Analyzes relations between political party systems and local communities in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and other nations. This book addresses an almost completely neglected branch of community politics: the comparative analysis of local political systems. Accordingly, Local Parties in Political and Organizational Perspective opens new views to a variety of relations between political systems and local communities in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, and other nations. The authors unite specific national case studies with an original theoretical framework, resulting in an anthology with uncommon coherency. Theoretical generalizations are tested with cross-national data; each case study, in turn, demonstrates a localized version of the larger framework, using specific historical political outcomes as examples. This book addresses an almost completely neglected branch of community politics: the comparative analysis of local political systems. Accordingly, Local Parties in Political and Organizational Perspective opens new views to a variety of relations between political systems and local communities in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, and other nations. The authors unite specific national case studies with an original theoretical framework, resulting in an anthology with uncommon coherency. Theoretical generalizations are tested with cross-national data; each case study, in turn, demonstrates a localized version of the larger framework, using specific historical political outcomes as examples. Local Parties in Political and Organizational Perspective argues that local political parties should be understood as Janus-faced: components of nationally encompassing organizations on the one hand, and specific actors in community politics on the other. As such, local parties necessarily act as the primary democratic institutions that link ordinary citizens to local governmental institutions, and transitively to the national political system. By linking ordinary citizens and the most basic local organizations with national politics, Local Parties in Political and Organizational Perspective adds significantly to the collective understanding of the nature and status of local parties in mature and developing democracies