ABSTRACT
This chapter considers political parties as organizations and looks at them as members of international groupings centred on particular ideological beliefs. It focuses on similar types of support groups, such as churches and their associated organizations; minority or majority ethnic groups, whether territorially or culturally based; the working class and the middle class; and conservationist and environmental organizations. After considering ‘party families’, their social characteristics and issue concerns, the chapter also looks at parties in a broader light as ‘carriers’ of a whole range of policies loosely related in an overall programme for government. The proliferation of interstate groupings means that country parties can choose to affiliate themselves with green, liberal, socialist, conservative and nationalist groupings, which act as super parties, as in the European Parliament of the European Union. Parties identify themselves by names, both nationally and internationally, which refer to a common ideological heritage in the shape of doctrines like socialism; liberalism; and conservatism.
