES   Catc"-all

Programmatic

Personalistic

MOVEMENT PARTIES   Le#t-Libertarian

Post-In!ustrial E$treme

Rig"t

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