Political Parties: A perspective

In every modern polity, and in every polity which aspires for modernity, political parties are indispensable link between the society and the government just as social identities influence the organizational forms of political life, so do political organizations shape the forms of social identifications. The pattern of party system, however varies from state to state, as it is largely shaped by the socio economic milieu of a particular society. The nature of cleavages or contradictions in a given society and the general level of its economic development largely influence the type of party system that will prevail in the society. In this paper, we have tried to provide a general theoretical framework of political party and party system, their origin, development and relevance in a democratic set-up.