Buel argues that historical circumstances in America encouraged the birth of political parties. Contentious issues such as the ratifying of the Constitution and the creation of the National Bank especially caused division between the politicians of the North and the politicians of the South. Buel also claims that the sheer geographic size of America required that central organizations be in place to elect candidates. Lastly, the author details why many American's, including Washington, feared party formation (e.g. vitriolic sectionalism, instability/revolutions in Europe). Buel provides an interesting look at the development of American parties, a development which occurred despite the protests of some.
Political parties, according to Daalder, formed as part of the democratization process. One can classify the origins of political parties in three ways. First, one can identify the arrival of responsible government. Second, one accounts for the relative timing of the state's introduction of general suffrage. Finally, one notes the timing of industrialization and modernization. For example, the US experienced an early arrival of responsible government and general suffrage and industrialization came later while Germany became industrialized and had general suffrage early and only later got responsible government. Daadler stressed that not all parties' origins can be neatly classified in these three ways because of successive regime changes and post-authoritarian democratic restorations.
In the Introduction to Political Parties, Duverger wrote that parties result from both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary origins. The mutually-beneficial grouping-together of like-minded governmental officials with similar interests provides the parliamentary origin of parties. For this grouping together to occur, parliamentary bodies must be in place and open political disagreement must be acceptable. An organization supporting the election of a group of candidates provides the extra-parliamentary origin. Duverger emphasized that frequently unions, religions, leagues, and societies provide extra-parliamentary origins for parties. Indeed, the majority of his book is on the effects of these groups on party development, organization, and policy.
Epstein found the extension of voting rights to be a major reason for the creation of political parties because candidates needed more highly organized support to be elected; however, he also found that differences in populations mattered. For instance, Americans more readily accepted parties than did Europeans because of Europe's long-standing social classes. Epstein also believed that Federalism shaped the origins of parties. If a state was highly decentralized, he wrote, then a party's formation would reflect a desire to win more local elections and its policies would reflect regional concerns. Parties are also more likely to develop, and more necessary, he wrote, when there is a separation of executive and legislative powers because it is advantageous for politicians and organizations with similar interests from different governmental branches to work in conjunction with each other.
With all the sources on the conditions necessary for political parties to begin, it is interesting to read of a state in which parties did not develop. The authors argue that parties did not start Ethiopia because Ethiopia, unlike the rest of Africa, was not extensively colonized (the Italians only occupied it for five years). The modernization of economies and of communications begun by the colonial governments aided in the emergence of political parties throughout the rest of Africa, and left Ethiopia politically behind. Also hindering the emergence of parties in Ethiopia was a high level of political decentralization because of the level of political authority historically held by tribes.
Hoadly spatially analyzes the roll call votes of the members of America's first Congresses and determines that sectional differences shaped America's political parties. Factions inevitably arose, Hoadly claims, in a new nation with such economic and geographic diversity. Gradually these sectional factions led to polarization in Congress as Northerners clustered together and became Federalists while Southerners grouped to become Republicans. These findings are not surprising, but they definitely exemplify the importance of historical context on the beginning of a party.
In this reference volume, Jacobs collects information from a plethora of parties in Western Europe. Accompanying the standard information about the parties, to include specific dates, platforms, and election information, Jacobs also includes the political histories of the Western European states, and in so doing, he provides the reader with a better understanding of each parties historical significance.
Lawson detects a relationship between the level of democracy in a state and the type of political parties therein. For example, elitist parties form in less democratic countries, where as more inclusive parties form in countries where there is a higher level of democracy. While Lawson does not claim that democratization level is dependent upon party type or vice versa, she does test her theory that the two are inextricably linked. To perform this test, she gathers data from around the world, and her results do reflect a high degree of correlation between types of parties and level of democratization.