The Legal Regulation of Political Parties: Is There a Global Normative Standard?

Abstract

A global comparison of the laws governing political parties reveals a significant degree of diversity—in the sources from which these laws derive, the specific functions they target, and the extent to which they regulate parties as political organizations and electoral actors. Previous studies have provided accounts of this diversity as the product of institutional arrangements, historical circumstances, and partisan politics, but little research has been done to establish whether international norms and standards play any role. Is there a set of universally accepted principles that govern the regulation of political parties? If not, what are the opposing principles and competing rights that are at play? Although international conventions and other instruments establish a set of basic principles that recognize the qualified right of parties to exist and to contest elections, significant normative disagreements exist surrounding the desirability of parties as electoral actors, qualifications upon freedoms of association, the extent to which parties should be supported by the state, the nature of party competition, and the extent to which equality interferes with the freedoms of political expression and association (and vice versa). Determining and defining the parameters of the debate, rather than advocating for a universal policy solution, may provide a workable way forward in determining a series of internationally acceptable normative standards.

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