Political Parties as Membership Organizations: Challenges and Explanations

Abstract

In the past two decades there has been a growing literature chronicling declining rates of membership in political parties in Western democracies. It is now widely accepted that parties face a serious challenge as vibrant membership organizations as both membership numbers and degrees of activism are generally in decline. This panel proposes to examine both the causes and implications of this decline. Specifically, we are interested in whether there are party level differences in terms of rates of membership and activism and thus whether explanations that relate more to forms of party organization than to systemic factors (that are widely discussed in the existing literature) need to be part of any explanation of these phenomena. In addition, we are interested in considering how the role of members and their influence within the parties changes within the context of declining overall numbers. We are particularly interested in the evolving power relations between the three faces of the party (on the ground, in central office and in public office) as well as the role/influence of members in pushing for organizational reforms that increase their influence in intra party decision making.

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