Unit 4: Political Parties as Campaign Organizations

1. Unit 4: Political Parties as Campaign Organizations Ware CH 3, D/W CH 6 and Katz and Mair (reserves)

2. Guiding Questions • What do party organizations do? • What are cartel parties? • How do they differ from cadre, mass, and catch all parties? • How does electoral politics play into the politics of cartel parties? • What patterns do we see in electoral campaigns?

3. What Do Party Organizations Do? • Ware 1996 • Party organizations: • Organize campaigns and elections • Maintain or build the party membership base • Determine policies/strategies for office holders. • But the emphasis that a specific party places on these functions varies • Developing new policies is often the least tended to area of organizational influence • Particularly amongst parties in opposition • Advances in technology have privileged the electoral functions of party organization over other functions.

4. Elections and Party Organization • Duverger 1956, Epstein 1967 • Electoral considerations prompts changes in organizations. • Contagion from the left  mass parties/Contagion from the right  catch-all parties • Panebianco 1988 • Professionalization of politics pushes emphasis away from party membership towards political professionals in the waging of campaigns. • Push towards electoral-professional parties. • Although a party’s past constrains the ability to make organizational changes. • Katz and Mair 2009 • Elections become fights over ‘competence’ and ‘management’ rather than the expression of group identity. • Divisive issues are delegated to non-partisan entities. • Push towards cartel parties.

5. Consequences of Professionalization • Panebianco 1988 • Shift in staffing from local branches to central party offices. • Central party is dominant • Elections driven by party leader (i.e. presidentialization). • Farrell and Webb 2000 • Political consultancy has become a major growth industry • “Marketing” parties is key. • Mimicry amongst political parties adapting to new technologies. • Example: Republicans/Democrats on GOTV, Facebook, Twitter • Public financing of campaigns has shaped the list of contenders in a much more expensive political world. • Some “outside” parties still jump these hurdles.

6. The Emergence of Political Parties: Cartel Parties (1970-present) • Why does this shift towards electoral politics matter? • Party research focuses on relationships between parties and society. • Focus on electoral priorities alters this relationship between state and society. • Neumann 1956 • Mass parties served as political structures which integrated citizens into political societies. • Kirchheimer 1966 • Posits that the switch from mass to catch all parties is problematic from a societal standpoint. • Katz and Mair 1997 • Argues that that traditional research ignores relationship between parties and the state. • Modern relationships between parties, society and the state do not sustain mass parties.

7. The Emergence of Political Parties: Stage Four Cartel Parties (1970-present) • Katz and Mair 1997 • Cadre: • State/society interpenetrated by elites; parties as cliques of notables. • Trustee form of representation. • Mass: • Extension of franchise push state and society apart; parties as intermediaries between the state and classes in civil society. • Delegate form of representation.

8. The Emergence of Political Parties: Stage Four Cartel Parties (1970-present) • Katz and Mair 1997 • Catch-All: • State and society separated as entry into government weakens ties between party and societal class groups. • Parties act as brokers between state and society which aggregate demands from society while justifying policies from the state. • Thus, parties are moving closer towards the state and further from society. • Entrepreneurial form of representation. • Contends that parties have become agents of the state.

9. The Emergence of Political Parties: Stage Four Cartel Parties (1970-present) • Katz and Mair 1997 • Characterized by “the interpenetration of party and state, and also by a pattern of inter-party collusion.” • 1) Politics as a profession • Competition based on efficient stewardship. • 2) Managed electoral competition • Shared sense of survival. • 3) Campaign resources provided by the state • Campaign resources provided to parties “inside the state” • 4) Greater rights to participation within party. • Centralization of party decisions weakens local party institutions.

10. Cartel Parties and Democracy • Katz and Mair 1997 • Creates a relatively permanent set of “in” parties. • Campaign finance rules make participation by “out” parties difficult. • Electoral results may not always be reflected in governing coalitions. • Feedback mechanisms weakened. • New demands increasingly voiced by interest groups rather than cartel parties. • May provide impetus for extreme parties.

11. Evaluating Theories of Campaign Professionalization • Contagion effects • Competition certainly does shape the form of organization that political parties take. • Supports Duverger and Epstein • But parties are limited in their ability to adopt certain types of structures (i.e. history ‘matters’) • Not one “ideal” form of organization that shapes every political party • Supports Panebianco • Institutionalization • History of a party’s founding definitely “matters” in terms of shaping their organization (i.e. US and Canadian cadre parties). • Supports Panebianco • But parties seeking to survive adapt to meet the needs of their respective electorate. • Supports Duverger and Epstein

12. Conclusion: Stage Five? New Politics/New Parties • Poguntke 1987; Harmel 2002 • Counter-response to cartel parties. • Representing their followers is key (similar to mass parties). • Parliamentary leadership (if it exists) is weak. • Power invested in the localities. • Some movements have opened up participation to non-members. • Associated with environmentalism and postmaterialist movements; a ‘side effect’ of a more educated/affluent electorate. • No developed party has adopted this form.

13. Next Unit • Theme: What do parties want? • Reading: • Mueller and Strom pgs. 1-27 and 112-140 • Theme: Parties and Votes • Reading: • Ware CH 11 • Mueller and Strom pgs. 89-111 • Game: Elections