Rudd Koole, "Cadre, Catch-All or Cartel?: A Comment on the Notion of the Cartel Party," Party Politics, 2 (October 1996), 509-525.

First Paragraph:
Party research has been recently enriched by a new (ideal) type of modern political party, the cartel party, introduced by Katz and Mair (1995). The cartel party is portrayed as characteristic of a fourth stage of party development. After the 'elite party' of the first stage (19th century),the 'mass party' of the second (1880-1960), and the 'catch-all party' of the third (after 1945), the 'cartel party' (after 1970) differs from the previous types by the interpenetration of party and state and by a pattern of inter-party collusion. The emergence of the cartel party has implications for both the party system as a whole, where a cartel of parties relying heavily on the resources of the state makes it difficult for new parties to rise to power, and the organization profile of each individual party within the cartel.

Figures and Tables:
Figure 1: The position of political parties before the introduction of general suffrage.
Figure 2: The position of political parties during the first decades after the introduction of general suffrage.
Figure 3: The position of political parties today.

Last Paragraph:
One could also try to formulate a typology of parties that distinguishes between general types and subtypes (without linking it too closely to a genealogy of parties). The cadre party, the mass party and the catch-all party could serve as general types; the electoral-professional party, the modern cadre party, the programmatic party, the horizontal party, the cartel party, and so on as subtypes. Thus, various types of parties co-exist, without implying that one type is more up to date than another. But whether cadre, catch-all or cartel: political parties will continue to exist. Or as Katz and Mair (1995:25) rightly state: 'there is little real evidence to suggest that the age of party has waned'.