Variable 8.02 sets forth four basic types of local party organization: constituency, branch, precinct, and cell listed in order of increasing intensiveness. In keeping with the practice established in variable 8.03, extensiveness of party organization, we conceptualize the frequency of local meetings in terms of the most intensive unit of party organization.

Operational Definition. Parties are coded according to what constitutes the modal category of frequency of meetings for the most intensive unit of party organization. The highest code applicable is used. 

0	There either are no local party organs or the local units do not meet.
1	Basic party units do meet, but rarely and irregularly.
2	Basic units meet during campaigns only.
3	Basic units meet once or twice a year.
4	Basic units meet three to six times a year.
5	Basic units meet seven to eleven times a year.
6	Basic units meet once a month or more.

Coding Results. Our experience with BV804 continues the decline in our ability to code parties on degree of organization. We were successful barely 40 percent of the time in ascertaining how frequently the local units are apt to meet, and the mean values for AC804 admit the shakiness of some of our estimates (see Tables 9.4a and 9.4b). There is, however, no significant correlation between BV804 and AC804. Based on our attenuated sample, the distributions for BV804 project meetings at least monthly for a plurality of the world's parties. But another group of about equal size (codes 0 through 4) meets far less often, and this variable does seem to capture considerable variance in party practice across nations.

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