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Party organization and satisfaction with democracy: inside the blackbox of linkage

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Abstract

This article investigates the way in which party organizational resources and processes may affect perceptions of democracy, looking at the impact of parties’ top-down communication mechanisms and bottom-up internal processes. Our examination breaks new ground by pairing party organizational data from the Political Party Database (PPDB) with individual-level data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES), and shows clear evidence of the link between parties’ organizational resource capacity and their ability to inspire satisfaction with democracy (the “top-down” path from party organization to democratic evaluations). However, it does not appear that the degree of intra-party democracy practised (the “bottom-up” path) has a similar impact – a striking negative finding, given the growing tendency towards plebiscitary democracy within parties. Overall, these results provide substantial evidence for the importance of party organization and agency in fostering the popular legitimacy of democratic political systems.

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... The rise of the far right in countries that seemed less susceptible to authoritarian leadership has become increasingly frequent in contemporary democracies. Among other factors, the widespread distrust of political parties and the growing discredit of representative institutions in society have been identified as causes of a phenomenon that has destabilized several political systems (Gidron;Adams;Horne, 2020;Ignazi, 2014;Mair, 1997Mair, , 2013Webb;Scarrow;Poguntke, 2022). ...
... The rise of the far right in countries that seemed less susceptible to authoritarian leadership has become increasingly frequent in contemporary democracies. Among other factors, the widespread distrust of political parties and the growing discredit of representative institutions in society have been identified as causes of a phenomenon that has destabilized several political systems (Gidron;Adams;Horne, 2020;Ignazi, 2014;Mair, 1997Mair, , 2013Webb;Scarrow;Poguntke, 2022). ...
... It is important to point out that the legitimacy crisis in parties and the growing hostility between opponents today affect different political systems, including the oldest ones (Ignazi, 2014;Gidron;Adams;Horne, 2020;Svolik, 2019;Webb;Scarrow;Poguntke, 2022). The investigation we conducted for this article reflects, therefore, on a broad phenomenon, which is the transformation of party organizations amid the rise of ideational populism (Mudde, 2017). ...
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A definition of ‘party’ might as well begin with its simple word derivation. To become a ‘party’ to something always means identification with one group and differentiation from another. Every party in its very essence signifies partnership in a particular organization and separation from others by a specific program.
Article
This article introduces the first findings of the Political Party Database (PPDB) project, a major survey of party organizations in parliamentary and semi-presidential democracies. The project’s first round of data covers 122 parties in 19 countries. In this paper we describe the scope of the database, then investigate what it tells us about contemporary party organization in these countries, focussing on parties’ resources, structures and internal decision-making. We examine organizational patterns by country and party family, and where possible we make temporal comparisons with older datasets. Our analyses suggest a remarkable coexistence of uniformity and diversity. In terms of the major organizational resources on which parties can draw, such as members, staff and finance, the new evidence largely confirms the continuation of trends identified in previous research: i.e., declining membership, but enhanced financial resources and more paid staff. We also find remarkable uniformity regarding the core architecture of party organizations. At the same time, however, we find substantial variation between countries and party families in terms of their internal processes, with particular regard to how internally democratic they are, and in the forms that this democratization takes.
Article
The main aim of the book is to assess and explain the extent to which political parties across Europe as a whole succeed in representing diverse voters. We note two important features of the European political landscape that complicate the task of assessing party representation and that require its reassessment. First, the emergence of new democracies in post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe point to the possibility that representation is not only differentially achieved in West and East but may also be attained by different mechanisms. Second, parties in both West and East must now seek to represent voters that are increasingly diverse, specifically between partisan and independent supporters. We refer to the challenges of representation of diverse voters as the strain of representation'. The evidential basis for the empirical analysis are expert surveys that were conducted in 24 European countries on party positions that were merged with other available data on voters, party characteristics, and country conditions. The results point to both the representational capacities of parties in West and East and to the strain that parties face in representing diverse voters. © Robert Rohrschneider & Stephen Whitefield 2012.
