The Party Reinvented

The emergence of political parties from social movements in contemporary Europe and Latin America suggests the enduring importance of two defining features of partisanship: the aim to form a permanent organisation, and the aim to control political institutions from the inside. At the same time, the way these emerging entities are structured suggests the motivational appeal of horizontal organisation, while their electoral success reminds that parties do best when embedded in movements larger than their membership. This paper examines the significance of these contemporary mobilisations for our larger understanding of the sense and structure of partisanship.