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This article provides an overview and a broad comparison of the development of party membership in European democracies and discusses the implications of the decline in party membership for our understanding of party organization and party democracy. Our study provides an update of reporting by Mair and Van Rush (2001), which followed the study of Katz, Mair et al. (1992). The analysis covers the period from the late 1980s until the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century. The number of countries that is included is expanded (to 27), so our study now includes almost all European democracies, including the long-established democracies in Western Europe, the more recent democracies in Southern Europe as well as post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. The data we present are based on direct, individual membership figures as reported by the parties (in the article we show, moreover, that there is a strong correlation with the data come from survey research exists, however disadvantage of the survey data is that this level of party membership systematically overestimate). We analyze both the level of party membership expressed in raw numbers (M) and the party membership as a percentage of the electorate (M / E), an indicator that is more suitable for transnational comparisons. Adapted from the source document.

In the public debate and amongst scientists anxiety prevails concerning the situation of modern parliamentary democracy regarding nearly all established of nearly democracies. The concern focuses on the electoral loss of middle parties and heavily fluctuating election results, and the rise of radical Left and Right, where words such as pallet democracy, crisis and Weimar republic are used. The author sketches the outlines of different research directions he studied regarding European politics: voter behavior; decreasing importance of the Left-Right antagonism; decreasing political faith; increasing numbers of extreme Right parties. This to study more closely the different aspects of the alleged crisis of European party democracies (do citizens have unrealistically high expectations of government; the evolution from cartel parties to campaign parties, including the growing importance of the media; lack of party representation for large groups of citizens). Foremost, the author mentions that neo-liberal economic policies of the European Union do not parallel public opinion of EU member states. Figures. O. van Zijl

The aim here is to understand better the governing organizations of Us & high schools in a democratic environment. The Law for U Government Reform is studied & its model of government characterized in terms of ideal models. A small empirical research project was set up to investigate how the rules relative to departmental councils function to reach the objectives they are assigned. One must distinguish between the allotment of responsibility for making decisions on subjects that relate to the U's "output" (teaching, research, degrees) & matters that are related to the U "input." Three conceptions of authority & three models of U government must be noted: (1) the "professional" model (decisions rest with the best qualified scientific personnel), (2) the "corporate" model (every section of the U contributes to the government), & (3) the "council" model (all responsibilities are vested in the whole U). The Law for U Government Reform aims at working out the corporative model. Research must concentrate on the relationship between goals & implementation, & not on evaluating the goals set up by the Law. By & large, nonscientific personnel are represented in the councils. The student position on these councils is strong due to the absenteeism of other members. Propositions initiated by students or nonscientific personnel are a small minority of the adopted propositions. Propositions opposed by a majority of the scientific personnel present are always adopted. The main student input is found in the area of teaching goals. It is doubtful that the intended democratization of decision-making can be effectively accomplished in the framework of the departmental councils. 6 Tables, Appendix. HA Tr & Modified by A. Orianne.