Editing Political party (section)

==Types of party organizations==
Political scientists have distinguished between different types of political parties that have evolved throughout history. These include [[Elite party|elite parties]], [[Mass party|mass parties]], [[Catch-all party|catch-all parties]] and [[Cartel party|cartel parties]].<ref name=schumacher>{{cite book |last=Schumacher |first=Gijs |year=2017 |chapter=The Transformation of Political Parties |editor-last=van Praag |editor-first=Philip |title=Political Science and Changing Politics |location=Amsterdam |publisher=Amsterdam University Press}}</ref>{{rp|163–178}} Elite parties were political elites that were concerned with contesting elections and restricted the influence of outsiders, who were only required to assist in election campaigns. Mass parties tried to recruit new members who were a source of party income and were often expected to spread party ideology as well as assist in elections. In the United States, where both major parties were elite parties, the introduction of [[Partisan primary|primaries]] and other reforms has transformed them so that power is held by activists who compete over influence and nomination of candidates.<ref>{{cite book |first=Alan |last=Ware |title=Political parties |pages=65–67}}</ref>

Scholars distinguish between strong political parties where decision-making is centralized and top-down on one hand and weak political parties where decision-making is decentralized and the grassroots has considerable power on the other hand.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kernell |first=Georgia |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/inside-parties/63847260B6E70786EFB4B874DABDF11D |title=Inside Parties: How Party Rules Shape Membership and Responsiveness |date=2025 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-51465-1 |doi=10.1017/9781009514705}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosenbluth |first=Frances McCall |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv6hp3bf |title=Responsible Parties: Saving Democracy from Itself |last2=Shapiro |first2=Ian |date=2018 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-23275-2}}</ref>

===Elite parties===
{{main|Elite party}}
An [[elite party]] is a type of political party that was dominant in the nineteenth century before the introduction of universal suffrage. The French political scientist [[Maurice Duverger]] first distinguished between elite and "mass" parties, founding his distinction on the differences within the organisational structures of these two types.<ref name=duverger64>{{cite book |last1=Duverger |first1=Maurice |title=Political Parties: Their Organisation and Activity in the Modern State |date=1964 |publisher=Methuen |location=London |edition=3}}</ref>{{rp|60–71}} Elite parties are characterized by minimal and loose organisation, and are financed by fewer larger monetary contributions typically originating from outside the party. Elite parties give little priority to expanding the party's membership base, and its leaders are its only members.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Katz |first1=Richard S. |last2=Mair |first2=Peter |title=Changing Models of Party Organisation and Party Democracy: The Emergence of the Cartel Party |journal=Party Politics |date=1995 |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=20|doi=10.1177/1354068895001001001 |s2cid=143611762 }}</ref><ref name=schumacher/>{{rp|165}} The earliest political parties, such as the [[Democratic-Republicans]] and the [[Federalists]], are classified as elite parties.<ref name="hhm71">{{cite book |last1=Hague |first1=Rod |last2=McCormick |first2=John |last3=Harrop |first3=Martin |title=Comparative Government and Politics, An Introduction |date=2019 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Houndmills |page=271 |edition=11}}</ref>

===Mass parties===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F079282-0030, Münster, SPD-Parteitag, Willy Brandt.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Parties can arise from existing cleavages in society, like the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] which [[History of the Social Democratic Party of Germany|was formed]] to represent German workers.]]
{{Main|Mass politics}}
A mass party is a type of political party that developed around [[Cleavage (politics)|cleavages]] in society and mobilized the ordinary citizens or 'masses' in the political process.<ref name="hhm71" /> In Europe, the introduction of universal suffrage resulted in the creation of worker's parties that later evolved into mass parties; an example is the [[German Social Democratic Party]].<ref name=schumacher/>{{rp|165}} These parties represented large groups of citizens who had not previously been represented in political processes, articulating the interests of different groups in society. In contrast to elite parties, mass parties are funded by their members, and rely on and maintain a large membership base. Further, mass parties prioritize the mobilization of voters and are more centralized than elite parties.<ref name="hhm71" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Angell |first1=Harold M. |title=Duverger, Epstein and the Problem of the Mass Party: The Case of the Parti Québécois |journal=Canadian Journal of Political Science |date=June 1987 |volume=20 |issue=2 |page=364|doi=10.1017/S0008423900049489 |s2cid=154446570 }}</ref>

