Contemporary trends in party organization: Revisiting intra-party democracy

Abstract

Party organization has regained a new momentum in the party literature over the past decade. In this context, we review the most important advances in the literature and critically examine issues such as: the link between party organization literature and organizational theory literature, party organization and intra-party democracy, and between party organization on paper and in reality. We ascertain the need for more conceptual clarifications in the field and raise questions for debate. We further outline the contribution of this special issue to the theme of intra-party democracy in representative democracies.

When Does the Personal Vote Matter for Party Loyalty? The Conditional Effects of Candidate-Centred Electoral Systems

“…In a second model, we examine a closer approximation to the prediction made above: when enforcement is at its weakest, that is for high clout MPs, those with preferences further from the party leaders will be less loyal. Naturally, it is not possible for our purposes to use measures of preferences that derive from voting (Borz and Janda, 2018) and these are generally inappropriate in parliamentary regimes (Carroll and Poole, 2014). Instead, we take advantage of another data source with political content-the cosponsorship of legislation.…”

“…We formalise this dynamic with a model accounting simultaneously for party resources, party preference cohesion, and MPs' electoral strength. As Borz and Janda (2018) note, terms relating to party unity and cohesion are used variably in the literature. By party preference cohesion we refer to the extent to which preferences of individual members are aligned with the leadership, which in turn derives from the heterogeneity of preferences among members.…”

Judicial decision-making within political parties: A political approach

“…Whereas some scholars stress trade-offs between the three goals parties usually pursue them simultaneously (Müller and Strøm: 12) and design their internal organization towards realizing these three goals (Harmel and Janda 1994;Borz and Janda 2018). Independent tribunals are supposed to solve intra-party conflict without being affected by these strategic party goals and thus their decisions might challenge if not undermine the party's peruse of these goal at times if the party regulations requires it.…”

“…We propose a new framework on tribunal decision-making based on the three main party goals of vote, policy implementation, and government office identified by Müller and Strøm (1999). Whereas some scholars stress trade-offs between the three goals, parties usually pursue them simultaneously (Müller and Strøm, 1999: 12) and design their internal organization toward realizing these goals (Borz and Janda, 2018; Harmel and Janda, 1994). Independent tribunals are supposed to solve intra-party conflict without being affected by strategic party goals.…”

Do regional party primaries affect the ideological cohesion of political parties in multilevel systems? Evidence from Spain

“…Political parties as the key actors in representative democracies have increasingly implemented strategies to make intra-party decision-making processes more inclusive (e.g. Borz and Janda, 2020; Cordero and Coller, 2018; Hazan and Rahat, 2010; Ignazi, 2020; Indridason and Kristinsson, 2015; Poguntke et al, 2016; Spies and Kaiser, 2014). One major reason for the adoption of more inclusive methods of candidate selection is the crisis of political trust in political parties, which has increased significantly in the last decade (e.g.…”