Great Expectations Lead to Great Disillusionments: A Portrayal of Party Membership Experiences in Four European Challenger Parties

The period around the Great Recession led to the emergence of several new challenger parties across Europe that captured the aspirations of a sector of the electorate who were longing for more radical and transformative politics. Among these, the Pirate parties, Podemos and La France insoumise came on the political scene with political and organisational innovations that pledged to transform party membership itself. Using data from a novel comparative survey of current and former party members of the Czech Pirate Party, the German Pirate Party, LFI and Podemos, this paper examines how the motivations to join these parties – notably, beliefs regarding the leaders, the ability to effect change and the promise of participation – are linked to the timing and reasons for exiting the party.