First developed in her introductory chapter to Political Parties and Linkage (Yale, 1980), then applied and further developed throughout her subsequent work on political parties, the term linkage is used by Lawson to describe how political parties connect citizens to the state, not always in positive ways. She identifies six forms of linkage by party: Participatory, responsive, clientelistic, coercive, revolutionary and market (the last two may be found in her “Conclusion” to Political Parties and Democracy; see Books).
The concept of dedemocratization will be given wider development and application in the book Lawson is working on at present, see Work in Progress.