Editing Political party (section)

===Party membership===
Citizens in a democracy will often affiliate with a specific political party. Party membership may include paying dues, an agreement not to affiliate with multiple parties at the same time, and sometimes a statement of agreement with the party's policies and platform.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Anika |last=Gauja |title=The construction of party membership |journal=European Journal of Political Research |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=232–248 |date=4 December 2014 |doi=10.1111/1475-6765.12078}}</ref> In democratic countries, members of political parties often are allowed to participate in elections to choose the party leadership.<ref name=kenig09/> Party members may form the base of the volunteer activists and donors who support political parties during campaigns.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Steven |last=Weldon |title=Downsize My Polity? The Impact of Size on Party Membership and Member Activism |journal=Party Politics |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=467–481 |date=1 July 2006 |doi=10.1177/1354068806064729|s2cid=145573225 }}</ref> The extent of participation in party organizations can be affected by a country's political institutions, with certain [[electoral system]]s and [[party system]]s encouraging higher party membership.<ref>{{cite book |first=Alison F. |last=Smith |year=2020 |title=Political Party Membership in New Democracies |page=2 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3030417956}}</ref> Since at least the 1980s, membership in large traditional party organizations has been steadily declining across a number of countries, particularly longstanding European democracies.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Peter Mair |author2=Ingrid van Biezen |title=Party Membership in Twenty European Democracies, 1980–2000 |journal=Party Politics |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=5–21 |date=1 January 2001 |doi=10.1177/1354068801007001001|s2cid=143913812 }}</ref>