Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T13:25:00.247Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Country or party? Variations in party membership around the globe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2022

Emilie van Haute Open the ORCID record for Emilie van Haute [Opens in a new window]  and
Pedro Floriano Ribeiro
Emilie van Haute*
Affiliation:
Centre d’étude de la vie Politique (Cevipol), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50 – CP124, B – 1050, Brussels, Belgium
Pedro Floriano Ribeiro
Affiliation:
Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper explores external (country-level) and internal (party-level) drivers of membership variations across parties. Relying on the Political Party Database combined with other datasets, we provide original, cross-sectional analyses of membership variation across 223 parties in 38 countries, innovatively covering third-wave democracies, post-communist countries, and advanced democracies. It allows for a unique analysis of recruitment patterns of parties under quite different contexts. Departing from the dominant view that parties are the powerless victims of external trends, we show that, while context matters, parties’ choices regarding affiliation rules and organization structure also matter. They are more powerful determinants of membership ratios than country-level variables. Especially, the representation of sub-groups in the party structure is a key driver of membership recruitment. We also show how party origins, and the foundational environment in which they emerged, are important to understand how membership varies across parties today. Overall, this study strongly advocates for a broad comparative, multilevel approach to party membership.

Keywords

party membershipparty organizationrepresentationincentivesparty members
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , August 2022 , pp. 281 - 295
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. 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