Article
While previous research has generally shown that economic performance is an important predictor of satisfaction with democracy, differences between political systems on the majoritarian-consensual dimension have not been as marked as expected. What has been neglected in previous studies is how the interaction between economic performance and type of power-sharing arrangement co-produce democratic satisfaction. This study uses multiple rounds of data from the European Social Survey between 2002 and 2013 involving 31 countries. The results show that short-term changes in economic performance and government fractionalization interactively increase or decrease levels of political support. The effect of economic performance on satisfaction with democracy becomes weaker the more fractionalized a government is. Satisfaction with how democracy works in a country remains relatively high in systems with fractionalized coalition governments when the economy is performing poorly. But when the economy performs extraordinarily well, satisfaction with democracy is even higher in countries with a dominant party in charge of government power.
Article
In this article, we analyse the impact of intra-party procedures of candidate selection for national elections on the representativeness of parties towards their voters. With regard to candidate selection we distinguish between two dimensions: inclusion and centralization. While the first identifies the type of selectorate for candidate nominations (members, delegates or committees), the second captures the territorial unit in which the nomination is decided (local, regional or national). Based on data for 53 parties in 9 Western European countries for the period 1970 to 1990, the analysis points to the relevance of the inclusion dimension. Parties in which party elites decide the nomination of candidates show slightly higher degrees of representation than parties with more inclusive selectorates. We conduct our analysis separately for two frequently used but theoretically different concepts of representation: cross-sectional representation (at one point in time) and dynamic representation (over time). Our analysis shows that candidate-selection procedures only matter for the first concept. The empirically inconsistent results between the two concepts are due to deficiencies in the way dynamic representation is currently operationalized.
Article
This study examines how political party organizations shape campaign participation in advanced industrialized parliamentary democracies. In some parties, members directly nominate candidates to run for parliament. In others, selection is the sole responsibility of the party leadership. Two countervailing arguments are presented: one stating that member participation will increase incentives to get involved in campaigns; the other contending that democratic nominations expose internal party divisions and depress participation. The hypotheses are tested using cross-national election surveys and original candidate selection data. Participation is measured in two ways: campaign activity and political persuasion. The results suggest that partisans are more likely to participate when leaders, rather than members, select candidates. In addition, the article examines the role of party ideology, size, incumbency, and heterogeneity in shaping participation.
Article
Does grassroots party activity win parties votes? The effect of party organization on performance is one of the most enduring debates about political parties. The conventional wisdom regarding the growing irrelevance of grassroots activity in the age of television has been increasingly challenged by studies of constituency parties' efforts to mobilize likely supporters on election day. Few studies, however, have looked at the electoral impact of grassroots activity outside plurality systems. In particular, we present a most intriguing case study-one where voting is compulsory and parties' efforts at mobilization likely superfluous. Using new and detailed data on grassroots party activity in Flanders, we demonstrate that grassroots activity has a positive and significant effect on parties' vote share in the 2012 local elections, even after controlling for national tides and performance in the previous election. Alternative modelling strategies and operationalizations are testament to the robustness of these findings.
Article
This article evaluates the influence of corruption on how individuals assess the state of democracy in their country. Distinguishing between individual perceptions of small-scale corruption and macro-level corruption trends, we are interested in the question: which of the two indicators influences citizens' judgments of their regime? Controlling for ten micro-level factors (i.e. individuals' satisfaction with the government, economy, education system, their participation in social activities, their feeling of public safety, and their assessment on whether they are discriminated against, as well as the four demographics gender, age, education and income) and four contextual factors (i.e. development, economic growth, democratic stock, and income inequalities) our hierarchical linear model offers some nuanced results. First, we find that an individual's assessment of whether the police and the judges are corrupted influences his or her satisfaction with democracy. Second, our results indicate that the same finding does not apply for the broad macro-level corruption indicator; macro-level corruption is rather unrelated to how a person judges the quality of democracy in his or her country.
