"A political party is a specific social group that articulates the interests of certain societal groups, consolidating their most active representatives.
The word 'party' derives from the Latin 'part,' which conveys meanings such as 'work' or 'division.'
A political party is a segment of society focused on acquiring, maintaining, and exercising state power based on a shared ideology, representing an economic alliance.
Political parties possess the following fundamental characteristics:
1.The first stage spans from the late 15th to the late 18th centuries, during which there was hostility towards political parties. The term 'political party' referred to non-legitimate groups aimed at advancing the personal interests of their leaders.
2. The second stage covers the late 18th century to the early 19th century, during which political parties began to be recognized by the state. Scholars and politicians acknowledged their role in societal and state affairs, recognizing their necessity and catering to them in their activities.
3. The third stage, from the late 19th century to the 20th century, marks the full legitimacy of political parties (acknowledged by society)."
"The most important goal of political parties is to articulate the interests of various social groups and represent their interests and authorities in the political system of society. Parties perform functions of mediation and representation between the state and society, thereby ensuring the cohesion and integrity of society. Without parties, interest groups, community organizations, and factions that sometimes consolidate and sometimes conflict positive and negative interests in the state system cannot be controlled. Political parties actively participate not only in expressing these interests but also in shaping them. Parties integrate civil society with the state, ensure the elimination or reduction of conflicts, and contribute to maintaining the stability of legislative and executive authorities. Strong parties do not weaken the state but strengthen it by connecting it firmly with local organs of society and overseeing political processes.
Political parties integrate with society, ensuring their indivisibility. However, the functions of political parties in liberal democratic systems differ from those in authoritarian and totalitarian systems. In totalitarian systems, the dominant party merges and merges with state systems. In a democratic society, however, various competitive parties operate within their spheres of influence. Democratic parties maintain strong relationships with regional and local systems as well as collective unions, initially capturing the spirit of national goals from these boundaries. Conversely, competition between parties strengthens national political systems against all groups and officials (regardless of how high the positions they hold). Thus, clear boundaries are set between political systems and separate officials."
"Political parties have both internal and external functions within society. Internal functions include attracting members to the party, financing party life, coordinating and adjusting internal and external relations, and directing relations between party leadership and ordinary members.
External functions, on the other hand, involve striving for governance, implementing its program upon assuming power, establishing international party relations, ensuring relations between the people and state systems, enhancing the political culture of the people, selecting and preparing political leaders, participating in governance systems through their representatives, reconciling their interests with other participants in political processes, and engaging citizens in political socialization.
The primary method by which parties carry out their functions in practice is presenting their candidates during election campaigns for selection by the state's legislative bodies. To achieve the election of their nominees, parties must mobilize the majority of the population, conduct promotional and motivational work among voters. Above all, gaining influence over public opinion during this period is crucial to the party's primary goal.
In addition, parties must be able to draw public interest in their future political policies, strategies, and directions, guaranteeing the public's spiritual support in future elections. When a party declares its goals, it pledges to pursue the values it espouses, even if it does not always receive the majority of the vote, effectively using each election campaign to achieve ideological goals."
Political parties that have reached an agreement to elect their representatives to governing bodies, as well as the opportunity to prepare and present candidates for leadership positions in those bodies, gain the right to shape their own elite organizations. The party primarily empowers itself to nominate its deputies, as well as officials for leadership positions, and participates in the process of making political decisions and overseeing it, claiming legitimate rights.
After elections, the party's activities involve organizing various inter-party events, participating in the formation of the government, and forming various alliances and blocs with other movements and parties. Even if the period after elections is the party's most active time, it strives to mobilize the population that voted for it to firmly support its political course. Party activities also include organizing campaigns and events in public media to support its internal and external policies that are pursued by the government.
Another primary function of parties is to formalize and institutionalize citizens' political participation in the electoral system, shaping and adapting various forms of political movements that have emerged informally, spontaneously, non-formally, and mostly informally to legal and social justice requirements. Standardizing these processes to tradition is an attempt to democratize the state and civil society in our country in the last five years. In this regard, public institutions such as the mass media, the community, entrepreneurship, family, and independent work are the key principles of social life, and progress towards specific achievements.
In this context, our leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the president of our country, stressed the following during his meeting with political party leaders who were active in Uzbekistan: Currently, there are five political parties in our country - "Milliy Tiklanish" democratic party, People's Democratic Party, Tadbirkorlar va Ishbilarmonlar movement - Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party, "Adolat" social-democratic party, and Ecological Party. They are actively participating in the political and social life of our country, forming their factions and party groups in the parliament and local representative bodies, and implementing their own goals and programs based on equality, openness, and exclusivity in elections. They are working to make legal foundations. Newly adopted Republic of Uzbekistan Election Code creates broader opportunities in this regard.
At the same time, our society is progressing towards democratization, and political and legal reforms are assigning new tasks to political parties. Political parties are increasingly tasked with leveraging the experiences of foreign countries and studying political and legal concepts developed in global social sciences, particularly in shaping their participation in state governance, especially at the local representative levels. This utilization is one of the pressing issues of today.
One of the most significant institutions of civil society is political parties. Political parties ensure the continuity of civil society's relationship with the political system. Indeed, governance is often carried out through political parties when it comes to the state's dependence on civil society and its oversight by the society.
