Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
JanIwanek:Theregionalandlocalpartyinlight…
25
alsoincluderegionalandlocalparties.Suchasolutionsoundsmoreviable
asitallowsfortheunificationofscientificcategories.Thisisanimportant
anddesirablepreconditionintheprocessofexplainingsocialprocessesand
drawingabstractandgeneralscientificassumptions.Themoresimilarsound-
ingcategorieswithdifferentdefinitionsthereare,themoredifficultitisto
provideascientificexplanation.Thevariousexistingdefinitionsofpolitical
partiesandpartysystemsareexhaustivetotheextentthatcreatinganew
oneisdifficultandonlypartlyjustified.Everynewdefinitionwill,tosome
degree,beofacompilatorynature.Theonlyjustificationforprovidinganew
versionofadefinitionistoextenditsscopetoincludeactivitieswithinter-
ritorialself-governments.Addingtheaforementioned,additionalfeaturesof
apoliticalparty,shouldprovesufficient.Hencemyproposalisasfollows:
Apoliticalpartyisamass,clearlyidentifiedformalisedsocialgroup,
whicharticulatesitsgroupinterestsandactsonthebasisofapolitical
programthatcorrespondswithsocialideals,andwhichinperformingits
publicfunctions,pursuesitsobjectivesviathehierarchicalcentraland
localstateinstitutionsoritsrelativelyautonomousstructures(territorial
self-government,localautonomy,federalbodies).Theproposeddefinition
isextensivetothedegreethatitalsoincludespartiesataregionalandlocal
level.Theonlydifferencecomparedtothepreviousdefinitionisthatthe
levelsofthestateinstitutionsarementioned.
8.Anaturalconsequenceoftheisolationofregionalandlocalparties
isthetransferoftheseconceptstothedefinitionofthepartysystem.Ifwe
havequalifiedtheseinstitutionsaspoliticalparties,theninconsequencethey
shouldalsobeconsideredaspartofthepartysystemofthestate.Thisis
trueevenifweassociatethepartysystemconceptsolelywiththedemocratic
system,sinceasdeterminedearlier,thepartiesweareinterestedincanonly
functioninadecentraliseddemocracy.Thesegroupscansuccessfullyfall
underastate-widepartysystemdefinition.However,wemustrememberthat
asystemunderstoodinsuchtermswillalsoincludeparties,whichformally
havenopoliticalpartystatus.Issuesregardingtheconceptualscopewill
appearonlyifweattempttodefinetheregionalandlocalpartysystemsas
subsystemsofnationallevelpartysystems.Afterall,inavertical(territorial)
arrangement,regionalandlocalpartiesformsubsystemswithregardtothe
partysystematthenationallevel.Undoubtedlythescopeofautonomyof
thesesubsystemsisdeterminedbythescopeofthedecentralisationofthe
state.Intheliterature,thedominantapproachistoviewthefunctioningof
apartyonaregionallevel,orthefunctioningofpoliticalpartiesondiffer-
entlevelsofthestate.Threesuchlevelscaneasilybedistinguished:1)the
nationallevel,inwhichpartiescompeteonatleastthebiggerpartofitsterri-
tory,andalso,whatismostimportant,takepartinthecompetitionforpower
initscentralinstitutions,especiallyintheparliament;itisworthnotingthat
