partisan approach definition
partisan approach means working with sister- or fraternal parties that share the same ideological orientation. This collaboration builds upon trust and mutual understanding and is designed for a long term commitment. In one sense it is the most ‘politicised’ as well as the most controversial approach. Germany’s foundations are most often seen as the well estab- lished practitioners of this approach – a perception which is only partly true as it is only one component of their party assistance. In fact the foundations currently collaborate on a bilateral basis each with only four to five political parties in Africa (table 5). In the case of the FES these partners are, apart from one, still the ‘traditional’ ones, the parties of the former libera- tion movements that have become dominant parties. This poses a special challenge for party aid. Often the collaboration, apart from direct talks and advice , is conducted ‘indirectly’ through the assistance of a think tank or research institute which is close to a political party, or, quite frequently, through parties’ affinity groups (Vorfeldorganisation or Kollateralo r- ganisation). To give an example, the FNS is not in a position to provide the means for the training of the 6,000 candidates of the Democratic Alliance for local government elections in South Africa, but they support the development of the ‘curriculum’ and the training of 100 trainers who then will take up the training of the candidates.