Political parties are an important link between the governing and the governed, they are the spokesmen for public interests. They can be classified for various reasons.
Organizational classification of parties
The classification of parties proposed by M. Duverger is widely known. He singled out cadre and mass parties. Mass parties are distinguished by their numerous composition. They participate in political, financial and economic life. These parties exist on membership fees and oblige their members to actively participate in the activities of the parties. They carry out extensive educational and propaganda work. The parties are headed by professional politicians. As a rule, workers act as the social base of mass parties.
Cadre parties assume the participation of professional politicians in their activities. They are privately financed and backed by the middle class. Mass parties achieve their goals due to their size, and cadre parties through professional selection of personnel. Their work is intensified during the election period.
Classification of parties according to social base
Each party is created on a certain social basis. According to this principle, bourgeois and working people can be distinguished. The first type is focused on representing the interests of the middle class and the entrepreneurial stratum. Workers' and agrarian parties can be singled out among the parties of the working people. The workers' parties responded to the inequitable distribution of economic benefits under the capitalist system, while the agrarian parties opposed the process of industrialization.
Classification of parties according to their place in power
Political parties can belong to the ruling party or be oppositional. They can be legal or illegal (prohibited). Right, center and left parties are divided according to their place in the party spectrum. Leftists are called supporters of radical change. They usually include the communist, socialist and social democratic parties. Liberals and fascists are ranked among the right. Most parties have factions that may not share the official position.
Parties can be federal and regional.
Classification of parties by ideological orientation
In relation to social transformations, radical and moderate, revolutionary and reformist, progressive and reactionary parties are distinguished. Radical parties advocate a radical reorganization of the existing order, including through violent measures. Conservatives oppose reform.
According to ideological criteria, liberal, social democratic, communist, religious and other types of parties are distinguished. Religious parties insist on the need to govern the state in accordance with the dogmas of religion. Liberal parties insist on the importance of ensuring freedom of economic activity and privacy. Social Democrats advocate social justice and greater freedom. Communist parties base their ideas on the principles of social equality, public ownership of the means of production.
