A systematic and comprehensive introduction to contemporary party politics in democratic states and evaluation of whether, and to what extent, parties are - as is often claimed - in crisis or decline.

Robin T. Pettitt is Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Kingston University London, UK.

1. Introduction
2. Party Systems
3. Theories of Party Development
4. Ideology
5. Party Members, Activists and Supporters
6. Candidate Selection
7. Policy Making
8. Campaigning
9. Government
10. The Internationalisation of Party Politics
11. The Future of Party Politics.