The Old is New? Party-Group Relations in Southern Europe in the Age of Crisis

Abstract

The primary focus of this panel is the interaction between political parties and interest groups in Southern Europe in times of economic crisis. While there have within the past years been contributions focused the relationship between civil society and the radical left, there is not a systematic overview of how parties and interest groups interact, specifically before and after the emergence of the economic crisis. This proposal is intended to help fill this important gap. The panel adopts a multi-dimensional approach to the study of party-group relationship, based on the idea that this linkage does not only reflect a sociological or ideological dimension, but it also includes a strategic component. From this viewpoint, the panel is open to papers offering innovative theoretical or empirical contributions, especially with regard to promising aspects to explore in future research such as informal ties, institutional (i.e. parliamentary) exchanges or leadership recruitment. Studies have shown that the crisis has encompassed a wide range of strategies and responses in different countries. Economic crises may not only lead to strengthening the capacity of organized civil society to voice their concerns – i.e. through strikes -, but may also open new opportunities for political parties – in particular left-wing – in the attempt to find attractive solutions to cope with the negative effects of the austerity policies. This means that parties and groups may still find it worthwhile to interact at both the institutional and societal level. Despite the (alleged) decline of the organizational link, the economic crisis may lead to create new types of linkage between parties and interest groups and to innovate existing patterns of interactions. The panel aims to offer a novel look at this long ¬established field of political science by examining the complexity and variety of party-group ties in Southern Europe but with broader implications in other European democracies. Is there a decline in the linkage between parties and interest groups over the last decades? Has the current crisis reshaped traditional patterns of interactions? Are parties still regarded as relevant actors from organized civil society at the institutional level? How can we explain variations in the type of relationship between parties and interest groups? Is this interaction consequential in terms of legitimacy, mechanisms of representation or policy outputs? This panel welcomes papers that deal with the above outlined questions and systematically examine the relationship between parties and organized civil society in times of crisis, particularly at the institutional level. We would be particularly interested in receiving contributions dealing with interesting case studies or using a comparative approach, both across countries and over time. Although special attention will be paid to new patterns of relationship in times of crises, papers examining patterns of change and continuity over time are also germane.

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