War Machine or Simply Party Disintermediation? Podemos and the Organisational Consequences of Digital Tools for New Movement Parties

This paper analyses the case of Podemos, a new party whose organization and practices are embedded in a new technological approach, transforming the traditional representative structures of Spanish mainstream parties. Aiming to assess the implications in terms of disintermediation, the paper analyses the implementation of new technologies and test their impact in the internal balance of power between members and the elites. We observe six main dimensions of party organisation, classified in terms of resources (membership, finance, and leaders’ communication) and decisions (candidate and leadership selection, party platform, and strategic decisions). Our preliminary results are indicating that new tools have foster participation, competition and flexibility, although these have been balanced by personalisation and leadership predominance over time, which have been reinforced after the party entrance in the institutions. The conclusion suggests that ICTs may produce a plebiscitarian mode of managing the party to the detriment of grassroots influence of the main decisions.