Wrangling Regional Politics: A Networks and Organization Theory of Agent Management in Multilevel Parties

• In Event: 50220 - Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7: States and Institutions

Abstract

Regional party organization is a critical link between local constituents and the national party organization. This gap, and the need for an intermediary organization, alludes to the possibility of mismatched values and interests between the national and local. While regional party leaders may help bridge this gap, there is also the risk they may exploit or poorly manage it. Principal Agency Theory highlights the challenges inherent in managing multi-tier economic and political organizations, but its solutions are undersocialized. Sociological theories of agency factor in the social embeddedness of prinicpals and agents, but typically overlook the actual organizations and broader organizational environments.

This study argues that party organization and the party-in-government both structure the political networks in which party elites are embedded. When all candidates for regional party leadership are embedded in one or more networks, national parties must choose between political and non-political figures, and between figures with primarily national ties, primarily regional ties, or both. The relative risks and rewards of these choices are determined by institutional and electoral factors beyond the party’s organizational boundaries. Two examples include whether legislative districts are multi-member or single-member, and whether a party is dominant in a given region. This study explains why, for example, under single-member districts national parties select regional party leaders with political experience, whereas in multi-member districts, they prefer regional leaders with no political experience.

Taiwan’s Kuomingtang (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are opportune cases in which to examine agency management in multilevel parties. This study exploits variation in districting rules and regional dominance to test the effects of environmental factors on selection of regional party leaders. Preliminary analyses confirm the general preferences of both national parties. The final draft will model and test party preferences over each party, region and election from the 1990s to the present.

Author

• Jacob Austin Reidhead, National Chengchi University