How To Democratize The Party

Context: Democratisation of political parties is an unfinished project and faces multiple hurdles.

Issues associated with Democratizing Political Parties

• Democracy in country vs parties: While democracy at level of country is a bottom-up opportunity to change direction altogether, democratic accountability in political party exists within an ideological framework.
• Internal elections within party unable to attain normative accountability: Mainly due to-
  • Proponents underestimate the ability of existing repositories of power to subvert internal institutional processes to consolidate power and maintain the status quo.
  • Lower levels would be independent and hold the higher levels of leadership to account glosses.
  • The outcome of internal elections is contingent on the independence and quality of the electorate.
  • It may factionalise power but cannot establish normative accountability. Normative accountability is rooted in a dynamic context and is necessarily a deliberative process.
• Institutional hurdles: Political power exists both in the formal and informal sphere and any institutional process which tries to run counter to aggregate power is likely to run aground.

Way Forward: Democratic functioning may be an ideological imperative, operational choice, or legitimising tactic but it is not an end in itself for a political party.

• Getting rid of anti-defection law: It is the way to decentralise power. The need to canvass votes in the legislature will create room for negotiation in the party organisation too.
• This reform will impose a similar burden on all political parties and may create space to change the overall political culture.