Article
While the collapse of party membership in the last half-century has consumed much of the focus of party scholarship, the notion of membership itself is surprisingly under-theorised. This article presents a tripartite framework for understanding party membership as a constructed concept: from the perspective of the state, the individual and the political party. As organisational mediators and strategic electoral actors, political parties construct varying notions of membership in order to mobilise resources and gain legitimacy, while balancing the participatory demands of citizens with the legal and normative expectations imposed by the state. Using a number of illustrative examples from Europe and beyond, the article analyses the development of supporters' networks and the extension of participatory opportunities to non-members. Designed in part to address this membership decline and to offer individuals a different way of engaging with political parties, these initiatives are seen as a crucial step in the evolution of modern parties towards looser, more individualised and amorphous networks of affiliation.
Book
How do today's political parties relate to other organisations? Do they prefer rather distant relationships with a wide range of interest groups – or have they virtually detached themselves from civil society altogether? Scholars seem to agree that traditionally close relationships – such as those between social democratic parties and trade unions – have grown weaker since the 1960s. But to date only limited systematic research has been conducted. While parties and interest groups attract a great deal of attention from political scientists, the links between them have been largely overlooked. This book is an attempt to bridge the gap, starting from the party side of the relationship. It throws new light on the topic by presenting a theory-driven, comprehensive study of Norway’s seven major political parties and their relationships with interest groups at the beginning of the new millennium. Based on original and extensive data, including party documents, in-depth interviews with key players and a survey of national party elites, Elin Haugsgjerd Allern paints a nuanced picture of the nature and significance of these relationships and the factors that shape them. A major conclusion is that Norway’s parties tend to maintain rather distant but wide-ranging relationships with interest groups today. However, some parties still have fairly strong links with their traditional associates and a narrower network of links with other groups. Hence, Allern also shows that significant differences exist between parties that are apparently exposed to the same social, political and institutional environment.
Article
According to a widespread assumption, party-interest group links are significantly weaker than they used to be. Both sets of organizations, it is said, now prefer autonomy over the constraints implied by close relationships, especially in supposedly 'cartelized' established party systems but also in new democracies. In this article, we briefly review existing literature on party-group links and argue that the common wisdom - and this particular aspect of Katz and Mair's cartel thesis - may need to be qualified. First, we have to define more precisely what we mean when we talk about the relationships in question, not least because they may assume myriad forms. Second, the little empirical research that has been done hints at a good deal of variety, both over time and between polities and parties. Third, we must further explore possible explanations for such differences in party-group relations, including the motives of the actors involved. The substantive articles in this special issue throw new light on all three issues.
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The aim of this article is to examine the link between the quality of social protection and citizens' satisfaction with the functioning of democracy – an association that has received very limited attention in the rich body of empirical research on popular satisfaction with democracy. To test the hypothesis that social protection levels influence citizens' satisfaction with democracy, the article conducts a multi-level regression analysis using European Social Survey (2008/9) data from 24 countries. The results of the analysis demonstrate that between-country differences are linked to variation in social protection levels, and within-country differences depend on individual satisfaction with social provision, while controlling for other relevant factors. The findings indicate that people do expect democratic regimes to provide social protection along with economic performance and thus suggest that democratic governments face a challenge in meeting simultaneous demands for social protection and economic prosperity. Altogether, the study contributes to debates about the implications of welfare policies and citizen satisfaction with regime performance.
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Research Highlights and Abstract This article shows: The importance of non-party members (supporters) in election campaigns. Party evolution rather than self-evident decline. How parties cope with falling membership to staff campaigns. The extent to which supporter activities complement and supplement those of members. Existing research on volunteer activity in political parties has tended to focus on party membership, both in terms of numbers and activities undertaken. Recent developments in British political parties suggest however, an increasing role for party supporters—supporters of parties who are not formal members. Using data collected through surveys of election agents at the 2010 general election, this article examines the extent of supporter activity in constituency (district-level) campaigns, the extent to which active local parties stimulate supporter activity, the correlates of supporter and member activity, and whether supporter activity makes a positive and independent contribution to parties' constituency campaigns. The article provides an important opportunity to question whether the evolution of party organisations suggests that formal members may be less important than has been previously assumed in the conduct of election campaigns and the extent to which supporter activity complements that of members.
