Party organization

The participation ideal has affected Swedish politics in many ways and at first seems to contradict the notion of a professional political class. Yet, this has never been true for the national level and is less and less true for the local and regional level, the latter two often being a training ground for higher positions but also a career stage in their own right. It is unclear if a political class has already been established in Sweden – professional politicians may have made their careers quite safe, there is a social distinction (but take note of e.g. the high share of female politicians), and it is possible to live off politics (but not at a very high- level). However, a common class interest is hard to detect, and recent developments in public distrust of politicians and a resulting pressure for new political personnel could be a further hindrance towards the unrestrained development of a political class.

As a general statement about party development, the cartel party theory has severe problems. What is assumed to be the most devastating effect of cartelisation on representative democracy is the alleged erosion of the links between voters and parties, ‘which are based on trust, accountability, and above all, representation’ (Mair 1997: 153). Our findings in this volume do not support such claims.

This study investigates whether the socialcomposition of Swedish party groups and the pre-parliamentary politicalexperience of members of the Riksdag have become more homogeneous, dueto the increasing professionalisation of party politics. According to the masspartyideal, political parties are open to all members. The rise and spreadof state-financed party funding enables cartel parties to employ increasingnumbers of professional politicians. As a result, the norm ofself-selection is increasingly being replaced by the norm of employment, thatis, of being recruited, hired and paid by an employer. Compared with selfselection,it is presumably more common for a person hired to be similar tothe person responsible for recruiting/hiring. However,Hagevi’s findings do not support the contention that increasing party subsidiesfrom the state are related to a more socially homogenous parliament, withrecruitment of parliamentary members from the growing extra-parliamentarypool of professional politicians becoming more dominant.

The aim of this volume is to assess the cartel party theory based on a study of the Swedish party system, specifically, the party groups in the unicameral Swedish Parliament (the Riksdag). Attending to a range of factors, we ask whether or not the party groups in the Riksdag have increasingly come to resemble one another in the period from the late twentieth century to the first decade of the twenty-first century. In this chapter of introduction, we present the Swedish case as well as six empirical studies of the Swedish case highlight various factors that the cartel party theory takes to be conducive to cartelisa­tion, and discuss countervailing forces as well. We explore whether party elites are becoming increasingly alike and increasingly removed from grassroots and constituents due to processes of professionali­zation; whether opposition to government is waning in the wake of globali­sation and Europeanisation; and whether parties are becoming more alike by adapting to general processes of mediatisation in politics. In two chapters, we investigate key factors not yet sufficiently acknowledged either by authors or critics of the cartel party theory: gender representation and party culture; we ask whether these factors act as countervailing forces to cartelisation. In a concluding chapter we discuss how the empirical results presented here might lead us to rethink accepted ideas about cartelisation, convergence and increasing similarities among parliamentary parties.

Does the allocation of public funding for parties support the assumptions of cartel party theory about a change in the internal balance of power within Swedish parties? By answering this question, the study tests some of Katz and Mair’s theory about changing party financing that are linked to the changed balance of power within cartel parties. Using data on public party subsidiaries 1966–2011 in Sweden, the result supports these assumptions made by the cartel party theory.

I en representativ demokrati spelar de politiska partierna en mycket viktig roll och partier och partisystem är ett centralt statsvetenskapligt forskningsområde. I denna breda antologi ges en heltäckande introduktion till studier om politiska partiers och partisystems utveckling och förändring i Sverige, i andra länder och på EU-nivå.

Här presenteras partiforskningens grundläggande teorier om sociala skiljelinjer, partisystem och partityper. Partierna som organisationer analyseras med särskilt fokus på partikultur, partiernas finansiering, partimedlemmar, interndemokrati och partiledare. Partierna vid makten analyseras genom utförliga beskrivningar av kampen om inflytande via valkampanjer, regerings bildning, partipolitikers karriärer och europeisk politik. Även så kallade utmanarpartier, som lokala partier och radikala högerpopulistpartier, granskas utförligt. Denna andra upplaga är reviderad och aktualiserad.

