The Liberal Party is falling down, falling down

And citizens have figured out that parties may no longer be essential to democracy

I was thinking recently about a few units of organisational management I did at uni as an undergraduate—those wild and crazy days of youth!—and it occurred to me that what is happening with the Liberal Party in Australia is as much about basic matters of organisational dynamics as it is about politics.

The two are linked, but let’s spotlight the former.

A recent article in The Conversation—which looked at the disintegration of the major parties in remote areas—considered why parties are important as organisations:

Whatever one thinks of political parties and their members, democracies depend on them and need them to be present at the grassroots level.

There are several reasons for this. The grassroots party members link political elites with citizens on the ground, informing those in office about the issues that are important to them. The grassroots membership also provides the party with a pool of potential candidates to stand in elections, as well as a group of local people who can hel…