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This article explores the effects of party organizational strength on party success and survival in the new postcommunist democracies. Organizational strength is defined as extensive network of branch offices, large membership, and professional staff. Using quantitative information on parties in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, and Poland, the study shows that strong organization helps parties increase their vote share significantly and steadily. Focused comparisons of “most similar” parties with different electoral performance from Estonia and the Czech Republic further exemplify the significant independent role that organizational strength plays in helping parties succeed electorally.
Article
Research on Eastern European attitudes toward democracy has not comprehensively examined the economic, social, and political origins of support for and satisfaction with democracy and what these portend for democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. Differentiating origins of mass support and satisfaction clarify whether ordinary citizens perceive democracy as a normatively correct, legitimate process of making collective and binding decisions or merely as a means to achieving efficiency and distributive justice. Multivariate analysis revealed that whereas social, economic, and psychological factors influence support, only economic evaluations predict satisfaction. This identifies support for democracy in Eastern Europe as emanating more from a recognition of the moral worth of the process than from a calculus about its benefits. However, the study reveals that dissatisfaction with democratic government abounds and may affect support. This challenges optimism for speedy consolidation, showing Eastern Europe poised to linger at the crossroads of transition for a while.
Article
This article examines ideological ties between citizens and parties in power and its impact on satisfaction with democracy in eight consolidated democracies during the late 1990s. Two main propositions are tested: the winner/loser explanation focuses on the post‐election individual attitudes toward an incumbent government, whereas the congruence explanation underlines the proximity between the voters’ ideological tendencies and the policymaking positions taken by parties. The measure of the ideological proximity improves the existing measure, namely the winner/loser status, that explains the relationship between the political institutions and citizens’ attitude toward political systems. The ordered logit analyses with cluster standard errors of the CSES survey and CMP data set suggest that as the congruence between voter and policy positions rises, satisfaction with democracy also increases.
Article
Stable democracies must engender support for the political system among citizens. Satisfaction with democracy, as probed in election surveys, is often seen as the key measure of support. Seen as a measure of support for electoral outcomes, previous research (Anderson & LoTempio 20024. Anderson , Christopher J. and LoTempio , Andrew J. 2002. Winning, losing and political trust in America. British Journal of Political Science, 32: 335–351. [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®]View all references, Banducci & Karp 20036. Banducci , Susan A. and Karp , Jeffrey A. 2003. How elections change the way citizens view the political system: campaigns, media effects and electoral outcomes in comparative perspective. British Journal of Political Science, 33: 443–467. [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®], [CSA]View all references) argues that electoral losers have lower levels of satisfaction than those who backed electoral winners. This paper explores satisfaction with democracy in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, three Westminster systems where winning or losing in local constituency contests might provide an independent impact on satisfaction. Using the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems dataset it demonstrates that while winning at the local level is not an independent predictor of satisfaction, ideological distance from the national winner can negatively affect satisfaction. The paper also contributes to debates about the type of support tapped by the satisfaction question. It demonstrates that the measure taps both diffuse and electoral support, but that the predictors of satisfaction point to the mediating role of the rewards doled out by political institutions on citizens’ evaluations of their performance.
Article
Previous research has shown that people in consensual democracies with a proportional electoral system are more satisfied with the functioning of democracy in their country than people in majoritarian democracies. We assess to what extent this relationship can be explained by people's perception of the accountability and representativeness of the political system in their country. Our findings show that people's satisfaction with democracy primarily depends on their perception of the representation function, and to a lesser degree on the accountability function. Surprisingly, perceived accountability rather than representation is enhanced by a proportional-type electoral system. Moreover, our evaluative measure of satisfaction with democracy is negatively related to proportional electoral systems. The macro-level satisfaction with democracy is primarily affected by the age of the democracy one lives in.
