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To what extent have changes in party finance laws transformed party organizations in Germany and Austria? This paper adopts a rational choice - institutional approach in order to answer this question. That is, the ability of party elites to change their party organization is constrained by institutional rules such as party finance laws. Hypotheses regarding fundraising, bureaucratic professionalism, fundraising, and membership relations are developed from this theory. These hypotheses are tested via interviews, survey data and financial reports of political parties from 1980 to 2000 on the national and sub-national level in Germany and Austria. Results indicate that parties in Germany are becoming sophisticated in their fundraising techniques, although their methods are not as advanced as those used by parties in the U.S. Furthermore, parties in both countries are becoming increasingly professional and bureaucratic. However, despite their growing party offices, parties are not increasing membership recruitment or communications with current members. The implications of these findings for party democracy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The elites in post-imperial Austria, Germany, Soviet Union/Russia, and Turkey chose radically different approaches in institutionalizing ethnicity in the 1920s. This paper investigates the reasons for the persistence of these institutions of ethnicity until today. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]