For decades, political science has been trapped in a game of labeling, endlessly searching for the next dominant "model" of party organization. This book argues that this fixation on static ideal types is a theoretical dead end, as it obscures the messy, non-linear reality of how parties actually change.

Moving beyond the "teleological trap" of evolutionary models, this book proposes a new dynamic framework to trace party transformation across 11 European democracies over the last half-century. It reveals that parties are not converging into a new stable form, but are suffering a shared process of decay: disintermediation. The traditional bridge between leaders and society has collapsed, leaving behind a "void" filled by consultants and state funds. This book offers a vital roadmap for understanding this crisis, showing that the era of party models is over, and the age of disintermediation has begun.

Beniamino Masi is a researcher at the University of Pisa, Italy, and a member of the Political Party Database Project (PPDB). His research focuses on comparative party organization, political representation, and public policy.