Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
16
Partieisystemypartyjne
another.Somedefinitionsemphasizeonlycertainfeaturesofaparty,and
veryoftentheyareincompleteandfragmentary.Otherones,inturn,make
thepartyappearasafullydemocraticentity.Therefore,thereisnoneed
tocreateanyextradefinitions.Onemaysuccessfullyselectthesefeatures
ofaparty,alreadyreferencedintheliterature,thatseemreasonable,meet
therequirementsofcompletenessanddemonstrateauniversalperspectiveon
thehistoricalandmodernformsoftheseinstitutions.Inthisway,aslightly
differentdefinitionwillbecreated,which,intheopinionoftheauthor,will
outlinetheconstitutivecharacteristicsofaparty.
1.Aboveall,however,itisworthpointingoutthatapoliticalsciences
definitionofapartyshoulddifferfromitslegalvariation,evenifthetwo
overlap.Constitutionallaw(inparticularconstitutions,thelawsonpolitical
parties,andelectorallaws)often,whendefiningpoliticalparties,specifythe
criteriafortheirlegalizationandthelegalconditionsoftheirfunctioning.It
thusdelimitsacertainboundaryandtheformal(procedural)rulesofitspar-
ticipationintheaffairsofthestate.Thisalsoconcernsitsnaming,allowingit
tobedistinguishedfromothersocialorganisations.Inthissense,fromalegal
perspective,apoliticalpartyissuchanorganisation,whichmeetstheapplica-
blelegalrequirements.Inotherwords,ifasocialorganisationdoesnotmeet
thelegalcriteriaofapoliticalparty,thenfromthepointofviewofothersci-
entificdisciplines,thisdoesnotmeanthatitisnotone.Apoliticalpartyisnot
onlyasocialorganisationwithaformal(legal)politicalpartystatus.Inmy
view,thecriterionoflegalityisnotacriticalfeaturedeterminingwhetheran
organisationshouldbeconsideredapoliticalpartyornot.However,inempiri-
calstudies,thedominatingtrend,unfortunately,istoperceivepartiesinlegal
terms.Suchanapproachconsiderablynarrowsdownthefieldofresearch.The
ideadoesnotsimplylieindistinguishingbetweenlegalandillegalparties,but
indrawingattentiontothekeyfeaturesoftheseorganisationsandthesocial
rolestheyperform,which,fromapoliticalsciencesperspective,shouldin
itselfqualifythemaspoliticalparties.Organisationswithadifferentformal
statuscaneasilybeconsideredassuch.Forexample,tradeunionscansuc-
cessfullyqualifyasparties(e.g.inPolandofthe90s),includingassociations
oreven,undercertainconditions,formalisedcitizengroups,providedthat
withinacertaintimeframetheyperformsuchsocialrolesandpossessthe
featureswhichareconsideredimportantforsuchorganisations.Ataregional
andlocallevel
2
,eventhoseentities,whichbywayofcompetitionstriveto
winseatsatself-governmentinstitutions,canbeconsideredasparties,even
thoughtheydonotpossessthelegalstatusofapoliticalparty(e.g.associa-
tionswhichsupportagivencandidateinlocalgovernmentelections).After
2
Theconceptsoflocalismandlocalityareofcourseonlyfigurative.Heretheymean
social,administrativeandself-governmentlevelswhichstandlowerthantheregionallevel.
