Challenges to political parties We have seen how crucial political parties are for the working of democracy. Since parties are the most visible face of democracy, it is natural that people blame parties for whatever is wrong with the working of democracy. All over the world, people express strong dissatisfaction with the failure of political parties to perform their functions well. This is the case in our country too.
Popular dissatisfaction and criticism has focussed on four problem areas in the working of political parties. Political parties need to face and overcome these challenges in order to remain effective instruments of democracy. The first challenge is lack of internal democracy within parties. All over the world there is a tendency in political parties towards the concentration of power in one or few leaders at the top.
Parties do not keep membership registers, do not hold organisational meetings, and do not conduct internal elections regularly. Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information on what happens inside the party. They do not have the means or the connections needed to influence the decisions. As a result, the leaders assume greater power to make decisions in the name of the party.
Since one or few leaders exercise paramount power in the party, those who disagree with the leadership find Why don’t parties give enough tickets to women? Is that also due to lack of internal democracy? Berlusconi was the Prime Minister of Italy. He is also one of the top businessmen in Italy.
He is the leader of the Forza Italia founded in . His company owns TV channels, the most important publishing company, a foot ball club (AC Milan) and a bank. This cartoon was made during the last elections. © Riber Hansson - Svenska Dagbladet , Cagle Cartoons Inc.
Berlusconi Puppet Theatre it difficult to continue in the party. More than loyalty to party principles and policies, personal loyalty to the leader becomes more important. The second challenge of dynastic succession is related to the first one. Since most political parties do not practice open and transparent