The development of political parties over the past century is the story of three stages in the pursuit of power: liberation, democratization, and de-democratization. Political Parties and Democracy is comprised of five, stand-alone volumes that probe the realities of political parties at all three stages.
In each volume, contributors explore the relationship between political parties and democracy (or democratization) in their nations, providing necessary historical, socioeconomic, and institutional context, as well as the details of contemporary political tensions. Contributors are distinguished indigenous scholars who have lived the truths they tell and are, thus, able to write with unique breadth, depth, and scope. They show the parties of their respective nations as they have developed through history and changing institutional structures, and they explain the balance of power among them--and between them and competing agencies of power--today.