The constant decline in formal memberships no doubt challenges established political parties and is often seen as a factor driving organizational reform. Increasingly, these reforms also touch upon the very boundaries that political parties as voluntary organizations build upon. In this regard, parties across Western democracies have set up networks of supporters or friends, they have enacted guest memberships, and even consulted with the general public when formulating policies. In short, parties have significantly diversified the types of engagement they enter into with their wider grass-roots.
How can we conceptualize these changes? Do they undermine the status of formal membership or simply add to the linkages parties provide? Do such reforms erode the organizational boundaries of parties or merely change their type? To what extent has the meaning that party elites ascribe to their grass-roots changed accordingly?
This paper addresses these questions both theoretically and empirically. First, it draws on organizational theory to conceptualize the different types of exchange relationships that parties may enter into with various subgroups. Second, it conducts comparative case studies on processes of organizational reform in the British Labour and German Social Democratic Party. These case studies apply the conceptual approach and analyze the nature of changes in organizational boundaries alongside two dimensions: formal rule changes as embodied in party statutes and changes in related perceptions of party elites. To this end, qualitative content analysis is applied to rich material surrounding the reform debates of Partnership in Power, Refounding Labour to Win, SPD 2000, and Partei in Bewegung.
In doing so, the paper contributes to two core areas outlined in the workshop proposal. It engages in a re-examination of the concept of party membership on both theoretical and empirical grounds and it sheds light on the meaning of membership from the standpoint of party elites.