Article
Many recent discussions of the decline of party are predicated on the assumption that the Duverger/socialist mass-party model is the only model for parties. We contend that this assumption is misconceived, that the mass-party model is only one, temporally limited and contingent model, and that it is necessary to differentiate notions of adaptation and change from notions of decline or failure. Following an analysis of how various models of party can be located in terms of the relationship between civil society and the state, we contend that the recent period has witnessed the emergence of a new model of party, the cartel party, in which colluding parties become agents of the state and employ the resources of the state (the party state) to ensure their own collective survival. Finally, we suggest that the recent challenge to party is in fact a challenge to the cartel that the established parties have created for themselves.
Article
Constituency (local) campaigning in British general elections has been transformed over the last ten years or so. Firstly, national party headquarters have taken an increasingly large role in planning and managing constituency campaigns. Although the pace of change has varied across the major parties, all are heading down the same road. Secondly, campaigning on the ground has also changed. Technological and other changes have led to a decline in the use of traditional campaign techniques and increased use of new methods, especially in 'key' seats. These developments are charted using data derived from a unique set of nation-wide surveys of election agents at the last three general elections. Finally, the paper returns (briefly) to the debate about the electoral effects of constituency campaigning, presenting data relating to its impact in each of the three elections concerned.
Article
This arose as part of an ongoing project on ‘Visions of Governance for the Twenty‐first Century’ initiated in 1996 at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, which aims to explore what people want from government, the public sector, and non‐profit organizations. A first volume from the ‘Visions’ project (Why People Don’t Trust Government) was published by Harvard University Press in 1997; this second volume analyses a series of interrelated questions. The first two are diagnostic: how far are there legitimate grounds for concern about public support for democracy worldwide; and are trends towards growing cynicism found in the US evident in many established and newer democracies? The second concern is analytical: what are the main political, economic, and cultural factors driving the dynamics of support for democratic government? The final questions are prescriptive: what are the consequences of this analysis and what are the implications for strengthening democratic governance? The book brings together a distinguished group of international scholars who develop a global analysis of these issues by looking at trends in established and newer democracies towards the end of the twentieth century. Chapters draw upon the third wave (1995–1997) World Values Survey as well as using an extensive range of comparative empirical evidence. Challenging the conventional wisdom, the book concludes that accounts of a democratic ‘crisis’ are greatly exaggerated. By the mid‐1990s most citizens worldwide shared widespread aspirations to the ideals and principles of democratic government, although at the same time there remains a marked gap between evaluations of the ideal and the practice of democracy. The publics in many newer democracies in Central and Eastern Europe and in Latin America have proved deeply critical of the performance of their governing regimes, and during the 1980s many established democracies saw a decline in public confidence in the core institutions of representative democracy, including parliaments, the legal system, and political parties. The book considers the causes and consequences of the development of critical citizens in three main parts: cross‐national trends in confidence in governance; testing theories with case studies; and explanations of trends.
Article
This article employs 1976–1986 Euro-Barometer data to investigate the political economy of public attitudes toward prevailing political and social arrangements in eight Western European countries. Pooled cross-sectional time series analyses reveal that the effects of economic conditions extend beyond their impact on governing party support to influence feelings of life and democracy satisfaction and demands for radical and reformist social change. Attitudes toward democracy and social change also respond to important political events such as the occurrence and outcomes of national elections. We conclude by arguing that the political economy of attitudes toward polity and society in contemporary Western democracies is real, but limited by widely shared beliefs that have become key elements in the political cultures of these countries.Bourgeois society has been cast in a purely economic mold; its foundations, beams, and beacons are all made of economic material.Joseph Schumpeter 1942, 73Since the late 1960s, rational choice models based on economic variables have become the dominant mode of analysis, while cultural factors have been deemphasized to an unrealistic degree.Ronald Inglehart 1990, 16
Article
The surge of new politics in advanced industrialized nations has led to the emergence of genuine new parties in several countries: the German Green Party is the most prominent example. New kinds of participatory aspirations have had an impact on the organizational structure and the internal political life of the Green Party. This analysis focuses on the party organization, its working mode and internal political culture. While the German Greens are substantially more participatory than the established parties, the full realization of grass roots democratic ideals is hindered by systemic constraints and a very weak membership basis. Also, some of these ideals have proved to be dysfunctional to some extent: collective leadership can have paralyzing effects on the performance of a party.