Intra-Party Democracy and Leadership Election Methods – A Comparative Analysis of Political Parties in Europe

To what extent parties must be, should be and are internally democratic relatively to their internal distribution of power and decision-making practices? What are the consequences posed by the enhancement of Intra-Party democracy for the party leadership? These are crucial questions yet under researched by political scientists. This paper aims to fill this research gap and assess the extent to which a more inclusive leadership election method increases the level of Intra Party Democracy (IPD) and what are the consequences for the party leadership. In normative debates the argument is sometimes raised that making parties more internally democratic may reverse the negative trend and tackle their crisis. The concept of IPD is gaining increasing and at its core is about the internal distribution of power within a political party; according to some scholars the most used instrument to pursue IPD is the enhancement of the inclusiveness of leadership election methods. Drawing from the tradition of participatory democracy and supported by Dahl’s five criteria of democracy, this paper will shed a light on the very concept of IPD and its practical realization in Europe. By classifying the existing patterns of party leadership election methods and IPD in 30 European democracies it will provide a snapshot of the current state of affairs; by examining the leadership election practices of 165 major parliamentary political parties, it will show the links between different categories and the level of democracy existing in specific parties also assessing and examining the different types leadership produced. IPD will be measured according to the key democratic parameters of Participation, Representation, Competition, Accountability and Transparency. By presenting a cross-national study of IPD this paper will provide a valuable empirical contribution which will help the development of the theoretical and normative debate around IPD and its implications for contemporary political parties.