The Strange Case of the "European Parties"

As historically the rise of the state associated with a transformation of collective action from localised to centralised, from spontaneous to planned, from reactive to proactive, from ephemeral to enduring, the shift in the location of institutional power related to the European integration can be accompanied by a corresponding changes in the direction of efforts of mass politics. European political parties are at the core of this potential change, and their evolution is crucial to it. Yet, they present a ‘strange case’ indeed. This paper aims at highlighting their peculiar inconsistencies when seen as potential structures of representation and of conflict resolution discussing those tensions generated 1) by the attitudes of national parties with respect to the European constitutive issues; 2) by the development of the European level political organisations; 3) by their capacity to structure the European public opinion.