Unit 3: Political Parties and Membership

1. Unit 3: Political Parties and Membership Readings: Ware CH 2 and D/W CH 5

2. Guiding Questions • What are supporters? Members? Activists? • What role do they play in the functioning of political parties? • How do political parties convince voters to join? • Are members as important to parties today as they were a few decades ago? • Is the oft-cited decline in party membership a dangerfor political parties?

3. Supporters, Members, and Activists • Supporters: individuals which support a party but rarely do more than vote. • Rarely require policy influence in return. • Members: supporters who provide income for the party via membership dues. • Although many do little other than pay their dues. • Activists: voters whose support extends beyond paying dues. • Provides volunteer labor for the party. • Often expect policy influence in return.

4. Supporters vs. Members • Supporters, members, and activists provide valuable resources for political parties. • But parties vary on how much emphasis they place on each. • Cadre parties prefer supporters rather than members. • Mass parties emphasized a large membership. • Great for creating networks to spread ideology. • Catch-all parties attempt to draw voters from “outside” their base • Emphasis placed on pulling in supporters during election time. • No real need for a membership base.

5. The Value of Party Activists • Political activists can provide a strong workforce base for parties regardless of party type. • But activists typically want policy commitments in exchange for their labor. • And what activists want and what supporters want can be different. • Ideological zeal can hurt catch all strategies.

6. Supporters, Members, and Activists • Parties may depend on assistance from the voting public, but relationships between parties and voters have changed. • Party membership is declining in most advanced democracies. • Rising levels of electoral volatility (change in support for a given party in between elections) suggests that parties are drawing on a declining support base.

7. Why Do Parties Care? • Why not just farm out party functions to paid professionals? • Members, supporters and activists: • 1) Provide support for a given program or ideology. • 2) Volunteers provide more effective assistance than hired labor. • Increased commitment useful for parties. • 3) Campaign finance laws typically prohibit using funds for certain activities. • Volunteers can perform these functions. • 4) Party leaders rely on a support base to counter the effects of other organized interests within the party. • 5) Members and activists generate party resources.

8. How Do Parties Recruit Members? • Fiorina 1999 • Not easily. • Political participation is costly. • Intrinsic model of participation: • E(P) = p(B) – c • You participate if the benefits outweigh the costs. • Given the low likelihood your individual action will be decisive, costs outweigh benefits. • Parties try to overcome this collective action problem by providing incentives. • Two types: selective and purposive.

9. Selective Incentives • Selective incentives: attempt to boost the benefits of participation relative to the costs. • Two types: material and solidary • Material incentives: monetary or other material inducements in exchange for political support. • Most forms are no longer available or are of questionable legality in advanced systems. • Solidary incentives: collective benefits accrued by belonging to a group or organization. • Useful for mass parties. • Changing societal factors have reduced the appeal of solidary incentives

10. Purposive Incentives • Purposive incentives tap into expressive functions of voters. • Offer opportunities to assist the party in spreading policy/ideology. • Fiorina 1999 • Expressive model of participation: • E(P) = p(B) – c + e • Activists seeking purposive rewards expect parties to deliver on their issues. • Strains catch all appeals. • Single issues rather than encompassing ideology draw activists in modern parties. • Support depends on issue salience.

11. Parties without Partisans? PROBLEMATIC NOT PROBLEMATIC • Kirchheimer 1966 • Catch all parties fail to integrate new groups/voters into society. • Ware 1996 • May provide opportunities for extreme voices to hijack parties. • Dalton et al. 1999 • Decline in voter participation may weaken attachments to elections. • Citizens may view protests, petitions, demonstrations, etc. as more effective. • Epstein 1967 • Allows parties to jettison more ideological components. • Scarrow 2000 • Admits that membership numbers are declining • But is not convinced that this decline is necessarily problematic for parties or democracy. • Decline may be due to other unrelated factors.

12. Parties without Partisans? • Scarrow 2000 • Identifies three “myths” about declining membership and party organizational strength. • Argues that: • 1) The “Golden Era” (mid century) of mass parties was unique. • Should not be held up as the baseline for comparison. • 2) Membership decline is not synonymous with weaker organizational strength. • 3) Political parties still find members useful. • Bottom line: parties rely on a smaller, but more active membership.

13. Conclusions • As party organizations have evolved, their reliance on supporters, members, and activists have changed. • Voters are increasingly reluctant to become active in party organizations. • Relying on material incentives to boost support is no longer an option in most advanced democracies. • Selective incentives are declining in utility. • The most useful type of incentives (purposive) can often create problems for parties. • Example: UK Labour 1979-1997, UK Conservatives 1997-2010 • Some posit that declining party membership is dangerous. • While others argue that parties are adapting to new social/political challenges.

14. Next Unit • Theme: Party Organization-Cartel Parties • Readings: • Ware CH 3 • Dalton and Wattenberg CH 6 • Reserves: Katz and Mair