ABSTRACT
A political party is said to perform a participatory linkage by providing opportunities for citizens to participate in internal party affairs. The available evidence of declining party size coupled with increasing levels of party professionalization suggest that political parties continue to perform their linkage function, albeit in a different form. Macro-level factors such as the changes in mass media and the erosion of group-based politics have eroded the roles that political parties traditionally play in a democratic polity. At the micro-level, Russell J. Dalton argues that increasing educational levels have resulted in a more sophisticated electorate that relies less on parties and party elites for political information. In general, despite a likely decline in membership activity levels in most political parties, evidences of the persistence of party organization and the increasing levels of party professionalization seem to indicate a more "dynamic" party organization than a first impression will provide.
