I. Parteien 26 Parteien Methodische Und Sachliche Vorbemerkungen 27

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I. Parteien 26 Parteien Methodische Und Sachliche Vorbemerkungen 27 25 I. Parteien 26 Parteien Methodische und sachliche Vorbemerkungen 27 A. Methodische und sachliche Vorbemerkungen Wer sich im Rahmen einer historischen Studie mit Parteien beschäftigt, muss sich zu- nächst einmal mit der Begrifflichkeit auseinandersetzen. Klarheit ist diesbezüglich insbe- sondere deshalb gefordert, weil der Parteibegriff im 19. Jahrhundert erstens starken Verän- derungen unterlag und zweitens in einen normativen Diskurs eingebettet war, dessen Rep- lizierung es zu vermeiden gilt. Zunächst, in der Ära vor der Entstehung der Massenpar- teien, wurde „Partei“ in einem sehr allgemeinen Sinne verwendet, als ein auf irgendwelche Weise institutionalisierter Meinungsträger im politischen Raum. Er setzte damit zwar sehr wohl einen gewissen diskursiven Rahmen voraus, blieb jedoch bei der Beschreibung des in- stitutionellen Trägers unbestimmt. Eine Partei konnte also durchaus zum Beispiel eine Zei- tung sein, wenn sich diese als selbständiger Meinungsträger einbrachte und nicht nur Sprachrohr einer politischen Organisation war. Am weitesten verbreitet war die Kenn- zeichnung einer bestimmten Fraktion im Parlament als Partei, auch wenn diese in keiner Weise außerparlamentarisch institutionalisiert war. Diese Identifizierung von Partei und Fraktion entsprach dem Charakter der Honoratiorenpolitik: Das Parlament war faktisch der alleinige institutionelle Träger politischer Inhalte, und daher konstituierten die dort handelnden Gruppen die Teile (partes) des politischen Diskurses. Erst mit dem Aufkom- men der Massenparteien wandelte sich der Parteibegriff. Er war zwar durchaus noch auf das politische Handeln in den parlamentarischen Körperschaften bezogen. Gleichzeitig kam ihm nun jedoch eine zweite Dimension zu, indem er ein Segment der als Masse ima- ginierten politischen Gesellschaft bezeichnen sollte. Dieser Sachverhalt gilt für westliche Gesellschaften ebenso wie für den Raum, mit dem wir uns hier beschäftigen. Eine solche Kongruenz ist nicht überraschend, wenn man be- denkt, dass mit der Etablierung der Institutionen auch ein Transfer der Begrifflichkeit stattfand. Immerhin gab es im Polnischen und Ukrainischen zwei sprachliche Varianten, welche grosso modo die beiden historischen Konnotationen des Parteibegriffs (also den par- laments- und den gesellschaftsbezogenen) repräsentierten: stronnictwo bzw. storonnyctvo und partia bzw. partyja. Mit dem letzteren Begriffspaar war allerdings bereits jene norma- tive Ebene vermischt, die wir als zweite „Gefahr“ für eine auf die Zeitgenossenschaft abge- stellte Sprachverwendung genannt haben. Partia /partyja bezeichnete nämlich zunächst einmal ein Selbstbild und den Anspruch, einen neuen, auf die Massen gestützten Typus von Partei zu verkörpern. Das aus dem Westen importierte Fremdwort stand demnach für einen Diskurs der politischen Linken, der die Partei als ein effizientes Instrument des ge- sellschaftlichen Fortschritts und eventuell der sozialen Revolution betrachtete. Daneben sind eine Reihe weiterer zeitgenössischer Diskurse zu nennen: zunächst der konservative, wonach die Partei die „natürliche“ Harmonie der Gesellschaft zerstöre (eine Abwehrstrate- gie gegen die modernen Massenparteien) und der nationale, demzufolge die Partei die Ein- heit der Nation in Frage stelle, die ihrerseits als höchstes moralische Gut zu gelten habe. Konservativ und national inspirierte Interpretationen des Parteibegriffs waren negativ kon- notiert. Allerdings gilt im letzteren Fall, dass mit der „Erfindung“ der modernen integra- tionistisch-nationalistischen Partei dieser Organisationsform wieder eine positive Rolle zu- geschrieben werden konnte. Auf nur geringe Resonanz stieß die liberal-demokratische Sichtweise, die ihre Blützezeit in den 1860er- und 1870er-Jahren erlebte. Sie sah Parteien als notwendiges Requisit in einem pluralisierten liberalen Staatswesen und war ihrerseits 28 Parteien nicht selten kombiniert mit dem Rückständigkeitstopos, der da lautete: Wir in Galizien haben keine „echten“ Parteien, sondern nur politische Cliquenwirtschaft und Nepotismus. Im Übrigen gilt jedoch, dass die genannten Diskurse gesamteuropäisch Gültigkeit hatten, nur eben in verschiedener Ausprägung und relativer Bedeutung je nach politischer Gesell- schaft.1) Besteht also auf der einen Seite, bei einer unkritischen Übernahme zeitgenössischer Par- teibegrifflichkeit, die Gefahr der analytischen Unschärfe und der normativen Verzerrung, so ist andererseits auch zu warnen vor einer Beschränkung des Parteibegriffs auf die mo- derne Massenpartei. Eine solche Verengung hat Tradition insbesondere unter den Histori- kern des ostmittel- und osteuropäischen Raums, welche generell Parteigeschichte im spä- ten 19. Jahrhundert mit den sozialdemokratischen