ARE BRITISH POLITICAL-PARTIES IN DECLINE

This article seeks to examine evidence that British political parties may be in decline. A two-dimensional framework for analysis is utilize d, which suggests that the overall picture is far from unambiguous. At most, a prima facie case can be made that the popular legitimacy of p arties may be dwindling; similarly, party organizations only appear we aker than they were a generation ago at the local level - and even thi s may be a somewhat simplistic account of the real strengths and weakn esses of British parties given the emergence of the 'electoral-profess ional' model. If we turn to a deeper level of analysis, we must conced e that the capacity of parties to fulfil functions on behalf of the wi der political system may not be what it once was in some respects; nev ertheless, they remain central to the tasks of demand aggregation and political recruitment. In short, political parties in the UK may have their problems, but they remain much more than vestigial phenomena of a bygone age. To a significant extent this is because of their undoubt ed capacity to adapt to changing environments.