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Party membership and activism is declining among Britain's three major parties. Using individual membership survey data, evidence of this decline, particularly in party activism, is presented. Reasons for the decline are considered. It is suggested that choice-based rather than structural explanations are more persuasive. The impact of the decline upon the parties and the political system is considered. The article concludes that it is possible for parties to stimulate membership and activism.

A modern British election campaign is multidimensional, with significant variations in party strategies over time and location. In the general elections of 1992 and 1997, the Labour Party developed innovative forms of campaigning, some of which the Conservative Party attempted to replicate in the 2001 general election. The article outlines the main features of Labour's campaign leading up to the 2001 general election. In order to evaluate the impact of Labour's campaign on turnout and party choice, data on the Conservative and Liberal Democrat campaigns are also examined using the 2001 British Election Study panel survey. The impact of party campaigning is revealed to have a significant effect on both turnout and party choice. Liberal Democrat and Labour campaigning proves to be especially influential. These findings reinforce earlier research on the importance of party campaigning in influencing voting behaviour.

Fortschritte und neue Entwicklungen im Bereich der Kommunikation und des Informationswesens werden auch Auswirkungen auf das demokratische System haben. Eine postmoderne Politik wird vor allem die Bedeutung politischer Parteien reduzieren. Eine Teledemokratie mit häufigen Referenden und Umfragen ist vorstellbar. Politische Parteien sind jedoch ein Bestandteil des demokratischen Systems und durch gesellschaftliche und politische Gruppen nicht ersetzbar. In Großbritannien gibt es eine starke Parteibindung, wenn auch die Mitgliederzahlen gesunken sind. Eine Krise des politischen Systems ist noch nicht erreicht. Erst der Bedeutungsverlust politischer Parteien und des repräsentativen Parlaments würde dazu führen. (FUB-Ern)

Argues against contemporary versions of "technopopulism" that extol the virtues of technology as the saving grace of modern democracy, & suggest that such technology makes parties & representative government obsolete, & truly direct democracy possible. Such arguments, especially popular in the US, are characterized as nonparticipatory, elite driven, & ultimately undemocratic. Moreover, these arguments are characterized as a dangerous brand of political advocacy that link populist politics to demobilization, disaggregation, & atomization. In contrast, it is argued that true democracy requires organization from below, a process that requires strong parties & representative forms of government. A call is made to examine how new technologies might help solidify the role of such grass-roots, representative organizations. D. M. Smith