Vicky Randall and Lars Svåsand, "Party Institutionalization in New Democracies," Party Politics, 8 (January 2002), 5-29.

First Paragraph:
This article is about the concept of party institutionalization, with particular reference to the experience of the new democracies of the former Third World. In the vast and growing literature on democratic transition and consolidation there is widespread agreement that political parties and party systems must play a vital role, whether in Africa (Clapham, 1993; Sandbrook, 1996), Asia (Diamond, 1989) or Latin America (Dix, 1992; Rueschemeyer et al., 1992; Norden, 1998).1 Further there is a general perception that the contribution of parties gets increasingly important as the process evolves and is especially central to successful consolidation.

Figures and Tables:
Figure 1. Dimensions of party institutionalization

Last Paragraph:
Finally we have considered how this might be applied to the very specific circumstances of the actually existing world of Third World countries in democratic transition. For each of our four aspects of party institutionalization we have suggested some of the questions about the party, its development and relationships, that would need to be asked, looking at such issues as party origins, resources, party leadership, factionalism, clientelism and external sponsorship and other linkages. Whilst emphasising the need to avoid invidious comparison with a somewhat idealized, not to say outdated, model of party development in western Europe, the overall conclusion of this analysis must be that for perhaps the great majority of parties there are formidable obstacles in the way of institutionalization.