ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the reader to the face of political parties as membership organisations by building upon the concepts of ‘organisational structure’ and ‘membership’. Political scientists have long been fascinated by the behaviour of political parties in democratic political systems. Yet, even after years of effort and a plethora of studies, few models exist which adequately explain a key determinant of party behaviour: the trade-off between the freedom of action enjoyed by the party leadership and the constraints which derive from maintaining a strong and active party organisation. To explain the relationship between party organisation and behaviour, this chapter presents five basic party models. These models were selected because scholars of political parties usually operate from one or another of them (often implicitly rather than explicity). Furthermore, each involves potent value premises concerning what political parties should be like, which significantly affect the research and analysis which then follows.
