Building a Party Top-Down and Bottom-Up: The Case of MORENA in Mexico

• In Event: Comparative Party-Building in Tumultuous Times

Abstract

Studying the trajectory of the recently founded Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (MORENA) in Mexico, this paper analyzes how the institutionalization and structure of new political parties can be shaped by societal organizations. Focusing on the intra-elite dynamics during parties’ founding moments, I present and test a novel theory about the crucial importance of popular mass protests for the development and institutionalization of mass parties. This paper draws on original extensive interviews with representatives of MORENA, other parties, and various societal organizations, along with the analysis of newspaper articles and internal party documents. In doing so, the paper traces the development of the party and its relationship to various societal organizations from its founding moments to explain the institution of a party structure and the adoption of different mobilization strategies. In a first step, I show how the shared experience of moments of solidarity before a party’s founding moments can create a shared sense of identity within the founding coalition and create mutual trust between proto-leaders and organizational allies involved in the moments of solidarity. In a second step, I then show how this shared identity and mutual trust within the founding coalition shape early on whether a party-organization tie becomes institutionalized and how the party structure relates to its supporters.

Author

• Mathias Poertner, Texas A&M University