This is the chapter of a book, published in 1966, that presented the results of a comparative research agenda on political parties, from the perspective of political development. It was part of a series called Studies in political development. The concept of catch-all party type, introduced here by Kirchheimer, is still widely used in comparative studies on parties around the world, and this work remains one of the most cited in political science still today. Although most of his writing is in German, and therefore inaccessible to the general public, this little masterpiece written in English, thus more accessible for a large public, made Kirchheimer one of the best-known authors in political science, and this specific analysis an indispensable reading for scholars and anyone interested in politics in general.
Kirchheimer; Otto Kirchheimer; Catch-all Party; Catch-all; political party