Recent literature on party democracy has renewed interest in the stratarchical model of intra-party decision-making. In this organizational model, the functions performed by parties are distributed among their discrete levels, with the result being a power-sharing arrangement in which no group has control over all aspects of party life. The model potentially provides an antidote to the hierarchical version of organization. This paper examines parties in 4 countries to test whether there is empirical evidence of stratarchy. An examination of candidate nomination, leadership selection and policy development finds little evidence of mutual autonomy. Instead, both levels of the party regularly contest for authority and the result is a near constant struggle between grassroots members and central party elites for the upper hand. Both levels accept they cannot achieve their electoral goals without the support of the other and so a balancing act pursues resulting in constant recalibration of power relations.
