Party, People, Politics

Party, People, Politics Dr Henning Meyer London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Social Europe Journal The Need for organisational change

Structure • Movement and catch-all party • Parties and society • Recent Reforms in Labour and SPD • Discussion

Movement and catch all party • Social democratic parties lost movement character • Cultural dimension is key • Social roots have been lost

Movement and catch all party II • Decline of support for catch-all parties not just a social democratic phenomenon • Transition from catch-all parties to electoral professional parties • Centralisation of power  experience hard to break through

Movement and catch all party IIi • What used to be a bottom-up movement has become a top-down professional structure in many cases

Parties and society • Parties are perceived as having lost touch with the live of people • Party membership is not representative of society • Party structures are perceived as narrow-minded and old fashioned

Parties and society ii • Population open for social democratic arguments but parties activities do not fit lifestyle • New sociology of working lives with more location moves and urbanisation • Also need to reach out to traditional electorate  often attracted to right-wing parties

Parties and society iii • Need to reach out to layers of society completely disconnected from politics (migrant families, …) • In a nutshell parties have become narrow and top-down and not representative of society

Refoundinglabour • Party decline connected to turnout decline • UK in 1950: 84%  UK in 2001: 59% • In the same period of time party membership has fallen from 4 million in Labour and Conservatives to under 500.000 in Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in 2005

Refoundinglabour ii • RefoundingLabour was a consultation process for how to open up party structures • Finding new ways to engage with members – taking their opinions seriously • Finding new ways to bridge the divide between members, supporters and voters

Refoundinglabour iii • Local party structures are often perceived as old-fashioned • Attending party meetings often perceived as boring • Help local parties to adopt the best structure for their local needs

SPD Reforms • Driving force is to re-connect to citizens and their concerns • Three Challenges • 1. Citizen’s expectations of political participation have grown (want to shape things not just ‘fit’ into an existing organisation)

SPD Reforms ii • 2. Working conditions have changed and have become more flexible. Time and place is not certain anymore • 3. Role models have changed and some groups of society retreat from political discourse altogether

SPD Reforms iii • Therefore party reform should concentrate on more democracy and participation • Parties need to open up to society (taking members more seriously and open up to non-members) • Cooperate more with unions, NGOs, social movements and community organisations

Conclusion • The challenges seem similar: • New ways of participation and being taking seriously • Bridging the gap between members, supporters and voters • Reconnect with society (for instance with new alliances) • Adjust to new forms of professional and private life

discussion • Thank you very much for your attention!

Party, People, Politics