نوع مقاله : علمی-پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Introduction
Political parties, as foundational institutions within democratic systems, play a pivotal role in organizing political participation and channeling public demands into formal structures of governance. They function as mediators between the populace and the state, aggregating interests, ensuring accountability, and fostering political identity within society. By facilitating electoral competition, selecting political elites, and shaping public policy, parties reinforce the legitimacy and stability of democratic governance. However, recent decades have witnessed an unmistakable erosion in party legitimacy across both established and emerging democracies. Declining party membership, diminished electoral participation, and escalating public distrust have become symptomatic of this institutional crisis. External forces such as the expansion of social media, the weakening of collective identities, and the erosion of social capital have intersected with internal deficiencies, including reduced intra-party democracy and the personalization of leadership. This convergence has distanced parties from their societal base, undermining their representative and oversight functions. Within this fragile landscape, the rise of populism has emerged as a transformative—yet destabilizing—force, capable of redefining the parameters of political competition and legitimacy.
Materials and Methods
This research adopts a descriptive–analytical approach grounded in an extensive literature review of scholarly works, theoretical frameworks, and case studies from reputable academic sources. By synthesizing conceptual, historical, and comparative insights, it examines the discursive mechanisms through which populism contributes to the institutional decline of political parties in democratic systems.
Discussion & Result
Populism, marked by anti-establishment discourse and direct leader–people connections, undermines the institutional foundations of party politics. By personalizing power, dismantling intermediary structures, and reframing politics as identity-based conflict, it erodes programmatic competition and weakens party cohesion. Cases from the U.S., U.K., and France show diminished party credibility, reduced elite circulation, and marginalization of internal deliberation, as collective decision-making is replaced by unilateral leadership. Parties are portrayed as corrupt, shifting loyalty from ideology to personal allegiance. Social media accelerates this trend by bypassing party channels and promoting emotional, polarizing messages over substantive policy debates. The focus on symbolic cultural issues deepens polarization, curtails cross-party compromise, and narrows the space for consensus-building. As parties lose representative capacity and institutional safeguards erode, democratic competition transforms into a volatile, leader-centric arena increasingly detached from stable institutional frameworks. This shift threatens the long-term resilience of liberal democracy.
Conclusion
This In conclusion, the study affirms that populism operates not merely as a symptom of pre-existing party weakness but as an active catalyst in dismantling the structural and normative underpinnings of party democracy. By challenging the legitimacy of intermediary institutions and reframing political authority as a direct expression of the leader’s will, populism reconfigures the logic of political engagement. This shift marginalizes the role of parties as stable, program-oriented actors and accelerates the concentration of power in personalized executive leadership. The resulting decline in institutionalized representation undermines accountability mechanisms and weakens the procedural integrity of democratic governance. Persistent polarization and identity-driven mobilization diminish the possibility of cooperative policymaking, fostering an environment of perpetual political conflict. In the absence of robust party structures, political succession becomes unpredictable, and policy continuity is compromised. The erosion of party legitimacy reduces citizen trust, suppresses meaningful participation, and fosters political apathy or reactionary mobilization. Comparative evidence underscores that this dynamic transcends specific national contexts, manifesting in both established and transitional democracies. Addressing this trajectory requires the reinvigoration of party institutional capacity and a reassertion of their mediating role in the democratic process. Without such recalibration, the long-term viability of representative democracy will remain in jeopardy, vulnerable to further populist encroachment.
کلیدواژهها English