Political parties not only articulate these interests or benefits but also actively participate in shaping them. Parties harmonize civil society with the state, ensuring the elimination or mitigation of misunderstandings, and contribute to the stability of legislative and executive authorities. Strong parties do not weaken the state but rather strengthen it by firmly connecting it with local organs of civil society, monitoring political processes, and enhancing state power. Conversely, weak parties may weaken the state itself.
Parties articulate the political aspirations of their members and make it their primary task to participate in the formation of state governance and management bodies, including the Legislative Chamber of the Republic's Oliy Majlis and local representative councils through their elected representatives. Their statutory documents are published and referred to the public through the media. Every citizen of the Republic of Uzbekistan has the right to join a political party of their choice and express themselves through that party. Such freedom, in turn, contributes to the growth of popular political power, and supports the independence and comprehensive development of their homeland. Political parties in Uzbekistan work through various means to ensure the participation of their members and other citizens in state affairs.
For Uzbekistan, which aspires to occupy a suitable place among the developed countries of the world, it is important to reform the societal political and legal system in line with current requirements, ensure human rights and freedoms, strengthen decision-making on popular sovereignty, and enhance the role and importance of political parties in enhancing justice and law, improving the social, political, and cultural orientation of the public, and legal rights.
Political parties began to emerge in our country after independence was achieved. Political parties in our country also began to be established in an effort to create a legal and free political environment, to express people's interests and political aspirations freely.
The Law "On the Election of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan," adopted in November 1991, recognized the right to hold elections on a multi-party basis. The Law also affirmed the right of political parties to nominate candidates for the Presidency of the country.
In April 2007, the Constitutional Law "On Renewing and Further Democratizing State Governance, and Modernizing the Country to Strengthen the Role of Political Parties" was adopted in Uzbekistan, marking the beginning of an important era in the state and societal life and initiating a period of significant constitutional and legal reforms in state governance.
The adoption of this Constitutional Law laid the foundation for implementing substantial constitutional and legal reforms in the local governance system of Uzbekistan.
The emergence of multi-party practices in Uzbekistan necessitated the establishment of specific legal frameworks, highlighting the need to regulate this process in a particular legal manner.
Indeed, at the beginning of the new century in the country, the start of parliamentary reforms, the development of a bicameral parliament through the formulation of legal principles, further elevated the role of political parties in society and state formation. The granting of the right to political parties to nominate candidates for the lower chamber of parliament – the Legislative Chamber – in elections for parliament and local representative bodies in December 2004 marked the beginning of a new era for political parties in shaping legislative authority.
The granting of new powers to political parties inherently increases their responsibility towards society. Overall, the expansion of political party mandates marks the beginning of a new phase in the process of democratizing societal political arenas. The essence of the political conceptual program "Strong State - Strong Civil Society" primarily aims to achieve this goal.
The advancement of political parties in developed countries illustrates that one of the main reasons for this is their role in shaping state governance. History has shown that the creation of an equitable political elite without political parties is not possible. The process of creating civil society and a legal state has also demonstrated that political elites formed through political parties can engage in activities beneficial to both the state and society.
About 12 years ago, on August 2, 2008, the ecological movement in Uzbekistan was established. Since then, it has fully implemented its goals and objectives. Over the years, significant changes have occurred both in nature and in society. Recently, serious reforms have been implemented in our country, assigning new tasks to all societal institutions. To accomplish these tasks, fresh perspectives and new strength are required.
Indeed, based on the experiences gathered from the activities of the Uzbekistan ecological movement, there arose a necessity to establish a new political party as the next step in the broad-scale reforms being carried out in the fields of state and societal construction. Thus, on January 8, 2019, a significant event took place in our country's socio-political life. On this day, for the first time in independent Uzbekistan's history, a new political force, the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan, was founded to ensure ecological sustainability.
Unlike before, where party delegates were selected through conferences, this new party competed directly through electoral processes in governance bodies, striving to achieve certain positions in healthy competition with other parties. This illustrates the fundamental principle that determines the societal significance of political parties – their success in elections to state governance bodies.
Article 60 of our Constitution delineates the roles of political parties in representing various strata and groups politically and participating in state governance through their democratically elected representatives. Political parties regularly submit comprehensive reports on their financial support sources to the Oliy Majlis or the body that represents them. The existence of this rule is the legal basis for the activities of political parties.
Constitutional norms play a crucial role in establishing political parties. According to Article 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, "Uzbekistan citizens have the right to participate directly and through their representatives in managing society and state affairs, conducting referenda, and forming state bodies in a democratic manner." Article 34 guarantees citizens the right to associate with townships, political parties, and other public associations, and to participate in public activities, as well as to organize themselves independently in government organs and elsewhere.
In conclusion, analyzing the historical emergence and development process of political parties reveals an increasing need in society for such institutions. Especially today, understanding political theory is gaining increasing importance. According to analyses, there is a high probability that political parties will undergo a serious transformation in the near future. This, in turn, will contribute significantly to the emergence of broad-scale opportunities for progressive development in society.
Oybek Shavkatovich Bazarov is the Rector of the Qarshi
Engineering Economics Institute in Uzbekistan.
