This paper analyses the organisation of far right parties. It explores how these parties manage their internal organisation and cope with problems of collective choice and mobilisation. It seeks to answer two questions: firstly, how are these parties organised, and secondly, what are the implications for their electoral and organisational sustainability? The paper is based on a comparative study of two Australian far-right parties: Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party, using original interviews with candidates from the two parties’ 2019 federal election teams. Both parties adhere to expectations of highly centralised organisations (Mudde 2007; Heinsch & Mazzoleni 2016), structured around their respective ‘founder-leaders’ (McDonnell 2013). The parliamentary arm of both parties reigns supreme, with little distinction between the party in public office and party in central office (Katz & Mair 1993).
The paper provides an organisational perspective on the limited success of the Australian far right compared to its European or North American counterparts. While the parties present themselves as the champions of people-powered democracy, decision-making is wholly in the hands of party leadership. Intra-party democracy is practically non-existent and what little scope for membership participation there is is poorly institutionalised. Instead, this ‘pseudo-participation’ (Pateman 1970) is used to ratify the decisions of leadership and provide a degree of democratic legitimacy.
Their poor organisation translates into a greatly reduced capacity to wage a successful election campaign, with no apparent training or clear expectations for candidates. Accounts from candidates point to the importance of good and bad standing as an organising logic in both parties, with candidates selected based on their personal reputation. Candidates were left to wage their campaigns as they saw fit, with little national oversight, resulting in unattended polling booths and eager volunteers un-mobilised. This organisational ineptitude adds an additional dimension to the dominant ‘mainstreaming’ explanation for their poor electoral performance (Flemming & Mondon 2018; Mondon 2013). Given far-right party endurance correlates with strong and complex organisation (Art 2011), these finding do not bode well for the organisational longevity of these parties.
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