Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

This paper presents results of a survey on internal party democracy (IPD) undertaken by NIMD as part of its Knowledge Centre (KC) development. To put the discussion in context, the paper starts by restating the obvious: underscoring the relevance and centrality of political parties in contemporary democracies. It then highlights some of the key ‘institutional preconditions’ political parties need to develop and strengthen if they were to act out their roles effectively. One of these institutional requirements is IPD.

The paper presents some conceptual considerations of this particular political parties’ institutional dimension. The conceptual discourse mainly centres on the definition of IPD and the necessity for parties and their collaborators (partners) to pay special attention to this often glossed over aspect of political parties’ institutional development. Having done this, the paper then recaps on the rationale behind the survey in question. The actual presentation of the results is preceded by a brief overview of the nature of political parties that participated in the survey.