Political Parties and Political Systems: The Concept of Linkage
Revisited, Andrea Römmele, David M. Farrell, Piero Ignazi, eds.,
Westport CN: Praeger/Greenwood, 2005, pp. x, 181.
This is a book of nine short essays that develop and extend the ideas
of linkage theory. The nature of the relationship between citizens and the
state, through political parties and other organizations, has been a focus
of study in a range of democratic regimes at least since de Tocqueville.
Kay Lawson has dedicated a career to the study and classification of
linkage relationships and to developing theories about how citizens and
subjects are linked to the state. Lawson's best-known works included
The Comparative Study of Political Parties (1976), Political
Parties and Linkage: A Comparative Perspective (1980), When
Parties Fail: Emerging Alternative Organizations (co-edited with
Peter H. Merkl, 1988), and How Political Parties Work: Perspectives
from Within (1994).. This volume does not claim to be a
festschrift but it celebrates, applies and extends her work.