Rethinking Party Democracy in the Age of Populism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36253/rifp-3421Keywords:
political parties, factions, populism, party democracy, representationAbstract
Political parties are the core institution of democratic politics. Yet, they are also democracy’s most discredited ones, with episodes of corruption cutting widely across the political spectrum and significantly undermining their legitimacy in the eyes of citizens. Are parties doomed or is there a way out for them? This article explores the reasons for the demise of party democracy in the early 21st century; resists both the anti-party Zeitgeist profusely present in the broader public sphere and the party skepticism that dominates significant portions of the political science and democratic theory literature; and argues that political parties can and must be re-imagined – both internally and in the way they operate on the electoral battlefield. It connects insights across neighboring but usually compartmentalized disciplines, such as empirical political science, comparative politics, and – most distinctively – historical and contemporary democratic theory, to reclaim why political parties matter, explain how they shatter, and start outlining how to make them better. It brings into focus the simultaneous anti-party and hyper-party spin that populism (first as an anti-establishment movement and then as a governmental force) puts on the theory and practice of party democracy. It concludes that intra-party democracy is key to monitoring various venues for democratic undoing and, thus, to enhancing party democracy in the long run.
Downloads
References
APSA, “Toward a More Responsible Two-Party System: A Report of the Committee on Political Parties”, American Political Science Review, 44/3 (1950): 1-96. https://doi.org/10.2307/1950997
Arato, Andrew and Jean Cohen. Populism and Civil Society. The Challenge to Constitutional Democracy. New York: Oxford UP, 2021.
Badano, Gabriele and Alasia Nuti. Politicizing Political Liberalism: On the Containment of Illiberal and Antidemocratic Views. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2024.
Barber, Nick. The Principles of Constitutionalism. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2018.
Baume, Sandrine and Stéphanie Novak (eds.). Compromises in Democracy. Cham: Springer, 2020.
Bech-Pedersen, Palle and Christian Carl, “Compromise and Consensus: Toward a Two-Track Model of Deliberation”, Political Studies, (first published November 2024): 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217241297026
Beerbohm, Eric. In Our Name: The Ethics of Democracy. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2012.
Beerbohm, Eric. “Is Democratic Leadership Possible?”, American Political Science Review, 109/4 (2015): 639-652. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055415000398
Biale, Enrico. Interessi democratici e ragioni partigiane. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2018.
Biale, Enrico and David Ragazzoni (eds.). “Partiti e teoria democratica”, Notizie di Politeia, 144 (2021), pp. 12-72.
Bobbio, Norberto. A Political Life. Cambridge: Polity, 2002.
Bonotti, Matteo and Veit Bader (eds.). Parties, Partisanship, and Political Theory. New York: Routledge, 2015.
Bonotti, Matteo. Partisanship and Political Liberalism in Diverse Societies. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2017.
Bonotti, Matteo and Zim Nwokora. Money, Parties, and Democracy. Political Finance Between Fat Cats and Big Government. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2025.
Cagé, Julia. The Price of Democracy. How Money Shapes Politics and What to Do About It. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2020.
Campati, Antonio. La distanza democratica. Corpi intermedi e rappresentanza politica Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 2022.
Canovan, Margaret. “Taking Politics to the People: Populism as the Ideology of Democracy”, in Y. Mény, Y. Surel (eds.). Democracies and the Populist Challenge. New York: Palgrave, 2002: 25-44.
Castiglione, Dario and Johaness Pollak (eds.), Creating Political Presence. The New Politics of Democratic Representation. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
Ceva, Emanuela and Maria Paola Ferretti. Political Corruption. The Internal Enemy of Public Institutions. New York: Oxford UP, 2021.
Chapman, Emilee. Election Day: How We Vote and What It Means for Democracy. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2022.
Compagna, Luigi. L’idea dei partiti da Hobbes a Burke. Napoli: Bibliopolis, 1987.
Dalton, Russell J. and Martin P. Wattenberg (eds.). Parties without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000.
Disch, Lisa. The Tyranny of the Two-Party System. New York: Columbia UP, 2002.
Disch, Lisa, Mathijs van de Sande and Nadia Urbinati (eds.). The Constructivist Turn in Political Representation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2019.
Disch, Lisa. Making Constituencies: Representation as Mobilization in Mass Democracy. Chicago-London: The University of Chicago Press, 2021.
