Party (democratic) innovations in Southern Europe and beyond: types, impacts and evolution

Abstract

Due to a perceived crisis of legitimation, many political parties (new, but also established ones) have increasingly developed new tools, processes, and procedures to foster members’ and citizens participation. We can define party (democratic) innovations, following the discussion by democratic innovation scholars, as new procedures developed by parties for increasing and deepening the members’ and sympathisers’ role in the intra-party democracy. Additionally, these innovations have normally, but not exclusively, a digital or a technological-based component. Increasing attention has been devoted to the development of a new possible model of digital party Conceptualising of such a model requires analysing different innovations in the external functions of parties, notably electoral campaigns, and communication (data-driven campaigns, the role of social networks), but also in intra-party democracy, with new processes for fostering members’ participation (primaries, consultations), deliberation (with deliberative platforms), financing, inclusion, and so forth. However, in many cases, there is a lack of a common framework that has limited the scope of analysis to innovations implemented only by specific parties. Therefore, a more comprehensive discussions on the real impact, evolution and consequences of these party innovations are needed, including also studies on how these party (democratic) innovations are perceived by members and the public. The aim of this panel is to discuss the types, impacts and evolution of these procedures. We are looking for papers that tackle some of the below mentioned issues: ▪️ Case studies on the implementation of party (democratic) innovations in specific party ▪️ Comparison between different parties and their use of digital innovations ▪️ In-depth analysis of a specific democratic innovation impact ▪️ The perception of these innovations by members, sympathisers or wider public ▪️ Discussion on how to measure, define or understand political parties’ innovations. We are open to all type of methodologies and research backgrounds. Comparative studies are welcome, also including comparisons between South European parties and other parties in different regions.

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