und radikal-intellektuellen Parteien der Moderne ansetzen. Die Vorgeschichte wird in der Regel ausgeblendet, weil die Ansätze der historisch orientierten Soziologen und Politologen nicht rezipiert wurden. Auch deren Interesse am Gegenstand gründete zwar nicht unwesentlich auf der Faszination und Wir- kungskraft der Massenpartei des 20. Jahrhunderts. Sie suchten aber auch nach deren Wur- zeln tief im 19. Jahrhundert. Zu nennen sind vor allem Max Weber mit seinem Konzept der Honoratiorenpartei, das sich auf den Politikertypus und die Frage der Professionalisie- rung der Politik konzentriert, und Maurice Duverger, der mit seiner Kategorie der Komi- tee- oder Rahmenpartei das Hauptaugenmerk auf die Organisationsform legte. Inhaltlich beziehen sich beide auf dasselbe historische Phänomen, die „vormoderne“ Partei. Wenn wir versuchen, vergleichbare politische Formationen auch hier historisch zu lokalisieren, so ist dies zu verstehen als Teil der übergeordneten Fragestellung dieses Buchs nach dem Übergang von traditionalen Mustern zu modernen Formen in einem angeblich rückstän- digen politisch-kulturellen Raum.2) Um sowohl den Erfordernissen der Flexibilität als auch der analytischen Präzision ge- recht zu werden, lässt sich die Partei also folgendermaßen definieren: als eine organisierte Gruppe, die auf der Basis eines formulierten politischen Programms die Beteiligung an Entscheidungskompetenzen in parlamentarischen Gremien anstrebt. Dieser weite Defini- tionsrahmen ermöglicht es, zum einen den Wandel von Organisationsformen fassbar zu machen und andererseits politische Gruppierungen einzubeziehen, denen gemeinhin „Par- teiqualität“ abgesprochen werden. Gleichzeitig soll durchaus nach politikwissenschaftli- chem Ansatz funktional gedacht werden. In Anlehnung an den von Klaus von Beyme auf- gestellten Katalog wollen wir die folgenden drei Funktionen als konstitutiv definieren. 1) Siehe dazu auch: Harald Binder, Perspektyvy doslidzˇennja istoriji partij v austrijs’kij Halycˇyni [For- schungsperspektiven einer Parteiengeschichte im österreichischen Galizien], in: Ukrajina moderna 8 (2003), S. 143–155 sowie Ders., Parteiwesen und Parteibegriff bei den Ruthenen, in: Österrei- chische Osthefte, Sonderheft Ukraine, Wien 2000, S. 211–240. Zur normativen Ebene in der Ge- schichte des Parteibegriffs vgl.: Klaus von Beyme, Partei, Faktion, in: Geschichtliche Grundbe- griffe. Historisches Lexikon zur politisch-sozialen Sprache in Deutschland, hrg. von Otto Brunner, Werner Conze und Reinhard Koselleck, Stuttgart 1974–1984, Bd. 4, S. 678–733. 2) Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Tübingen 51972, insbes. S. 837–851; Maurice Duverger, Die politischen Parteien, Tübingen 1959. Methodische und sachliche Vorbemerkungen 29 Durch diese wird gleichzeitig der vorliegende Abschnitt von den folgenden Teilen II und III abzugrenzen sein3): a) Zielfunktion: Das primäre Ziel der Partei nach unserer Definition ist die Erringung von Mandaten bei den Wahlen in eine parlamentarische Körperschaft. Damit berufen wir uns auf die klassische Definition von Max Weber, der die Parteien als Organisationen zur Erlangung von Macht beschrieben hat und dabei als Mittel zur Erreichung dieses Ziels bei Bestehen parlamentarischer Institutionen die Werbung von Wahlstimmen bestimmte.4) Mit der primären Orientierung am Wahlprozess sind die Parteien abgegrenzt von den Interessenverbänden oder nicht-politischen Vereinen mit rein innergesellschaftlichen Ziel- setzungen. Die Rechtsform kann, muss aber nicht diejenige eines politischen Vereins sein. b) Programmfunktion: Die Partei muss aufgrund eines frei gewählten, öffentlich be- kannt gemachten Programms identifizierbar sein. Diese Programmfunktion ist eng mit der Zielfunktion verbunden, da eine Organisation als eine überpersönliche Vergesellschaf- tungsform sich überhaupt nur aufgrund eines politischen Programms in den Wahlprozess einbringen kann. In ihrer Eigenart als Organisation ist die Partei damit von Einzelperso- nen („Honoratioren-Politikern“) sowie von Zeitungen als Meinungsorganen abgegrenzt, welche ihren Einfluss auf Wahlprozesse ebenfalls auf ein Programm stützen können. Die Presse bildet jedoch insofern ein zentrales Element dieser Funktion, als sie das Programma- tische öffentlich macht. Diese Überlegung schafft die Verbindung zur dritten Funktion: c) Öffentlichkeitsfunktion: Über die reine Beteiligung am Wahlprozess hinausgehend, erhebt die Partei den Anspruch, als Mobilisierungs- und Sozialisationsinstrument „in der Gesellschaft“ zu wirken. Dadurch unterscheidet sie sich von der reinen Wahlorganisation (Abschnitt II), deren Bestehen auf die Teilnahme an der Wahl beschränkt ist. Der Partei kommt folglich im Gegensatz zur Wahlorganisation auch die Eigenart einer dauerhaften Organisation zu, die auch entsprechende rechtliche Formen anstrebt. Parteien besitzen selbst
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