I en representativ demokrati spelar de politiska partierna en mycket viktig roll och partier och partisystem är ett centralt statsvetenskapligt forskningsområde. I denna breda antologi ges en heltäckande introduktion till politiska partiers och partisystems utveckling och förändring i Sverige, i andra länder och på EU-nivå.

Här presenteras partiforskningens grundläggande teorier om sociala skiljelinjer, partisystem och partityper. Partierna som organisationer analyseras med särskilt fokus på partikultur, partiernas finansiering, partimedlemmar, interndemokrati och partiledare. Partierna vid makten analyseras genom utförliga beskrivningar av kampen om inflytande via valkampanjer, regeringsbildning, partipolitikers karriärer och europeisk politik. Även så kallade utmanarpartier, som lokala partier och radikala högerpopulistpartier, granskas utförligt.

It is often suggested that political parties are becoming increasingly alike, and that party politics has turned into an elite affair where political professionals collude to further their self-interest rather than work to represent the interests of their constituents. In recent decades this diagnosis has been famously associated with Richard Katz and Peter Mair’s cartel party theory. Yet so far this controversial thesis has not been subjected to systematic empirical scrutiny, nor has its conceptual and normative underpinnings been properly considered. In this volume a group of political scientists with different specialisations take on this task, focusing empirically on the Swedish party system, which the originators of the cartel party theory have suggested is especially conducive to the formation of party cartels. Collecting new and unique qualitative and quantitative data, the volume casts serious doubt on the validity of the cartel party theory as an explanation for party system change.

The electoral growth of several ‘anti-political establishment parties’
in Europe since the end of the Cold War, was accompanied by the
growth of the use of the catch-all category of populism to
describe them. Despite the countless analyses related to
populism, less attention – with some relevant exceptions – has
been given to the impact of populism on party organizations. Still,
populist parties do organize. While it is common to compare the
organization of political parties belonging to the same party
family, the attention on the impact of populism in shaping parties
with different ideological backgrounds is scarce. This paper
focuses on this literature gap, analyzing four parties, which the
literature labels as ‘populist’. The conclusion reached in this paper
is that populism can be an ideological feature incorporated by
different parties; however, its impact on the organization differs
substantially from one party to another.

In the last decades, the cartel party theory has been one of the most discussed topics in the academic literature on political parties. Several publications have dealt with the application of the theory at the systemic level, using a country as a unit of analysis. Less attention has been given thus far to the party level. This analysis is aimed at improving the study of the cartel party theory by focussing on the transformations of three social-democratic parties in Europe: the Parti Socialiste in France, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español in Spain, and the Partito Democratico in Italy. The main findings in this work will not confirm in toto the
theoretical assumption of the cartel party, in particular as regards membership and, in part, political convergence. Albeit declining, membership has been resilient in the last two decades. Despite a clear-cut convergence in EU-related issues, political manifestos of mainstream parties have shown a certain degree of polarization. Finally, while the three parties under examination rely almost entirely on public subventions, political parties proved to be capable of reforming the public funding laws, increasing the transparency of donations and reducing the total amount of public subvention.

The word populism has been associated to (very) different meanings in the last years. The " populist " label is still used to describe parties, leaders, movements, attitudes and political regimes, too. Moreover, the adjective " populist " is used in a normative fashion in the public debate to denigrate those movements or parties which contrast the mainstream views. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, I conduct a non-normative analysis to avoid a biased vision of the concept. On the other hand, I advocate the understanding of populism as a thin-centered ideology, according to which it is based on two necessary features, namely, (a) an anti-elite(s) mindset and (b) the criticism of representative politics. Resumen El término populismo ha sido asociado a significados muy diferentes en los últimos años. La eti-queta de populista se sigue utilizando para describir partidos, líderes, movimientos, actitudes y regímenes políticos. Además, el adjetivo populista se utiliza también con una inclinación norma-tiva en el debate público para denigrar a esos movimientos o partidos que contrastan con las ideo-logías dominantes. Este artículo tienes dos objetivos principales: por un lado, desarrollo un análisis conceptual no normativo para evitar una visión sesgada del concepto. Por otra parte, abogo por una consideración del populismo como una ideología débil, según la cual se basa en dos caracte-rísticas necesarias, a saber, (a) el anti-elitismo y (b) la crítica de la política representativa. Palabras clave: populismo, política comparada, análisis conceptual, ideología débil.

