Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T22:11:32.247Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Freedom of speech within political parties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2021

Udit Bhatia  and
Fabio Wolkenstein Open the ORCID record for Fabio Wolkenstein [Opens in a new window]
Udit Bhatia
Affiliation:
Junior Research Fellow, Jesus College, University of Oxford, OxfordUK
Fabio Wolkenstein*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor in Political Science, Aarhus Universitet, Institut for Statskundskab, Political Science, Aarhus CDenmark Adjunct Researcher in Political Theory, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen, Political Science, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The expulsion of party members for the expression of dissent is a common practice in democratic states around the world, which can have momentous consequences for individual parties and the political system at large. In this article, we address the question of whether limitations on party members’ free speech can be defended on normative grounds. Drawing on a conception of parties that sees them as broader membership organisations that allow citizens to exercise political agency in a unique fashion, as well as on insights from the broader normative-theoretical literature on organisations, we build a strong presumptive case that interference with party members’ political freedoms is normatively problematic. Exploring numerous weighty arguments in favour of limiting freedom of speech within parties, we find that none of them provides a knock-down argument against our case. The argument we advance has important implications for contemporary theoretical debates about parties and partisanship, and for the regulation of parties’ internal affairs more generally.

Keywords

political partiespartisanshipfree speechintra-party democracyactivism
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , November 2021 , pp. 431 - 448
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Consortium for Political Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anadolou Agency (2014), ‘Turkish opposition party wants MP sacked over remarks’, 5 November 2019.Google Scholar
Anderson, E. (2017), Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk about It), Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP.Google Scholar
Barendt, E. (2005), Freedom of Speech, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
BBC (2019), I’m not a Liberal Democrat, says Alastair Campbell after Labour Expulsion’, 28 May 2020.Google Scholar
Benz, A. (2003), ‘Reformpromotoren oder Reformblockierer? Die Rolle der Parteien im Bundesstaat’, Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte B29, 30(3): 2–38.Google Scholar
Bhatia, U. (forthcoming), ‘What’s the party like? The status of the political party in anti-defection jurisdictions’, Law and Philosophy. Google Scholar
Biale, E. and Ottonelli, V. (2019), ‘Intra-party deliberation and reflexive control within a deliberative system’, Political Theory 47(4): 500–526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolleyer, N., Gauja, A. and Correa, P. (2020), ‘Legal regulation and the juridification of party governance’, The Journal of Comparative Politics 52(4): 117–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonotti, M. (2017), Partisanship and Political Liberalism in Diverse Societies, Oxford: OUP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brody, E. (2002). ‘Entrance, voice and exit: the constitutional bounds of the right of association’, U.C. Davis Law Review 35(4): 862–865.Google Scholar
Cross, W.P. and Katz, R.S. (eds.) (2013), The Challenges of Intra-Party Democracy, Oxford: OUP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, J. (2016), Crowds and Party, London: Verso.Google Scholar
Ebeling, M. and Wolkenstein, F. (2018), ‘Exercising deliberative agency in deliberative systems’, Political Studies 66(3): 635–650.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Economic Times (2014), ‘Congress leader Gufran-e-Azam expelled from party’, 15 October.Google Scholar
Gauja, A. (2010), Political Parties and Elections: Legislating for Representative Democracy, Surrey: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Gauja, A. (2015), ‘The individualisation of party politics: the impact of changing internal decision-making processes on policy development and citizen engagement’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 17(1): 89–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goff, S. and Lee, D.J.. (2019), ‘Prospects for third party electoral success in a polarized era’, American Politics Research 47(6): 1324–1344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gramsci, A. (1929–1935 [1971]), Selections from the Prison Notebooks, London: Lawrence and Wishart.Google Scholar
Green-Pedersen, C. and Thomsen, L.H. (2005), ‘Bloc Politics vs. Broad Cooperation? the functioning of Danish minority parliamentarism’, Journal of Legislative Studies 11(2): 153–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadley, C., Morass, M. and Nick, R. (1989), ‘Federalism and party interaction in West Germany, Switzerland, and Austria’, Publius: The Journal of Federalism 19: 81–97.Google Scholar
