ABSTRACT
An apparent and somewhat surprising limitation of the classical interpretation of the relationship between citizens and parties lies in the fact that no room at all is provided for the personal reactions of citizens or, for that matter, of leaders. For some, such a situation indicates that there is little interest, in many quarters of academic social science, in a psychological approach. “The emotional dimensions of political life are to-day broadly speaking ignored as objects of research in the social sciences. Such a state of affairs should be regarded as surprising” says P. Braud in what appears to be an understatement on his part (my translation) (1996: 7). The present study is not the place to attempt to discover why the reactions of citizens or the part played by leaders should not have been considered worthy of much consideration in the context of the linkage between citizens and parties. It suffices to note that the absence of such a dimension in the analysis renders the traditional interpretation unable to account for many situations, largely because the underlying psychological ties among citizens, leaders and parties are not explored at all.
