American parties are para-state coteries lacking formal membership and civil society infrastructure

Evidence

Both parties are still committed to preserving American hyperpower abroad, with minor inflections in modality. Varieties of marketization still characterize the political offerings: on the Democrat side, a transfer state stimulating ecological investment through subsidies and profit guarantees; and tariff walls and tax cuts for the Republicans. The term “party” is perhaps too flattering for these loose coteries of elected officials, donors, publicists, and would-be candidates, with no formal membership models and little to no civil society infrastructure, except for NGO personnel. Instead, the GOP and DNC are better understood as para-state vessels that have changed remarkably little since their description by Engels in 1891: Nowhere do “politicians” form a more separate, powerful section of the nation than in North America. — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 14

Categorization

• XREF: This grounds the hollowed-out mass-institution diagnosis in the American party case — connects directly to the reader’s core question about parties losing force-conversion capacity.