The Parties That Are Not There
Editorial
1. Schuld sind immer die Anderen
In Germany these days one can see a Green Party’s electoral poster. On it, Frau Merkel is pointing her finger, like a young teacher, onto the head of Philipp Rösler, FDP President, Vice-Chancellor, and minister of Economy. Leggi tutto »
This essay critically examines the debate on the “crisis” of political parties by focusing on two points. First, it emphasizes that the “crisis” is today a crisis of a specific type of party, namely, the mass-based party, which in Europe had its golden age during “the Short Twentieth Century” (1914-1989). Leggi tutto »
Simone Weil’s note on the suppression of political parties, which she writes in the midst of the war, is meant to be a contribution to the anti-fascist battle. Curiously, however, her polemic against parties retrieves an old argument belonging to historical forms of fascism, and anticipates recurrent themes in contemporary populism. Leggi tutto »
Through a cross-examination of Aristotle and Lenin, this essay claims that only the rebirth of philosophy will enable the rebirth of parties (and of politics): without philosophy, there are no parties, and therefore there is no politics. Leggi tutto »
This essay focuses on three issues: the need to look forward, with no nostalgias for a past that is not wonderful, as some would instead like to think; the need to aim at an ideal reconstruction based on some firm points, such as sustainable development, Europe, federalism and autonomies, individual and social rights and duties; Leggi tutto »
There is tremendous tension between, on the one hand, the processes where ideas, communication patterns, struggles and challenges are increasingly global in nature when at the same time, and on the other hand, the focus, action, and spatial organization of political parties remain national. Leggi tutto »
In the face of high levels of distrust in political parties, policy-makers, intellectuals, and activists in Latin America have created “institutions of participatory governance,” or IPGs, to engage everyday citizens in political decision-making. This essay explores the rise of nationally mandated participatory institutions in Latin America as a partial response to the failures of the party system to engage citizens and channel their interests in the policy making process. Leggi tutto »