Importance of Political Party in Democratization & Political Development

Abstract

Democracy is an agreed set of practices and ideas, which have been evolved over a long period by practices. Process of democracy allows voters not only to elect their representatives, but also provides a popular participations of their voices in the policy agenda. In the same way, it provides a chance for masses to hold their political leadership accountable for their acts. It does not allow the majority rule to seize the rights of minorities. In the city-states system, direct democracy was in vogue and people were able to participate directly in decision-making process. The creation of large states, with huge population and vast area created new challenges for rulers. Defense priorities were changed, emerging internal and external security threats led the rulers to hold huge army. The situation was changed with the advent of new ideologies—representative democracy and political socialization took its roots. The mechanism of vote and election was devised to ensure the participation of people in decision-making process by recognizing them as owners and stakeholders in “Nation State”. The elected representatives were bound to formulate and execute policies in accordance with the aspirations of the people. There is no need to argue that Political Socialization, Political Awareness, Political Education, Political Recruitment, Political Training, and Political Mobility are pre-requisite for excellent performance of the system. In the contemporary world politics, the mentioned functions are performed by the modern organization called “Political Parties”, therefore, this institution has been acknowledged the most important vehicle of Democratization, termed as a bridge between masses and government. However, in Pakistan, the functioning of majority of the political parties reflected that the political organizations in the country, therefore, continues to be at the transitional stage, these are manifesting a mix of modern and traditional values in its working and functioning. Since, democratization of society is very important aspect of democratizing of a state as it is a sum of many societies. The vehicle of political parties can only take this process forward. The role of political parties in process of democratization is evaluated under this article.