Party Organization in Federal States: Parties and Politics in Nigeria and Switzerland.

Abstract

This study examines how political parties organize in federal states, and based on Nigerian and Swiss experience, explains the conditions under which parties tend to integrate or separate their organizational structure. It argues that Nigerian and Swiss parties integrate their organizational structures to varying degrees, with Nigerian parties showing a greater measure of integration than Swiss parties. The degree of integration of party organizations of Nigerian and Swiss parties were assessed based on several indicators including the involvement of state and national parties in each other’s organization, involvement of state and national parties in the selection of party officials and candidates for elections at state and national levels as well as the method of amendment of party statutes and structure of the parties’ financial system. Drawing from the experience of Nigerian and Swiss parties, a final section tries to flesh out the theoretical assumptions about why parties tend to integrate or bifurcate by underlining the institutional, historical and structural conditions that shape a party’s inclination to integrate or separate.