A partire da modelli e analisi proposti da Angelo Panebianco nel volume del 1982 "Modelli di partito", il saggio si interroga sull'impatto che la mediatizzazione della politica e lo sviluppo di una società mediatizzata nell'era dei media elettronici hanno avuto sui partiti politici e la loro organizzazione, così come sul ruolo dei leader di partito.

Мы хотим подтвердить и проиллюстрировать следующий центральный тезис: Маркс вывел описание формы Партии из описания коммунистического общества. С точки зрения методологии, мы попытаемся, по мере возможности, указать на связь между различными собраниями, которые прошли в Италии. С другой стороны, на некоторых пунктах будет сделано ударение, но они не будут проанализированы подробно. Борьба зародыша пролетариата во время Великой Французской революции привела некоторых революционеров (Варле, Леклер, Ру, т.н. Бешеные) к выводу, что революция осуществляется к выгоде лишь одной категории людей, не являясь универсальной освободительницей. Затем, в те же времена, Равные вновь подняли вопрос о возможности революции, которая освободила бы человечество и провозгласили необходимость новой, которая совершилась бы не во имя Разума: "Прав тот-сказал Бабёф-у кого есть сила". Теория универсальной эволюции Разума и его власти существует в системе Гегеля, завершившего дело французских философов и буржуазных революционеров. Более того, когда молодой Маркс появился на политической сцене, пролетариат возрос численно, и его вес в обществе усилился. Именно из наблюдений за борьбой пролетариата у Маркса и Энгельса зародилась идея о том, что просветительское решение не было истинным, реальным, в тот самый момент, когда они увидели где обретается новое решение-в борьбе пролетарского класса. Они поняли, что проблема освобождения человечества не может быть разрешена теоретически поскольку она не была поставлена практически, потому что буржуа рассуждают от имени абстрактного человека и в их рассуждениях нет места категории пролетариата. Освобождение пролетариата следует рассматривать на практическом уровне, причём следует говорить о реальном человеке, т.е. о человеческом роде. Вооружённый этой гениальной догадкой, Маркс должен был перейти к критике системы Гегеля. Он понял почему диалектика шла на голове; и теперь, с новым лихорадочным энтузиазмом, он столкнулся с чудовищем-новый Эдип, разгадывающий загадки. Когда трудности становятся избыточными, он возвращается на практический уровень и швыряет Гегелю в лицо то, что является реальностью-существование пролетариата. Новый Антей, набирает новые силы для поддержания битвы из лона пролетариата, чью борьбу он объясняет. Вся его критика Гегеля основана на существовании пролетариата и его борьбы: это связующее звено между теорией и практикой. (Мы постараемся каждый раз, по возможности, подчёркивать этот аспект).

The emergence of personalized party organizations has called for a redefinition of the concept of party institutionalization (PI). This article brings different strands of literature together and proposes a new multidimensional index of PI. PI is conceived of as the interplay of objective and internal party features with the external environment. The viability of the index is tested through its application to a prominent case of personal party, the Italian Five Star Movement (5SM). Through a detailed analysis of its history, we show that the 5SM has become more institution-alized over time; however, this has especially affected its external facet, while other specific party traits have been less involved. Findings suggest that the stabilization of internal structures to connect party echelon and rank-and-file remains a challenge

The ‘time factor’ has not been systematically considered in cross-national studies on party organizations. Relying on the largest dataset to date on party organizations, the Political Party Database Project (PPDB), the article tests the impact of time as a two-level variable (duration of democracy and age of parties) on parties’ organizational strength in new and established democracies. We add original data from three Latin American countries to the nineteen countries covered by the first PPDB database (132 parties overall). The results suggest that parties in established democracies have less members and more money than those of newer democracies. Among the latter, the greater capacity for mass mobilization produces stronger parties in Latin America, when compared to the Eastern European countries. The findings challenge the traditional view about the exceptional weakness of Latin American parties and point to the importance of time as a multilevel variable: besides the national context, the ‘ancestral’ party origins in previous regimes have a large impact on the organizational strength.