Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy: How Do Members React to Organizational Change within Political Parties? The Case of Belgium

<span class="abs_content">Facing a crucial legitimacy crisis, many Western European political parties have recently undergone various forms of organizational changes by adopting procedures for increasing intra-democracy: internal ballots, internal referenda, primary elections and so...

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Autores principales:	Giulia Sandri, Anissa Amjahad
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Coordinamento SIBA 2015
Materias:	intra-party democracy leadership selection party membership party politics primary elections Political science (General) JA1-92
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/777c91daa5ba401c8420d17b4ca80d0f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:777c91daa5ba401c8420d17b4ca80d0f2021-11-21T15:11:38ZParty Membership and Intra-Party Democracy: How Do Members React to Organizational Change within Political Parties? The Case of Belgium1972-76232035-660910.1285/i20356609v8i1p190https://doaj.org/article/777c91daa5ba401c8420d17b4ca80d0f2015-03-01T00:00:00Zhttp://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco/article/view/14789https://doaj.org/toc/1972-7623https://doaj.org/toc/2035-6609<span class="abs_content">Facing a crucial legitimacy crisis, many Western European political parties have recently undergone various forms of organizational changes by adopting procedures for increasing intra-democracy: internal ballots, internal referenda, primary elections and so on. Direct democracy is now used in a wide range of decision-making procedures such as candidate and leadership selection (Cross and Katz, 2013). These reforms have pro-vided new opportunities for participation to party members. What happens to more traditional elements of party internal structures when such instruments of intra-party democracy are adopted? And more specifically, how are such changes perceived by the party base? This paper explores the attitudes and behaviors of members with regard to intra-party democracy procedures. On the basis of a case study (Belgium) and of an original dataset, the paper explores the political consequences of intra-party democracy. We show that members’ satisfaction with the party and their degree of previous internal activism affect the level of involvement in intra-party democracy activities. However, the dissatisfaction of the party base vis-à-vis of the membership role is growing. Intra-party democratization seems to limit the organizational function of the grass-roots membership to a ‘cheerleading’ role.</span><br />Giulia SandriAnissa AmjahadCoordinamento SIBAarticleintra-party democracyleadership selectionparty membershipparty politicsprimary electionsPolitical science (General)JA1-92ENPartecipazione e Conflitto, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 190-214 (2015)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	intra-party democracy leadership selection party membership party politics primary elections Political science (General) JA1-92
spellingShingle	intra-party democracy leadership selection party membership party politics primary elections Political science (General) JA1-92 Giulia Sandri Anissa Amjahad Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy: How Do Members React to Organizational Change within Political Parties? The Case of Belgium
description	<span class="abs_content">Facing a crucial legitimacy crisis, many Western European political parties have recently undergone various forms of organizational changes by adopting procedures for increasing intra-democracy: internal ballots, internal referenda, primary elections and so on. Direct democracy is now used in a wide range of decision-making procedures such as candidate and leadership selection (Cross and Katz, 2013). These reforms have pro-vided new opportunities for participation to party members. What happens to more traditional elements of party internal structures when such instruments of intra-party democracy are adopted? And more specifically, how are such changes perceived by the party base? This paper explores the attitudes and behaviors of members with regard to intra-party democracy procedures. On the basis of a case study (Belgium) and of an original dataset, the paper explores the political consequences of intra-party democracy. We show that members’ satisfaction with the party and their degree of previous internal activism affect the level of involvement in intra-party democracy activities. However, the dissatisfaction of the party base vis-à-vis of the membership role is growing. Intra-party democratization seems to limit the organizational function of the grass-roots membership to a ‘cheerleading’ role.</span><br />
format	article
author	Giulia Sandri Anissa Amjahad
author_facet	Giulia Sandri Anissa Amjahad
author_sort	Giulia Sandri
title	Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy: How Do Members React to Organizational Change within Political Parties? The Case of Belgium
title_short	Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy: How Do Members React to Organizational Change within Political Parties? The Case of Belgium
title_full	Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy: How Do Members React to Organizational Change within Political Parties? The Case of Belgium
title_fullStr	Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy: How Do Members React to Organizational Change within Political Parties? The Case of Belgium
title_full_unstemmed	Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy: How Do Members React to Organizational Change within Political Parties? The Case of Belgium
title_sort	party membership and intra-party democracy: how do members react to organizational change within political parties? the case of belgium
publisher	Coordinamento SIBA
publishDate	2015
url	https://doaj.org/article/777c91daa5ba401c8420d17b4ca80d0f
work_keys_str_mv	AT giuliasandri partymembershipandintrapartydemocracyhowdomembersreacttoorganizationalchangewithinpoliticalpartiesthecaseofbelgium AT anissaamjahad partymembershipandintrapartydemocracyhowdomembersreacttoorganizationalchangewithinpoliticalpartiesthecaseofbelgium
_version_	1718418772521385984

Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy: How Do Members React to Organizational Change within Political Parties? The Case of Belgium

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