Achury, S., Scarrow, S., Kosiara-Pedersen, K. and van Haute, E. (2018), ‘The consequences of membership incentives: do greater political benefits attract different kinds of members?’, Party Politics 26(1): 56–68.10.1177/1354068818754603CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bäck, M. and Serup Christensen, H. (2016), ‘When trust matters – a multilevel analysis of the effect of generalized trust on political participation in 25 European democracies’, Journal of Civil Society 12(2): 178–197.10.1080/17448689.2016.1176730CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barberà, O., Sandri, G., Correa, P. and Rodriguez-Teruel, J. (eds) (2021), Digital Parties. The Challenges of Online Organisation and Participation, Cham: Springer.10.1007/978-3-030-78668-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartolini, S. (1983), The membership of mass parties: the social democratic experience 1889–1978, in Daalder, H. and Mair, P. (eds), Western European Party System. Continuity and Change, Beverly Hills: Sage, pp. 177–220.Google Scholar
Beyens, S., Lucardie, P. and Deschouwer, K. (2016), ‘The life and death of new parties in the low countries’, West European Politics 39(2): 257–277.10.1080/01402382.2015.1066589CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyme, K.V. (1985), Political Parties in Western Democracies, Aldershot: Gower.Google Scholar
Bolleyer, N. (2013), New Parties in Old Party Systems, Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646067.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brady, H.E., Verba, S. and Schlozman, K.L. (1995), ‘Beyond SES: a resource model of political participation’, American Political Science Review 89(2): 271–294.10.2307/2082425CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheibub, J.A., Gandhi, J. and Vreeland, J.R. (2010), ‘Democracy and dictatorship revisited’, Public Choice 143(2–1): 67–101.10.1007/s11127-009-9491-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, S.C., Niemi, R.G. and Silver, G.E. (1990), ‘Political efficacy and trust: a report on the NES pilot study items’, Political Behavior 12: 289–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, W. and Blais, A. (2012), ‘Who selects the party leader?’, Party Politics 18(2): 127–150.10.1177/1354068810382935CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, W. and Katz, R.S. (2013), The Challenges of Intra-party Democracy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, W. and Pilet, J.-B. (2015), The Politics of Party Leadership: A Cross-national Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198748984.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, R.J. (2013), Citizen Politics. Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies, 6th edn., London: Sage.Google Scholar
Dalton, R.J. and Wattenberg, M.P. (2002), Parties without Partisans. Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies, Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/0199253099.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delwit, P. (2011), ‘Still in decline? Party membership in Europe’, in van Haute, E. (ed), Party Membership in Europe. Exploration into the Anthills of Party Politics, Brussels: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, pp. 25–42.Google Scholar
Deschouwer, K. (2006), ‘Political parties as multi-level organizations’, in Katz, R.S. and Crotty, W. (eds), Handbook of Party Politics, London: Sage, pp. 291–300.10.4135/9781848608047.n25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Detterbeck, K. (2005), ‘Cartel parties in Western Europe?’, Party Politics 11(2): 173–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Detterbeck, K. (2012), Multi-Level Party Politics in Western Europe, Vol. 2, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9781137017857CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Detterbeck, K. and Hepburn, E. (2010), ‘Party politics in multi-level systems: party responses to new challenges in European democracies’, in Erk, J. and Swenden, W. (eds), New Directions in Federalism Studies, London & New York: Routledge, pp. 106–125.Google Scholar
Fisher, J., Fieldhouse, E., Johnston, R., Pattie, C. and Cutts, D. (2016), ‘Is all campaigning equally positive? The impact of district level campaigning on voter turnout at the 2018 British general election’, Party Politics 22(2): 215–226.10.1177/1354068815605672CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, M. (2019), ‘Election indices dataset at’. http://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/people/michael_gallagher/ElSystems/index.php.Google Scholar
Gauja, A. (2015), ‘The construction of party membership’, European Journal of Political Research 54(2): 232–248.10.1111/1475-6765.12078CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harmel, R. and Janda, K. (1994), ‘An integrated theory of party goals and party change’, Journal of Politics 6(3): 259–287.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L., Marks, G., Schakel, A., Chapman-Osterkatz, S., Niedzwiecki, S. and Shair-Rosenfield, S. (2016), Measuring Regional Authority: A Postfunctionalist Theory of Governance, Vol. 1, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, M. and Kern, A. (2015), ‘Party membership and closeness and the development of trust in political institutions: an analysis of the European social survey, 2002–2010’, Party Politics 21(6): 944–956.10.1177/1354068813509519CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, M. and Kölln, A.-K. (2020), ‘Types of party affiliation and the multi-speed party: what kind of party support is functionally equivalent to party membership?’, Party Politics 26(4): 355–365.Google Scholar
Hooghe, M. and Marien, S. (2013), ‘A comparative analysis of the relation between political trust and forms of political participation in Europe’, European Societies 15(1): 131–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, J.D., Kernell, G. and Leoni, E. (2005), ‘Institutional context, cognitive resources and party attachments across democracies’, Political Analysis 13: 365–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ignazi, P. (2020), ‘The four knights of intra-party democracy: a rescue for party delegitimation’, Party Politics 26(1): 9–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, J. and Wallack, J. (2012), ‘Electoral Systems and the Personal Vote’. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AMRXJA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, R.S. and Mair, P. (1992a), ‘The membership of political parties in European democracies, 1960–1990’, European Journal of Political Research 22(3): 329–345.10.1111/j.1475-6765.1992.tb00316.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, R.S. and Mair, P. (eds) (1992b), Party Organizations: A Data Handbook on Party Organizations in Western Democracies, 1960–90, London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Katz, R.S. and Mair, P. (1995), ‘Changing models of party organization and party democracy. The emergence of the cartel party’, Party Politics 1(1): 5–22.10.1177/1354068895001001001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kölln, A.-K. (2014), Party decline and response: the effects of membership decline on party organisations in Western Europe, 1960–2010. PhD thesis, University of Twente.Google Scholar
Kölln, A.-K. (2016), ‘Party membership in Europe. Testing party-level explanations of decline’, Party Politics 22(4): 465–477.10.1177/1354068814550432CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kölln, A.-K., and Polk, J. (2017), ‘Emancipated party members: examining ideological incongruence within political parties’, Party Politics 23(1): 18–29.10.1177/1354068816655566CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kosiara-Pedersen, K., Scarrow, S.E. and van Haute, E. (2017), ‘Rules of engagement? Party membership costs, new forms of party affiliation, and partisan participation’, in Scarrow, S.E., Webb, P. and Poguntke, T. (eds), Organizing Political Partie: Representation, Participation, and Power, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 234–258.Google Scholar
