CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Shahid, Furqan Bin |
|---|---|
| Title | Explaining Intra-party Democracy (IPD) in the Orient: A case study of Political Parties in Pakistan |
| Summary | Political parties have long been recognized as a necessary component of modern democracy. However, intra-party democracy (IPD) has failed to gain a similar consensus amongst academics and practitioners alike. Some posit that it is essential for state wide democracy whereas others think otherwise. More significantly, few also espouse the view that it is non-existent or in a general decline across political parties. Notwithstanding, recent research shows that contrary to these standpoints IPD varies across political parties and within them overtime. Robin T. Pettit, in his work shows that five party specific factors (age, origin, ideology, style of democracy and government ambition) are central in explaining the variation in IPD. Moreover, Ingrid Van Biezzen and Daniela Romee Piccio in their work on IPD in post-war European democracies show that state laws also require political parties to adopt IPD. It is important to note that all the existing scholarship has focused primarily on established democracies found in the West whereas new democracies (except for East European) in the Asian world have been largely overlooked. This research attempted to explore IPD variation in the Asian world by delving into the case study of political parties in Pakistan. Both the legal regulation of IPD at state level and party specific factors of eight political parties were evaluated. Through the research it was discovered that the state of Pakistan like other European countries also regulates IPD through legal mechanisms. Likewise, the application of Pettitt’s model also yielded important findings. The model successfully works for all parties except the Islamic political parties, a party family unique to the Muslim world. The research identified key features of Islamic political parties which can be pursued for further research. Lastly, based on the evidence obtained the study also suggests that the party specific factors can exert disproportionate impact on IPD. Lastly, further research using advanced techniques and larger sample of political parties from Asia can be used to substantiate the model’s applicability to new democracies in the region. |
| Supervisor | Bogaards, Matthijs |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/shahid_furqan-bin.pdf |
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