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Creating new participatory linkages? Political parties and democratisation in Germany, Austria, and the UK
Butzlaff, Felix
Butzlaff, Felix
Title / Series / Name
Party Politics
Publication Volume
31
Publication Issue
2
Pages
Author
Editors
Keywords
conservatism
individualisation
party reforms
social democracy
social movements
Sociology and Political Science
individualisation
party reforms
social democracy
social movements
Sociology and Political Science
Files
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/27770
Abstract
A modernisation- and individualisation-induced loss of trust, membership, and voters has been addressed in party research for a while. However, social theory authors such as Beck, Bauman, Sennett, and Taylor have pointed to further organisational dilemmas that have not been addressed in depth: That demands for flexibility, individualisation and non-bindingness and demands for centralized political leadership might go hand in hand; and that notwithstanding increasing individualisation citizens might demand new forms of social collectives and belonging. In this article, I compare how different established party families perceive these contradictions and seek to create new party-society linkages. Based on a series of qualitative in-depth interviews with social democratic and conservative party functionaries, I emphasise that different party families and their reform attempts reflect individualisation, flexible and liquid identities differently and thus refashion the way citizens are linked with political parties and representative democracy.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2025-03
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1177/13540688241306727