Comparative Political Parties and Party Elites

Comparative Political Parties and Party Elites presents a comparative analysis of political parties and party elites in contemporary democracies. The cases covered include developed and developing countries ranging from the United States to the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe.

The contributors reexamine some of the classical issues found in the behavioral literature on political parties and party elites, shedding new light on issues such as the influence of women on political parties, the impact on parties of social change, the relationship between electoral alliances and political outcomes, the effect of emerging elites on parties, and the role of parties as links between the masses and government elites.

The contributors--all students of Samuel J. Eldersveld--put this volume together in his honor. As Dwanine Marvick puts it, " They] bring Professor Elderveld's concern with evidence and with methods of inquiry--an insistence on feasible and tested procedures, a shrewdness about how questions should be phrased, a sensitivity about the changing responsiveness of aging institutions to unfolding contextual realities to bear on these significant questions. . . ."

This volume fills a vacuum in the existing literature on political parties and party elites. Elite literature, in particular, has been ignored in recent studies in political science. As such, it is of interest to scholars and graduate students of political parties and elites.

Birol A. Yesilada is Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Missouri, Columbia.