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Les stratégies du P.C.F. et de l'U.D.R. dans les villes de plus de 30 000 habitants, par Georges Lavau
Etant donné la règle du jeu imposée par le système électoral pour les villes de plus de trente mille habitants, l'étendue et la composition des coalitions deviennent des éléments significatifs des stratégies des grandes formations politiques. La comparaison de ces stratégies aux élections municipales de 1965 et de 1971 fait apparaître que le Parti communiste a mené une stratégie d'unité surtout en faveur du Parti socialiste et que l'U.D.R. a surtout cherché à pénétrer le système politique municipal, même avec une participation modeste, en privilégiant les coalitions de "Majorité élargie". Dans l'un et l'autre cas, ces stratégies montrent que l'enjeu réel n'est pas seulement de réaliser des gains municipaux immédiats, mais de se placer pour les élections législatives.
[Revue française de science politique XXII (2), avril 1972, pp. 283-295]

It is no longer in style to develop typologies of political regimes based on their party systems. Systematic studies today are interested in parties only in terms of their role in the functioning of the political system as a whole. No doubt it is an insoluble problem to determine whether parties and the party system are variables which are independent or dependent in relation to the political system. Besides, without being able to rule out a relationship of interdependence, the two terms display a certain degree of independence and are not in a relationship of co-variance. Thus it is that the political system is shaped to a certain extent by the opposition of the parties to the system, the parties in turn having been conditioned by three other kinds of forces.The problem of specifying the functions of parties remains a central one, even though there is much confusion in the use of the language of functionalism. It is therefore important to clarify the notion of the functions of political parties. If one defines the political system as a set of processes and mechanisms which bring about the convergence or neutralization of irresistible social pluralisms without exploding the balance of these pluralist forces, then one can distinguish three functional requirements: (1) the legitimation-stabilization function; (2) the tribunician function (integration or neutralization of centrifugal forces); (3) the function of providing governmental alternatives.Where there is interaction between parties and the political system, one can discern an aspect of non-dependence between the two terms. In the first place, the parties (and not only the anti-system or revolutionary parties) do not develop solely in accordance with their relationship to the political system. Secondly, the system too has a certain degree of self-determination, even when confronted with anti-system parties.