Talk:Elite party

Notes, July 12/2010

Elite parties

Local notable: Goals- Electoral strategy- Organizational structure and linkages- Social base- Loacal and heterogeneous
 * Traditional elite representing geographically defined constituency
 * Gain botes though appeals to local interests and authority of local notables
 * None except for the personal resources of the candidate and the sumbolic appeal of the party label

Clientelistic: Goals- Elecotoral Strategy- Organizational structure and linkages- Social base-
 * Defense of particularistic interests and status quo
 * Gain votes though hierarchical structure linking local to national leaders through exchange of particularistic benefits.
 * Vertical networks of loyalty and exchange between voters and local party elites; factional ties and shared material interests between local and national elites.
 * Rural constituencies, lower classes, less well educated, urban migrants.

Elite parties are those whose principal organizational structures are minimal and based upon established elites within a specific geographic area. Deference to the authority of these elites is a feature shared by two species of parties that fall within this genus. Whatever national-level party structure exists is based upon an alliance among locally based elites.

Political parties and democracy By Larry Jay Diamond, Richard Gunther