Political parties and federalism

Political parties play an important role in the functioning of federal institutions. Some scholars have argued that political parties are probably the most important factor in the operation of a federation. With the increasing partisan polarization in both the U.S. and other countries, political parties should be of more theoretical and empirical interest to scholars. The relevance of interest groups to public policy and to the operation of national and state parties is also addressed in this chapter. There is some research on interest groups in both American and comparative federalism scholarship but more is clearly needed, especially in how they relate to and influence the work of national and state political parties. Finally, the chapter discusses the role of citizens in the linkage between political parties and federalism.