Occupy#PD and Occupy#CHP: Movement Politics within Political Parties

This paper analyses a little-studied phenomenon: movements within parties. While parties and movements often are assumed to be strictly separate entities, the borders between the two have often proved to be more fluent. Parties frequently play a pivotal role in movement politics, and movements influence parties through the dual militancy of many of their members. The article presents two cases of Occupy-movements taking place within major mainstream left-of-center parties, the Italian PD and the Turkish CHP, and analyses the causes both of discontent and the choice of activists to voice this discontent rather than to exit the party. We argue that, beyond country specificities, shared factors are discontent with the cartel party model, the lack of a credible and competitive alternative, and institutional obstacles to create and nourish.