Editing Political party (section)

===Party executives===
In both democratic and non-democratic countries, the party leader is often the foremost member of a larger party leadership. A party executive will commonly include administrative positions, like a [[party secretary]] and a [[party chair]], who may be different people from the party leader.<ref>{{cite book |first=Paul Geoffrey |last=Lewis |year= 1989 |title=Political Authority and Party Secretaries in Poland, 1975–1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=29–51 |isbn=978-0521363693}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=John D. |last=Martz |year=1966 |title=Accion Democratica: Evolution of a Modern Political Party in Venezuela |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=155 |chapter=The Party Organization: Structural Framework |isbn=978-1400875870}}</ref> These executive organizations may serve to constrain the party leader, especially if that leader is an autocrat.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Susan |last=Trevaskes |title=A Law Unto Itself: Chinese Communist Party Leadership and Yifa zhiguo in the Xi Era |journal=Modern China |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=347–373 |date=16 April 2018 |doi=10.1177/0097700418770176|s2cid=149719307 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Alex M. |last=Kroeger |title=Dominant Party Rule, Elections, and Cabinet Instability in African Autocracies |journal=British Journal of Political Science |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=79–101 |date=9 March 2018 |doi=10.1017/S0007123417000497|s2cid=158190033 }}</ref> It is common for political parties to conduct major leadership decisions, like selecting a party executive and setting their policy goals, during regular [[party conference]]s.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Jean-Benoit Pilet |editor2=William Cross |page=13 |year= 2014 |title=The Selection of Political Party Leaders in Contemporary Parliamentary Democracies: A Comparative Study |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317929451 <!--no page field because the point is to see that conferences are relevant across many chapters of this edited collection-->}}</ref>

[[File:National Woman's Party Members Lafayette Park August 6, 1918.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Members of the [[National Woman's Party]] in 1918]]
Much as party leaders who are not in power are usually at least nominally competing to become the head of government, the entire party executive may be competing for various positions in the government. For example, in [[Westminster system]]s, the largest party that is out of power will form the [[Opposition (parliamentary)|Official Opposition]] in parliament, and select a [[shadow cabinet]] which (among other functions) provides a signal about which members of the party would hold which positions in the government if the party were to win an election.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Andrew C. Eggers |author2=Arthur Spirling |title=The Shadow Cabinet in Westminster Systems: Modeling Opposition Agenda Setting in the House of Commons, 1832–1915 |journal=British Journal of Political Science |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=343–367 |date=11 April 2016 |doi=10.1017/S0007123416000016|s2cid=155635327 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:acdca5ba-0883-413e-89c3-52083a9f5ecd }}</ref>