Political Parties and Democracy - 5 Vols Ken Lawson, General Editor The development of political parties over the past century is the story of three stages in the pursuit of power: liberation, democratization, and de-democratization. "Political Parties and Democracy" is comprised of five, stand-alone volumes that probe the realities of political parties at all three stages. In each volume, contributors explore the relationship between political parties and democracy (or democratization) in their nations, providing necessary historical, socioeconomic, and institutional context, as well as the details of contemporary political tensions. Contributors are distinguished indigenous scholars who have lived the truths they tell and are, thus, able to write with unique breadth, depth, and scope. They show the parties of their respective nations as they have developed through history and changing institutional structures, and they explain the balance of power among them - and between them and competing agencies of power - today. Kay Lawson is professor emerita of political science at San Francisco State University. She was a visiting professor at the University of Paris, Sorbonne, 1992-2000, and coeditor of the International Political Science Review 2000-2009. [...] In 2003, she received the Samuel J. Eldersfeld Career Achievement award of the Section on Political Organizations and Parties of the American Political Science Association.