Thursday, December 01, 2005

Reform political parties first

PRATAP BHANU MEHTA
Seminar January 2001
It is surprising that in the midst of our current debates over constitutional reform little attention is being paid to the reform of the internal structures of our political parties. While the Law and Election Commissions have often argued for the better functioning of political parties, politicians and the public at large act as if reforming political parties is inconsequential. Many of the anxieties that lie behind the calls for constitutional reform can be more effectively addressed by reforming the structure of our political parties.
The fragmentation of the party system and the prospect of perpetual coalition governments; the weakening of democratic accountability despite high turnover of incumbents; the fact that political parties are unable to transcend their narrow social bases and become parties of principle; the diminishing quality of public deliberation in our politics – all have their roots, less in the failure of the Constitution than in the party structures that have grown under it. These outcomes are, to a considerable degree, produced by poor institutionalization of intraparty democracy.
The lack of attention given to the inner functioning of political parties is surprising. Most complex democracies are unthinkable without parties. Democracy performs its most salient functions through parties. The selection of candidates, the mobilization of the electorate, the formulation of agendas, the passing of legislation – is all conducted through parties. Parties are, in short, the mechanisms through which power is exercised in a democracy. While, thanks to Robert Michels’ classic analysis in Political Parties, few are na•ve enough to believe that the oligarchic tendencies of political parties can be entirely overcome, it is abundantly clear that the ways in which parties structure opportunities has decisive outcomes for democracy.
The health of democracy requires that we attend to the health of our parties and the party system. Intraparty democracy will prevent fragmentation of parties, make politicians more accountable and enhance the quality of deliberation. The degree to which political parties are willing to countenance grand constitutional experiments without setting their own houses in order ought to be an object of suspicion. Our anxieties about the functioning of democracy in India are more likely to be alleviated by proper attention to intraparty democracy than by tinkering with a constitution that exemplifies the democratic aspirations more than our party leaders do.

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