ABSTRACT
This chapter presents case studies confirming that among the many international influences that might have a bearing on party politics inside emerging democracies, party support has been a relatively very minor factor to date. The fact that much aid has concentrated on the parties themselves to the neglect of the domestic forces and factors that influence party politics is only part of the weakness. A more practical response in some cases would take the form of helping parties organise at the level of transboundary and supraterritorial governance and penetrate the decision-making processes that operate there. Political science can be expected to want to place the implications that party support has for parties, and even for democratisation, in a wider perspective than meets the proximate concerns of the democracy assistance industry. Collaborative research should proceed on the understanding that academics will continue to be interested in the larger set of influences on parties, which should include globalisation.