===Catch-all parties===
{{Main|Big tent party}}
The term "catch-all party" was developed by German-American political scientist [[Otto Kirchheimer]] to describe the parties that developed in the 1950s and 1960s as a result of changes within the mass parties.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Krouwel |first1=Andre |s2cid=145308222 |title=Otto Kirchheimer and the Catch-All Party |journal=West European Politics |date=2003 |volume=26 |issue=2 |page=24|doi=10.1080/01402380512331341091 |url=https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/2e5dc172-a1b8-40e4-816f-f83dc99ba760 }}</ref><ref name=schumacher/>{{rp|165}} The term "big tent party" may be used interchangeably. Kirchheimer characterized the shift from the traditional mass parties to catch-all parties as a set of developments including the "drastic reduction of the party's ideological baggage" and the "downgrading of the role of the individual party member".<ref>Kirchheimer, Otto (1966). 'The Transformation of Western European Party Systems', in J. LaPalombara and M. Weiner (eds.), ''Political Parties and Political Development''. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, pp. 177–200 [190] {{ISBN?}}</ref> By broadening their central ideologies into more open-ended ones, catch-all parties seek to secure the support of a wider section of the population. Further, the role of members is reduced as catch-all parties are financed in part by the state or by donations.<ref name=schumacher/>{{rp|163–178}} In Europe, the shift of [[Christian Democratic parties]] that were organized around religion into broader [[centre-right]] parties epitomizes this type.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hague |first1=Rod |last2=McCormick |first2=John |last3=Harrop |first3=Martin |title=Comparative Government and Politics, An Introduction |date=2019 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Houndmills |page=272 |edition=11}}</ref>

===Cartel parties===
{{main|Cartel party theory}}
[[Cartel party theory|Cartel parties]] are a type of political party that emerged post-1970s and are characterized by heavy state financing and the diminished role of ideology as an organizing principle. The cartel party thesis was developed by Richard Katz and [[Peter Mair]], who wrote that political parties have turned into "semi-state agencies",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Katz |first1=Richard S. |last2=Mair |first2=Peter |title=Changing Models of Party Organisation and Party Democracy: The Emergence of the Cartel Party |journal=Party Politics |date=1995 |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=16|doi=10.1177/1354068895001001001 |s2cid=143611762 }}</ref> acting on behalf of the state rather than groups in society. The term 'cartel' refers to the way in which prominent parties in government make it difficult for new parties to enter, as such forming a [[cartel]] of established parties. As with catch-all parties, the role of members in cartel parties is largely insignificant as parties use the resources of the state to maintain their position within the political system.<ref name=schumacher/>{{rp|163–178}}

===Niche parties===
{{See also|Single-issue politics}}
Niche parties are a type of political party that developed on the basis of the emergence of new cleavages and issues in politics, such as immigration and the environment.<ref name="Meguid">{{cite journal |last1=Meguid |first1=Bonnie M. |title=Competition Between Unequals: The Role of Mainstream Party Strategy in Niche Party Success |journal=American Political Science Review |date=2005 |volume=99 |issue=3 |pages=347–348|doi=10.1017/S0003055405051701 |s2cid=145304603 }}</ref> In contrast to mainstream or catch-all parties, niche parties articulate an often limited set of interests in a way that does not conform to the dominant economic left-right divide in politics, in turn emphasising issues that do not attain prominence within the other parties.<ref name="MM">{{cite journal |last1=Meyer |first1=Thomas |last2=Miller |first2=Bernhard |title=The niche party concept and its measurement |journal=Party Politics |date=2015 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=259–271 |doi=10.1177/1354068812472582|pmid=28066152 |pmc=5180693 }}</ref> Further, niche parties do not respond to changes in public opinion to the extent that mainstream parties do. Examples of niche parties include [[Green parties]] and extreme nationalist parties, such as the [[National Rally]] in France.<ref name="Adams">{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=James |last2=Clark |first2=Michael |last3=Ezrow |first3=Lawrence |last4=Glasgow |first4=Garrett |title=Are Niche Parties Fundamentally Different from Mainstream Parties? The Causes and the Electoral Consequences of Western European Parties' Policy Shifts, 1976–1998 |journal=American Journal of Political Science |date=2006 |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=513–529 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00199.x |s2cid=30867881 |url=https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/2180944/191763.pdf |access-date=18 June 2020 |archive-date=6 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806072413/https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/2180944/191763.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> However, over time these parties may grow in size and shed some of their niche qualities as they become larger, a phenonmenon observable among European Green parties during their transformation from radical environmentalist movements to mainstream centre-left parties.<ref name="MM" />

===Entrepreneurial parties===
{{main|Entrepreneurial party}}
An Entrepreneurial party is a political party that is centered on a [[political entrepreneur]], and dedicated to the advancement of that person or their policies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kosowska-Gąstoł |first1=Beata |last2=Sobolewska-Myślik |first2=Katarzyna |title=New Political Entrepreneurs in Poland |journal=Politologický časopis - Czech Journal of Political Science |date=2017 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=137–157 |doi=10.5817/PC2017-2-137 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/84466401.pdf |access-date=17 January 2021 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122054222/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/84466401.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> While some definitions of political parties state that a party is an organization that advances a specific set of ideological or policy goals,<ref>{{cite web |title=The purpose of political parties |date=3 September 2014 |url=https://www.government.nl/topics/democracy/the-purpose-of-political-parties |publisher=Government of the Netherlands |access-date=14 February 2021 |archive-date=12 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812042506/https://www.government.nl/topics/democracy/the-purpose-of-political-parties |url-status=live }}</ref> many political parties are not primarily motivated by ideology or policy, and instead exist to advance the career of a specific [[political entrepreneur]].<ref name=olanrewaju17/><ref name=devries19/>