Lawson, K. and Merkl, P.H. (1988), When Parties Fail. Emerging Alternative Organizations, Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loxton, J. (2015), ‘Authoritarian successor parties’, Journal of Democracy 26(3): 157–170.10.1353/jod.2015.0052CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupu, N. (2015), ‘Party polarization and mass partisanship: a comparative perspective’, Political Behavior 37(2): 331–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mair, P. and van Biezen, I. (2001), ‘Party membership in twenty European democracies: 1980–2000’, Party Politics 7(1): 5–21.10.1177/1354068801007001001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
March, J.G. (ed) (1965), Handbook of Organizations, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Marien, S. and Quintelier, E. (2011), ‘Trends in party membership in Europe. Investigation into the reasons for declining party membership’, in van Haute, E. (ed), Party Membership in Europe. Exploration into the Anthills of Party Politics, Brussels: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, pp. 43–60.Google Scholar
Miller, A.H. (1974), ‘Political issues and trust in government: 1964–70’, American Political Science Review 68: 951–972.10.2307/1959140CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mjelde, H.L. (2015), ‘Non-member participation in political parties: a framework for analysis and selected empirical examples from Scandinavia’, Representation 51(3): 299–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, P. (2002), Democratic Phoenix: Reinventing Political Activism, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panebianco, A. (1988), Political Parties: Organization and Power, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pedersen, K. (2003), Party Membership Linkage: The Danish Case, København: Institut for Statskundskab.Google Scholar
Poguntke, T. (2002), ‘Parties without firm social roots? Party organisational linkage’. Working paper, KEPRU.Google Scholar
Poguntke, T., Scarrow, S.E., Webb, P.D., Allen, E.H., Allot, N., van Biezen, I., Calossi, E., Costa Lobo, M., Cross, W.P., Deschouwer, K., Enyedi, Z., Fabre, E., Farrell, D.M., Gauja, A., Pizzimenti, E., Kopecky, P., Koole, R., Müller, W.C., Kosiara-Pedersen, K., Rahat, G., Szczerbiak, A., van Haute, E., Verge, T. (2016), ‘Party rules, party resources and the politics of parliamentary democracies: How parties organize in the 21st century’, Party Politics 22(6): 661–678.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poguntke, T., Scarrow, S.E. and Webb, P. (2020), ‘PPDB Round1a_1b_consolidated_v1’. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/NBWDFZ CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randall, V. and Svasand, L. (2002), ‘Party institutionalization in new democracies’, Party Politics 8(1): 5–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuels, D.J. and Shugart, M.S. (2010), Presidents, Parties, and Prime Ministers. How the Separation of Powers Affects Party Organization and Behavior, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandri, G. and Pauwels, T. (2011), ‘The role of party members in Belgian and Italian parties: a cross-national analysis’, in van Haute, E. (ed), Party Membership in Europe. Exploration into the Anthills of Party Politics, Brussels: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, pp. 129–146.Google Scholar
Scarrow, S. (1994), ‘The ‘paradox of enrollment’: assessing the costs and benefits of party membership’, European Journal of Political Research 25(1): 41–60.10.1111/j.1475-6765.1994.tb01200.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarrow, S. (1996), Parties and their Members, Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/0198279183.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarrow, S. (2015), Beyond Party Members. Changing Approaches to Partisan Mobilization, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Scarrow, S.E., Webb, P.D. and Poguntke, T. (eds) (2017), Organizing Political Parties: Representation, Participation, and Power, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sundberg, J. (1987), ‘Exploring the case of declining party membership in Denmark: a Scandinavian comparison’, Scandinavian Political Studies 10(1): 17–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, A. (2000), Members, Organization and Performance: An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Party Membership Size, Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
van Biezen, I. (2003), Political Parties in New Democracies: Party Organization in Southern and East Central Europe, New York: Palgrave 10.1057/9781403937858CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Biezen, I. (2009), ‘Constitutionalizing party democracy: the constitutive codification of political parties in post-war Europe’. Working paper series on the Legal Regulation of Political Parties 3.Google Scholar
van Biezen, I. and Kopecky, P. (2017), ‘The paradox of party funding: the limited impact of state subsidies on party membership’, in Scarrow, S.E., Webb, P.D. and Poguntke, T. (eds), Organizing Political Parties: Representation, Participation, and Power, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 84–105.Google Scholar
van Biezen, I., Mair, P. and Poguntke, T. (2012), ‘Going, going, … gone? The decline of party membership in contemporary Europe’, European Journal of Political Research 51(1): 24–56.10.1111/j.1475-6765.2011.01995.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Haute, E. and Paulis, E. (2017), ‘MAPP Dataset’. Retrieved 20 May 2022 from https://zenodo.org/record/61234 Google Scholar
Van Haute, E., Paulis, E. and Sierens, V. (2018), ‘Assessing party membership figures: the map dataset’, European Political Science 17: 366–377.10.1057/s41304-016-0098-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
von dem Berge, B. and Poguntke, T. (2017), ‘Varieties of intra-party democracy: conceptualization and index construction’, in Scarrow, S.E., Webb, P.D. and Poguntke, T. (eds), Organizing Political Parties: Representation, Participation, and Power, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 136–157.Google Scholar
Webb, P. and Keith, D. (2017), ‘Assessing the strength of party organizational resources: a survey of the evidence from the political party database’, in Scarrow, S.E., Webb, P.D., and Poguntke, T. (eds), Organizing Political Parties: Representation, Participation, and Power, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 31–61.Google Scholar
Webb, P., Poletti, M. and Bale, T. (2017), ‘So who really does the donkey work in ‘multi-speed membership parties’? Comparing the election campaign activity of party members and party supporters’, Electoral Studies 46: 64–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weldon, S. (2006), ‘Downsize my polity? The impact of size on party membership and member activism’, Party Politics 12(4): 467–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whiteley, P. (2011), ‘Is the party over? The decline of party activism and membership across the democratic world’, Party Politics 17(1): 21–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whiteley, P. and Seyd, P. (1996), ‘Rationality and party activism. Encompassing tests of alternative models of political participation’, European Journal of Political Research 29(2): 215–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

van Haute and Ribeiro supplementary material

van Haute and Ribeiro supplementary material

Download van Haute and Ribeiro supplementary material(File)
File 22 KB