Duverger, Maurice. Le Partis Politiques. Paris: Colin, 1951.
Finchelstein, Federico. From Fascism to Populism in History. Oakland: University of California Press, 2017.
Gerbaudo, Paolo. The Digital Party: Political Organization and Online Democracy. London: Pluto Press, 2019.
Guerrero, Alex. Lottocracy: Democracy without Elections. New York: Oxford UP, 2024.
Gutmann, Amy and Dennis Thompson. The Spirit of Compromise. Why Governing Demands It and Campaigning Undermines It. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2012.
Hofstadter, Richard. The Idea of a Party System: The Rise of Legitimate Opposition in the United States, 1780-1840. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960.
Ignazi, Piero. Party and Democracy. The Uneven Road to Party Legitimacy. New York: Oxford UP, 2017.
Ignazi, Piero. “La sfida impossibile. I partiti di fronte alla crisi di legittimazione”, Ragion Pratica, 1/2021: 37-56.
Invernizzi-Accetti, Carlo and Fabio Wolkenstein. “The Crisis of Party Democracy, Cognitive Mobilization, and the Case for Making Parties More Deliberative”, American Political Science Review, 111/1 (2017): 97-109. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055416000526
Katz, Richard and Peter Mair. “Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy: The Emergence of the Cartel Party”, Party Politics, 1/1, 1995: 5–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068895001001001
Khaitan, Tarunabh. “Political Parties in Constitutional Theory,” Current Legal Problems, 73/1 (2020): 89-125. https://doi.org/10.1093/clp/cuaa004
Kirchheimer, Otto. The Transformation of the Western European Party Systems, in J. La Palombara, M. Weiner (eds). Political Parties and Political Development. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1966: 177–200.
Kirshner, Alexander. Legitimate Opposition. New Haven: Yale UP, 2022.
Kirshner, Alexander. A Theory of Militant Democracy. The Ethics of Combating Political Extremism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.
Knight, Jack (ed.). Compromise (NOMOS LIX). New York: New York UP, 2018.
Lafont, Cristina and Nadia Urbinati. The Lottocratic Mentality: Defending Democracy against Lottocracy. New York: Oxford UP, 2025.
Linz, Juan. “Parties in Contemporary Democracies: Problems and Paradoxes”, in R. Gunther, J. R. Montero, J. Linz (eds.). Political Parties: Old Concepts and New Challenges. New York: Oxford UP, 2002: 291-317.
Löwenstein, Karl. “Militant Democracy and Fundamental Rights, I”, American Political Science Review, 31/3 (1937): 417-432. https://doi.org/10.2307/1948164
Löwenstein, Karl. “Militant Democracy and Fundamental Rights, II”, American Political Science Review, 31/4 (1937): 638-658. https://doi.org/10.2307/1948103
Mair, Peter. Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy. London: Verso, 2013.
Malkopoulou, Anthoula and Alexander Kirschner (eds.). Militant Democracy and Its Critics: Populism, Parties, Extremism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2019.
Malkopoulou, Anthoula. “Three Models of Democratic Self-Defence: Militant Democracy and Its Alternatives”, Political Studies 66/2 (2017): 442-458. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321717723504
Manin, Bernard, Principi del governo rappresentativo. Milano: Anabasi, 1992.
Manin, Bernard. Principes du gouvernement représentatif. Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1995.
Manin, Bernard. The Principles of Representative Government. New York: Cambridge UP, 1997.
Margalit, Avishai. On Compromise and Rotten Compromises. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2009.
Masala, Antonio and Lorenzo Viviani (eds.). L’età dei populismi. Un’analisi politica e sociale. Roma: Carocci, 2020.
Mastropaolo, Alfio. “La controversa invenzione dei partiti politici”, Ragion Pratica, 1/2021: 15-36.
Michels, Robert. Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. New York: Hearst’s International Library, 1915.
Muirhead, Russell. The Promise of Party in a Polarized Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2014.
Müller, Jan-Werner. “The Zombification of Political Parties”, Project Syndicate, 15 March 2024.
Müller, Jan-Werner. What is Populism? Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.
Palano, Damiano. Partito. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2013.
Palano, Damiano. ““La democrazia che si organizza”. Partigianeria e teoria democratica: note di rilettura del dibattito costituente sul ruolo dei partiti”, Ragion Pratica, 1/2021: 57-77.
Poguntke, Thomas and Paul Webb (eds.). The Presidentialization of Politics: A Comparative Studies of Modern Democracies. New York: Oxford UP, 2005.
Posner, Eric and Adrian Vermeule. The Executive Unbound: After the Madisonian Republic. New York: Oxford UP, 2011.
Przeworski, Adam. Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government. New York: Cambridge UP, 2010.
Ragazzoni, David (ed.). “Partiti, Costituzione, Democrazia”, Ragion Pratica, 1/2021: 5-138.
Roberts, Kenneth. “Populism and Political Parties”, in C. Rovira Kaltwasser, P. Taggart, P. Ochoa Espejo, P. Ostiguy (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Populism. New York: Oxford UP, 2017: 287-304.
Rosanvallon, Pierre. The Populist Century. Cambridge: Polity, 2021.
Rosenblum, Nancy. On the Side of the Angels. An Appreciation of Parties and Partisanship. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2008.
Rosenbluth, Frances McCall and Ian Shapiro. Responsible Parties: Saving Democracy from Itself. New Haven: Yale UP, 2018.
Sartori, Giovanni. Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis. Colchester: ECPR Press, 1976.
Schattschneider, Elmer Eric. Party Government. American Government in Action, With a New Introduction by Sidney A. Pearson Jr. New Brunswick-London: Transaction Publishers, 2009 (1942).
Scheppele, Kim Lane. “The Party’s Over”, in M. A. Graber, S. Levinson, M. Tushnet (eds.). Constitutional Democracy in Crisis? New York: Oxford UP, 2018: 495-513.
Schupmann, Benjamin. Democracy Despite Itself: Liberal Constitutionalism and Militant Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2024.
Skjönsberg, Max. The Persistence of Party: Ideas of Harmonious Discord in Eighteenth-Century Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2021.
Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America and Two Essays on America. London: Penguin, 2003.
Urbinati, Nadia. Democrazia in diretta. Le nuove sfide alla rappresentanza. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2013.
Urbinati, Nadia. “A Revolt Against Intermediary Bodies”, Constellations, 22/4 (2015): 477-486. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12188
Urbinati, Nadia (ed.). Thinking Democracy Now: Between Innovation and Regression. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2019.
Urbinati, Nadia. “The Phenomenology of Politics as Factionalism”, Constellations, 26/3 (2019): 408-417. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12437
Urbinati, Nadia. “Antiestablishment and the Substitution of the Whole with One of Its Parts”, in C. de la Torre (ed.). Routledge Handbook of Global Populism. London: Routledge, 2019: 77-97.
Urbinati, Nadia. “Liquid Parties, Dense Populism”, Philosophy and Social Criticism, 45/9-10 (2019): 1069-1083. https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453719872274
Urbinati, Nadia. “Political Theory of Populism”, Annual Review of Political Science, 22/1 (2019): 111-127. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050317-070753
Urbinati, Nadia. Me the People. How Populism Transforms Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2019.
Urbinati, Nadia and Luciano Vandelli. La democrazia del sorteggio. Torino: Einaudi, 2020.
Urbinati, Nadia. Pochi contro molti. Il conflitto politico nel 21° secolo. Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2020.
Valitutti, Salvatore. I partiti politici e la libertà. Armando Editore: Roma, 1966.
Viviani, Lorenzo. Leadership and Democracy. A Political Sociology of the Personalization of Leadership. Cham: Springer, 2024.
Weyland, Kurt. “Clarifying a Contested Concept: Populism in the Study of Latin American Politics”, 34/1 (2001): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.2307/422412
White, Jonathan and Lea Ypi. The Meaning of Partisanship. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2016.
White, Jonathan and Lea Ypi. “Political Parties”, in R. Bellamy, J. King (eds.). The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory. New York: Cambridge UP, 2025: 776-791.
Wolkenstein, Fabio. Rethinking Party Reform. New York: Oxford UP, 2019.
Wolak, Jennifer. Compromise in an Age of Party Polarization. New York: Oxford UP, 2020.
Zelizer, Julian E. In Defense of Partisanship. New York: Columbia Global Reports, 2025.
Ziliotti, Elena. Meritocratic Democracy: A Cross-Cultural Political Theory. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2023.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 David Ragazzoni
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
