Adobe Systems
Political parties
PMCb1006 Political and Media Systems

Political parties and democracy
= „organized and voluntary associations of people, competing for political power in elections,
taking political responsibility and seeking to implement their goals“
•Party democracies = political representation through political parties

Organizational typology of political parties
•Reflecting the emergence and development of political parties in time
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•Parties as a product of societal developments
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•Their importance increased with the introduction of parliamentarism and universal suffrage

Organizational typology of political parties
Four major types:
1.Elite (cadre) parties
2.Mass parties
3.Catch-all parties
4.Cartel parties

Cadre parties
= elite party, notables party, party of individual representation (S. Neumann)
•19th century
•Internal (vs external) foundation of the party
•Mass membership not important
•members = elites – imporant persons, specialist in campaigning,  sponsors/patrons
•Very limited electoral campaigns – personal contacts, funding, far from universal suffrage
•Decentralized organization, local branches/comittees, parliamentary coordination

Mass parties
•Mass-bureaucratic party (Panebianco), party of social integration (S. Neumann)
•Extra-parliament foundation
•Linked to „universalization“ of suffrage
•Seeking for broad public support – centralized, hierarchical state-wide organizational structure
•Growing from civic associations/trade unions (social democratic parties, agrarian parties)
•Seeking for parliamentary representation

Mass parties
•Taking care of members from „craddle to grave“
•Typical for the age of highly segmented societies (vurzuiling)
•alignments between political parties and segments of society – linked to cleavages)
•Concentrated around ideologies – ideological competition
•Gradual adaptation of elite parties to mass party strategies

Catch-all parties
•Kirchheimer (1966)
•Adaptation to societal changes after the 2nd World War
•Defreezing of party systems (S. Rokkan, S.M. Lipset):
•Established patterns of party competition until the 1960s
•Weakening of party alignments
•Rise of electoral volatility
•Emergence of new political parties
•Reasons: consumerism, secularization, individualism, decreasing number of core voters („naturally“
voting for the same party) – the need to find new voters
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Catch all parties
Features:
1.Drastically decrease of the ideology
2.Increased role of party leadership
3.Membership less important
4.Less stress on particular interests
5.Access to various interest groups

Catch-all parties and campaigning
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•New campaign tools – television, „politics in TV“ phenomenom
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•Decreasing importance of party newspapers
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•More extensive/offensive/negative campaigning – growing number of undecided voters
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•„Americanization“ of electoral campaings – political marketing, market research
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Cartel parties
•R. Katz and P. Mair
•Deepening of dealignments both to the society in general and to a specific societal segment
•Demand for whole-society problém solutions, less interest in particular issues
•Even lesser importance of membership and formal organizational structures
•Professionalization of parties (managers, similar to business)
•Internal resources (members) replaced by external ones (public funding)
•Parties decide about the access to the external sources => the cartel
•Decrease of party competition and increase of cooperation = rise of protest parties
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Business firm parties
•Personal political projects of „political enrepreneurs“
•Funding from private resources
•Party on the ground limited to minimum
•Internal organization/party bureaucracy „contracted out“
•Public good exchanged for real purpose of these parties, just a by-product
•Personalized leadership, highly centralized organization
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Parties in the (new) media age
-How has the Internet changed your life?
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-How does the Internet shape your life?
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Political parties in the (new) media age
-How has the internet changed the life of political parties?
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-Has it changed evenly (all kinds of political parties)?
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-It the Internet (new media) good or bad for political parties?
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Parties in the (new-)media age
•Many social interactions has moved online
•Problem with the image of parties
•Party press almost non-existent
•Negative effects of media on political attitudes but possibly increase participation and even
trust
•Globalization fostered by the media
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Parties in the (new-)media age
•No all parties are equal – lower cost for launching new parties
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•Need for costly (?) professional online campaigning
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•The character of party membership
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•The strength of party identification (electoral consequences)
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Cyber parties
•Attempt to use website technologies to make relationship between the party and voters stronger
•Introduction of primaries x leader selection (?)
•Facilitation of internal communication
•Potential for increase of political participation (and new forms of it)
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Conclusion
•Political parties as ever-changing organizations
•The role of the context – the society
•The recent changes in parties and communication determined by the changes in the media systems
•The role of the Internet
•Challenges and opportunities for political parties
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