Gunther, R. and L. Diamond (2003) ‘Species of Political Parties: A New Typology’, Party Politics, Vol. 9(2), 167-199.

Gunther, R. and L. Diamond (2003) ‘Species of Political Parties: A New Typology’, Party Politics, Vol. 9(2), 167-199.

• This article attempts to classify modern political parties into 15 groups based on a set of three dichotomies: the nature of the party's organization, ideological v. patron-client, and pluralistic v. totalitarian (167).
• The current systems of party classification are woefully underprepared for modern politics, as they utterly fail to cover political parties in most of the developing world and are overly focused on a specific period of Western European history. Even the Republic and Democratic parties of the USA do not fit into the current division.
• The criteria for division among political parties is also extremely inconsistent, another reason why this paper hopes to succeed for the goal of creating a single authoritative system.
• If I ever wanted to engage with other ways of dividing and categorizing political parties, this paper is a great source mine.
• A diagram of the 15 party types arranged by date in which they came into formation is available on page 173.
• "‘Elite-based’ parties are those whose principal organizational structures are minimal and based upon established elites and related interpersonal networks within a specific geographic area" (175). These elite-based parties are not ideological, and typically cooperate to help each other exploit more of the system. Two species of political party fall within this 'genus':
• The traditional local notable party, in which local people of high economic status and personal prestige depend entirely on these factors to achieve electoral success. They have practically no organizational base (176).
• The clientelistic party, where individual notables begin to band together at the electoral stage and set up organized systems of client-patron relations from which resources can be distributed to loyal voters after victory -- just like machine politics. This party still has no kind of ideological basis for formation (177).
• "the mass-based party, emerged as a manifestation of the political mobilization of the working class in many European polities. Organizationally, it is characterized by a large base of dues-paying members who remain active in party affairs even during periods between elections" (178). Voluntary organizations characterize this type of party, which uses them to inculcate and mobilize political support. This 'genus' contains eight different species of political party:
• The pluralist mass-based party, which seeks to win elections as a road to power and practice intensive use of voluntary organizations and media outlets to drive electoral victories (178).
• The proto-hegemonic mass-based party, which place emphasis on discipline and loyalty to the party. It includes careful selection of members and intensive indoctrination with party ideology. Often it will include distinctions between members by level of devotion to the cause (179).
• The social-democratic party, which advocates mass participation in politics through trade unions which take in active role in moderating and pragmatizing reforms that drive it towards electoral victory (179).
• The Leninist party, which separates into a mass component advocating total participation in the activities of the party, but also a hegemonic vanguard wing of the party which refuses to compromise ideological purity for electoral victory (180).
• The pluralist nationalist party, which forms as a mass organization of cultural groups and certain empowered actors working together towards popular liberation of some form or another (180).
• The ultranationalist party, which exalts the nation or ethnic group above the individual as a way of encouraging mass participation by eliminating the self-hood of the people. It seeks the complete domination of society (181).
• The demoninationalist mass-party, which has a large number of due-paying members who support a large infrastructure based on the tenants of a common faith. They are pluralistic and depend on the participation of members in church groups and other voluntary associations (182).
• The religious fundamentalist party, which seeks to reorganize society and the state around a set of religious principles, which are often puritanical in nature. The state that they form lacks a distinction between church and state (183).
• "Parties based on ethnicity typically lack the extensive and elaborate organization of mass-based parties. Their goals and strategies are narrower: to promote the interests of a particular ethnic group, or coalition of groups. They are content to use existing state structures to channel benefits towards their particularistically defined electoral clientele" (183). There exist two main varieties:
• The purely ethnic party, which seeks simply to polarize its voter base from the rest of society and exact very limited patron-client relationships to manipulate resources into the coffers of that particular ethnic group. There is no attempt to develop an ideology or extend the voter base beyond the loyal ethnics (184).
• The congress party, is an organization which combines the power of a number of ethnic parties within a shared, if decentralized, organizational structure. It usually serves to make sure that each powerless ethnic party receive a share of the pie at the governmental level (184).
• "Electoralist parties are organizationally thin, maintaining a relatively skeletal existence (the offices and staffs supporting their parliamentary groups notwithstanding). At election time, however, these parties spring into action to perform what is unequivocally their primary function, the conduct of the campaign" (185). They exist for the purpose of propelling specific candidates to power during election time, but lie dormant for the governance period. Three parties exists within this genus:
• The catch-all party, that's sole purpose is to maximize the voters acquired by campaigning electively w/o any clear ideology or focus. It is coalition based b/c the only goal is getting closer to power and the benefits therein (186).
• The programmatic party, is a modern political party with minimal staff and public participation, and basing all decisions around a centrally decided program or platform from which all candidates draw (187).
• The personalistic party, is a movement based entirely around a single strong personality and with the sole goal of propelling that individual into power. It has no ideology, but changes constantly with the opinions and ideas espoused by the power-hungry leader. It seeks to drive all other parties into non-existence by focusing the government entirely on the leading individual (187).
• The movement parties represent a separate category, which often lack a central structure but are very obviously related to one another through the strands of a radical and transnational ideological movements (188). There exist two varieties within this genus of political party:
• The left-libertarian party, which by its nature defies organization and state structure, but is a transnational idea uniting a diverse array of individuals behind the common cause of abolishing the state in the name of personal freedom (188).
• The post-industrial extreme right party, which rallies under a common ideology and seeks traditional and inclusion in an increasing individualistic and atomized world, but it anathema to state intervention or the organizational trappings of a traditional party. When it appears, it is as a violent and xenophobic gang-like organization (189).
• The development of new communications technology have favored the expansion of organizationally-thin electorialist parties at the expense of mass parties in general, but this change is neither definitive nor complete (192).