The UCLA School of Political Parties is a school of thought that contends that political parties are created by the policy demands of groups in society.
[1] It is so named because many of its proponents studied at or are faculty members in UCLA's political science department.
Their view can be seen in the book The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform by Martin Cohen, David Karol, Hans Noel and John Zaller, and in an article in Perspectives by Kathleen Bawn, Cohen, Karol, Seth Masket, Noel and Zaller.
Three arguments typify works by the school: The school has become influential in the study of political parties in the United States.
It later won the Jack Walker Award for best article on political parties from the Political Organizations and Parties Section of APSA in 2014.