INTRAPARTY DEMOCRACY: DEFINITION, KEY COMPONENTS AND ROLE

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of the definition and key components of the internal party democracy, as well as identifies the role of this concept in the process of legal institutionalization of political parties in Ukraine. The article provides an overview of the existing research of Ukrainian scholars in the field of law, as well as the recent developments of other social sciences, which are devoted to the analysis of the concept of internal party democracy and the study of its influence on the quality performance of the party's functions. It has been established that there is a common understanding of the importance of the democratic internal functioning of political parties among the scientific community. Considering the various approaches to the definition of the key components of internal party democracy, the article points out the two fundamental principles of this concept, namely: the principles of inclusiveness and decentralization. Taking into account the existing scientific research on the issue at hand, the author offers to define the term “internal party democracy” as the system of normative provisions that regulate the relations inside a political party, which are formed between party members and/or statutory bodies of a party and which are aimed at ensuring the members` rights, provided by the statute and/ or special law on political parties. In view of the increasing role of political parties of Ukraine in the state power system, the article analyses the importance of the concept of internal party democracy in the process of legal institutionalization of such associations. As the process of legal institutionalization contributes to the formation of legal conditions for the activities of parties, thus, the norms of legal regulation should be aimed not only at the regulations of the external parties` activities, but also at establishing the requirements regarding the democratic nature of their internal functioning. Therefore, the article argues to apply the human-centered approach in order to form value-oriented norms, aimed at ensuring internal party democracy.