Democracy and Party Politics: Open Discussion

Here’s the question that bugs me:

“To what extent does the natural tendency toward parties in democratic representational governments lead the practice of government away from true representation of the electorate?”

And following on from that:

“How effective are current practices at mitigating these movements?”

Comments welcome from all sides of the political debate and from all countries.  References to academic material and case studies are also welcome.  Comments will be subject to careful moderation on this subject.