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THIS ARTICLE SEEKS TO RELATE HYPOTHESES ABOUT HOW PARTY STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION WILL DEVELOP IN POSTCOMMUNIST EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE TO EMPIRICAL RESEARCH CONDUCTED AT THE LOCAL LEVEL IN POLAND. THE RESEARCH CONDUCTED IN POLAND CONFIRMS A PATTERN OF WEAK GROUNDING IN CIVIL SOCIETY AND DEPENDENCE ON THE STATE FOR FINANCIAL AND MATERIAL RESOURCES, TOGETHER WITH CENTRALIZED DECISION-MAKING COMBINED WITH SECTORAL LOCAL AUTONOMY. OF THE "NEW" PARTIES, ONLY SOLIDARITY ELECTORAL ACTION HAS BEEN ABLE TO MATCH THE "SUCCESSOR" PARTIES' DOMINANCE BY UTILIZING THE SOLIDARITY TRADE UNION'S LOCAL ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORK.

This article seeks to relate hypotheses about how party structure and organization will develop in postcommunist East-Central Europe to empirical research conducted at the local level in Poland. The parties' membership bases and degree of local implantation are examined, together with their local organizational infrastructure and the pattern of local-national relations, particularly in the case of local parliamentary candidate selection. The research confirms a pattern of weak grounding in civil society and dependence on the state for financial and material resources (with the partial exceptions of the two `successor' parties with their roots in the communist regime), together with centralized decision-making combined with sectoral local autonomy. Of the `new' parties, only Solidarity Electoral Action has been able to match the `successor' parties' dominance by utilizing the Solidarity trade union's local organizational network.

MANY RECENT DISCUSSIONS OF THE DECLINE OF PARTY ARE PREDICATED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE DUVERGER/SOCIALIST MASS-PARTY MODEL IS THE ONLY MODEL FOR PARTIES. THE AUTHORS CONTEND THAT THIS ASSUMPTION IS MISCONCEIVED, THAT THE MASS-PARTY MODEL IS ONLY ONE, TEMPORALLY LIMITED AND CONTINGENT MODEL, AND THAT IT IS NECESSARY TO DIFFERENTIATE NOTIONS OF ADAPTATION AND CHANGE FROM NOTIONS OF DECLINE OR FAILURE. FOLLOWING AN ANALYSIS OF HOW VARIOUS MODELS OF PARTY CAN BE LOCATED IN TERMS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE STATE, THE AUTHORS CONTEND THAT THE RECENT PERIOD HAS WITNESSED THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW MODEL OF PARTY, THE CARTEL PARTY, IN WHICH COLLUDING PARTIES BECOME AGENTS OF THE STATE AND EMPLOY THE RESOURCES OF THE STATE (THE PARTY STATE) TO ENSURE THEIR OWN COLLECTIVE SURVIVAL. FINALLY, THE AUTHORS SUGGEST THAT THE RECENT CHALLENGE TO PARTY IS IN FACT A CHALLENGE TO THE CARTEL THAT THE ESTABLISHED PARTIES HAVE CREATED FOR THEMSELVES.

Many recent discussions of the decline of party are predicated on the assumption that the Duverger/socialist mass-party model is the only model for parties. We contend that this assumption is misconceived, that the mass-party model is only one, temporally limited and contingent model, and that it is necessary to differentiate notions of adaptation and change from notions of decline or failure. Following an analysis of how various models of party can be located in terms of the relationship between civil society and the state, we contend that the recent period has witnessed the emergence of a new model of party, the cartel party, in which colluding parties become agents of the state and employ the resources of the state (the party state) to ensure their own collective survival. Finally, we suggest that the recent challenge to party is in fact a challenge to the cartel that the established parties have created for themselves.

A revised version of SA 33:5/85S17274/ASA/1985/3895. 2 Figures, 44 References.

Considers the integration of elites in major Greek political parties. Elite integration will be defined as cohesiveness and unity of those who occupy different levels of political positions. (SJO)

"Political Party Organizations" published on by Oxford University Press.

Theories that explain variations in party systems typically emphasize the role of political institutions and social cleavages. Using a panel dataset of election returns from 15 Indian states from 1967 to 2004. this article establishes considerable variation in the effective number of parties across states and over time, despite the same political institutions and relatively stable social cleavages. We argue that a hitherto ignored dimension, the level of party organization, has a significant impact on the nature of the party system. The level of party organization incentivizes politicians differently in terms of their decision to stay, join another party or float a new party, when their ambitions are thwarted within a party. To test this theory, a unique indicator of party organization is developed on the basis of extensive qualitative research. We find that in Indian states where parties are more organized, both the effective number of parties and electoral volatility are lower.