Political parties are fundamental pillars of democracy. In young and post-conflict democracies in particular, they have important tasks of undertaking reforms that promote democracy, development and resolve conflicts in a sustainable manner.

Political party dialogue is often the only sustainable way to address head-on the underlying structural and/socio-political bottlenecks for political reform. In polarized societies, political party dialogue is the best path to achieve inclusive solutions to institutional weaknesses, or politics of identity, religion and region.

This Policy Brief summarizes International IDEA’s work on political party dialogue, and offers recommendations to help ensure that parties move beyond short term electoral or narrow party interests and contribute to sustainable peace, democracy and development.