Hazan, R.Y. and Rahat, G. (2010), Democracy within Parties: Candidate Selection Methods and Their Political Consequences, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herzog, L.M. (2018), Reclaiming the System: Moral Responsibility, Divided Labour, and the Role of Organizations in Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkin, J. and Blyth, M. (2019), ‘The global economics of European populism: growth regimes and party system change in Europe’, Government & Opposition 54(2): 193–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ignazi, P. (2017), Party and Democracy: The Uneven Road to Party Legitimacy, Oxford: OUP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Invernizzi-Accetti, C. and Wolkenstein, F. (2017), ‘The Crisis of party democracy, cognitive mobilization, and the case for making parties more deliberative’, American Political Science Review 111(1): 97–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kam, C.J. (2009), Party Discipline and Parliamentary Politics, Cambridge: CUP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, R. and Mair, P. (2009), ‘The cartel party thesis: a restatement’, Perspectives on Politics 7(4): 753–766.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelsen, H. (1929 [2013]), The Essence and Value of Democracy, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Kutz, C. (2000), Complicity: Ethics and Law for a Collective Age, Cambridge: CUP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, C. (2012), Parliamentary Elections, Representation and the Law. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Times, LA (1987), ‘An Embattled Gandhi Expels His Major Rival from Ruling Party’, 20 July 1987.Google Scholar
Mair, P. (2013), Ruling the Void, London: Verso.Google Scholar
Manow, P. (2020), (Ent-)Demokratisierung der Demokratie, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Metro (2009), ‘Robin Cook’ (blog), 27 October 2019.Google Scholar
Moore, A. and O’Doherty, K. (2014), ‘Deliberative voting: clarifying consent in a consensus process’, Journal of Political Philosophy 22(3): 302–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mudge, S.L. (2018), Leftism Reinvented: Western Parties from Socialism to Neoliberalism, Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muirhead, R. (2014), The Promise of Party in a Polarized Age, Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North, D. C., Wallis, J. J., and Weingast, B.R.. (2009), Violence and Social Orders: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orr, G. (2014), ‘Private association and public brand: the Dualistic conception of political parties in the common law world’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 17(3): 332–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parr, T. and Billingham, P. (2020), ‘Online public shaming: virtues and vices’, Journal of Social Philosophy 51(3): 371–390.Google Scholar
Reuters (2019), ‘Ninth lawmaker quits Britain’s opposition Labour Party’, 22 February 2019.Google Scholar
Rosenblum, N. (2008), On the Side of the Angels, Princeton: Princeton UP.Google Scholar
Rosenblum, N. (2000), ‘Political parties as membership groups’, Columbia Law Review 100(3): 813–844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenbluth, F. and Shapiro, I. (2018), Responsible Parties: Saving Democracy from Itself, New Haven: Yale UP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rostbøll, C. (2011), ‘Freedom of expression, deliberation, autonomy and respect’, European Journal of Political Theory 10(1): 5–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rovny, J. (2014), ‘Who emphasized and who blurs? Party strategies in multidimensional competition’, European Union Politics 13(2): 269–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rummens, S. (2012), ‘Staging deliberation: the role of representative institutions in the deliberative democratic process’, Journal of Political Philosophy 20(1): 23–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarrow, S.E. (2014), Beyond Party Members: Changing Approaches to Partisan Mobilization, Oxford: OUP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumpeter, J. (1942 [2008]), Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Singer, A. (2019), The Form of the Firm: A Normative Political Theory of the Corporation, Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
The Economist (2020), ‘Britain’s Labour Party suspends Jeremy Corbyn over anti-semitism’. Retrieved on 13 December 2020 from https://www.economist.com/britain/2020/10/29/britains-labour-party-suspends-jeremy-corbyn-over-anti-semitism Google Scholar
Tilly, C. and Tarrow, S. (2007), Contentious Politics, Boulder, CO: Paradigm.Google Scholar
Townend, J. (2017), ‘Freedom of expression and the chilling effect’, in Tumber, H. and Waisbord, S. (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Media and Human Rights, London: Routledge, pp. 73–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Biezen, I. (2012), ‘Constitutionalizing party democracy: the Constitutive codification of political parties in post-war Europe’, British Journal of Political Science 42(1): 187–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Biezen, I. (2004), ‘Political parties as public utilities’, Party Politics 10(6): 701–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, J. and Ypi, L. (2016), The Meaning of Partisanship, Oxford: OUP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, J. and Ypi, L. (2010), ‘Rethinking the modern prince: partisanship and the democratic ethos’, Political Studies 58(4): 809–828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolkenstein, F. (forthcoming), ‘Party reforms and electoral systems: proportional representation is more hospitable to internal democratisation’, Representation.Google Scholar
Wolkenstein, F. (2019), Rethinking Party Reform, Oxford: OUP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolkenstein, F. (2018), ‘Membership ballots and the value of intra-party democracy’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 21(4): 433–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ypi, L. (2016), ‘Political commitment and the value of partisanship’, American Political Science Review 110(3): 601–613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar