ABSTRACT
This chapter defines key concepts such as globalisation, governance, democracy and political parties, and summarises the consequences of globalisation for governance and democracy in contemporary history. It examines the role in this altered situation of traditional political parties, where 'traditional' means territorially based organisations that work at the country level. The chapter assesses several ways that political parties can be reorganised beyond the state, namely through international networks of country-based political parties; through regional party formations; and through distinctly global political parties. As well as by educating publics, country-based political parties can fulfil a democratising function in today's more global world by doing what they have always done, namely, gaining and holding executive power in national and local governments. Yet political parties do not have to occupy national and local executive office in order to democratise state policies on globalisation. Beyond institutional changes, greater political equality requires greater economic equality, which in turn necessitates a major global-scale redistribution of resources.
