Political Party. Parties are organizations which contest elections in order to control or influence the exercise of

Parties are fairly easily identifiable actors (Blondel, J. & Cotta, M Party & Government) and as such have an important role in lowering the costs of democracy by providing an ideological shorthand for the electorate. After all political parties are functional responses to voting by a mass electorate (Epstein, L. Political Parties in Western Democracies p98) and are needed to provide clarity and continuity for an enlarged electorate. Political parties also play a significant part in the selection of prime ministers and other cabinet members (Blondel, J. & Cotta, M. Party & Government).

Parties have evolved over time from small cacus parties to the mass and catch-all parties of today. This is because of a variety of circumstances according to Epstein such as the enlargement of suffrage, social structure the executive-legislative relationship the degree of federalism and election arrangements. These all affect development parities but not always the same way in each national community. Political parties have changed a lot from what they were and nowadays hold a key role in the smooth functioning of the liberal democratic system.

_____________________

Bibliography.

Charlot, Jean (Sep. 1989) "Political Parties: Towards a New Theoretical Syntheses" Political studies 37:3

Scarrow. H, (1998) 'Functions of Political Parties' in S. Wolinetz Political Parties Aldershot : Ashgate

Wolinetz, Stephen B (1998) Party Systems Ashgate Publishing Company, Vermont, USA

Epstein, Leon D. (1967) Political Parties in Western Democracies. Pall Mall Press London.

Wolinetz, Stephen B. Political Parties Ashgate Publishing Company, Vermont USA.

Blondel J. Cotta, M. (1996) Party & Government Macimillian Press Ltd, London.

Robert Michels (1962) Political Parties The Free Press, New York

Duverger, Maurice (1964) Political parties : their organization and activity in the modern state, London : Methuen

Heywood. Andrew (2002) Parties and Party Systems Politics Basingstoke:Palgrave

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party