The Paradox of the Parties.
A Contribution to Defining the Relationship Between Democracy and Political Parties
Jus Publicum 244, Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2015. XV, 286 Pages. 79 € (ref.: Habil., University of Münster, December 2014)
awarded the Preis 2015 Prize for the Promotion of Yong Academics by the Münster University Society.
About the Book
Emanuel V. Towfigh analyses the ambivalent impact political parties have on democratic decision-making. The traditional institutional implementation of democracy by means of aggregation of interests through competition thus leads to a situation where, in terms of the legitimation of political decisions, we cannot do without parties, but we cannot do with them either. Only an alternative conceptualization of the institutions implementing democracy may hope to overcome this problem. [published in German]
Reviews
- Karpen, Book Review, Die Öffentliche Verwaltung (DöV) 2016, pp. 432-434
In the Media
- Towfigh, Making the Parties more disposable, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Nr. 204 from September 3rd 2015, Pg. 8
- Robers, “Parties distort community will.” Democracy without Parties: WWU Lawyer triggers debate und “Party Democracy has outlived itself” – Emanuel Towfigh pleads for the further development of the democratic order in his excellent habilitation (Interview), wissen|leben newspaper of the Westphalian Wilhelms University Münster) from July 8th 2015 (Volume 9, Nr. 5), p. 1 and p. 3