Intra-Party Politics and Decision-Making

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Mainstream parties in many advanced industrial democracies face a crisis, not only of competition from external, often populist competitors, but also of internal indecision. Substantial disagreements among party members and leaders in contexts as the United Kingdom, France, and the United States have spilled out into the open leading to major policy changes such as Brexit or even the formation of a new party in the case of Emanuel Macron’s En Marche in France. Despite these challenges, scholars have yet to fully develop and assess theories of internal party politics as most historical data collections focused on broad differences in the party’s structures or are limited to indicators such as the number of members.

This panel incorporates proposals that push the literature on intra-party politics forward to address behavioral questions linking intra-party politics to parties’ broader activities. Following advancements of new, developing projects such as the Party Congress Research Group and party member surveys, this panel will feature a set of closely related contributions focused on characterizing intra-party politics and understanding their consequences for parties and governments. In particular, separate contributions from van der Velden and Greene both explore ways of conceptualizing and operationalizing intra-party divisions by using the speeches and outcomes from party national congress meetings cross-nationally to predict the diffusion of policies cross-nationally and voter’s perceptions of parties’ electoral campaigns. Lehrer’s study of Prime Minister duration demonstrates clear consequences of internal disagreements on the party’s leadership and ability to remain in government. Ultimately, Kölln and Polk explore the empirical and conceptual foundations for evaluating intra-party dynamics using evidence from party member surveys. Together, these studies offer a cohesive panel that will encourage the speakers and audience to reconsider the current crisis of politics within advanced democracies as one in which intra-party politics play a key role.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 15: European Politics and Society

Individual Presentations

• The Contours of Divisions Within Political Parties: Hierarchy or Factions? - Ann-Kristin Koelln, Aarhus University; Jonathan Polk, University of Gothenburg

• Why Some Prime Ministers Serve Longer than Others - Roni Lehrer

• Keeping it in the Family? Party Cohesion, Disagreement and Voter Perception - Zachary David Greene, University of Strathclyde

• Party Policy Diffusion and Intra-Party Politics - Mariken van der Velden, Free University Amsterdam

Chair

• Jae-Jae Spoon University of Pittsburgh

Discussant

• Zachary David Greene University of Strathclyde