In many other countries, too, there is a sense that politics has mutated since the 1960s from an activity organised largely around parties to one organised around specialised interest groups on the one hand (such as America's gun lobby) and broader protest and social movements on the other (such as the women's movement, environmentalism and consumerism).
Prosecutor Antonio Sangermano said the parties organised at the villa in Arcore, north-east of Milan, were the "expression of a tried and tested prostitution system organised to satisfy the sexual pleasure of Silvio Berlusconi, and of which the young Moroccan girl was completely a part".
They were organised by other political parties, which denounced the election as fraudulent.
Political parties are organised along ethnic or sectarian lines, and represent the city's Urdu-speakers, Sindhis, Baloch, Pashtuns and Barelvi Sunnis.
The opposition parties the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communists and various regional parties organised street protests and vowed to block change.
The problem is that, although they have memorable popular battle cries, the pro-democratic parties are underfunded and badly organised.
ECONOMIST: Pro-democracy parties are failing at their own game
In the Spanish capital, Madrid, thousands of young people gathered at six indoor "macro-parties" the authorities had organised in big venues across the city.
Only 12% of the injuries happened at organised public displays - most were at private parties or in accidents in the street.
These included speeches by political parties inciting hatred, attempts at organised fraud and efforts to undermine the Dayton peace accord which ended the Bosnian war five years ago.
But recent events suggest the Islamists are far better organised, and more able to mobilise mass support, than parties with a more Western agenda.
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