Political Leadership and Democratic Innovations: Primaries, Intra-Party Democracy and their Impact on Political Elites

The expansion of intra-party democracy, the adoption of new forms of e-participation and the introduction of new types of party membership are nowadays characterizing party politics in many advanced democracies. In particular, the trend towards more inclusive methods of selection of party candidates and leaders in several countries across the world and increasing data availability on intra-party democratic innovations (primary elections for instance) makes a research on the consequences of these trends both empirically relevant and feasible. The panel is thus dedicated to a systematic cross-time and cross-country study of such politically relevant phenomena and in particular on their impact on political elites. The research questions at the basis of this panel explore the party elites that emerge from those selection processes and those democratized organizational settings. Putting an emphasis on primary elections in particular, the panel focuses not only on the analysis of the processes through which party elites are selected and the consequences at the level of the party (organization and electoral success) but also at the level of party elites themselves, i.e. what impact party primaries have on the characteristics of parties’ candidates and leaders. What effects do primaries have on the selection of party elites? Do parties with primary elections choose as candidates and leaders people with different characteristics than ones without primaries? How do primaries affect the way parties are run by their elites? How do primaries affect the way leaders control the strategy and policy of parties? The panel also welcomes papers exploring the issue of the impact of inclusive selection methods on political elites though other dimensions of analysis, such as the one of responsiveness, accountability or party’s parliamentary cohesion.