UNIT 4: POLITICAL PARTIES AS
CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATIONS
Ware CH 3, D/W CH 6 and Katz and Mair (reserves)
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?

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.
Elections and Party Organization

Duverger 1956, Epstein 1967


Panebianco 1988


Electoral considerations prompts changes in organizations.
 Contagion from the left  mass parties/Contagion from the right  catch-all
parties
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.
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.
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.


Neumann 1956


Mass parties served as political structures which integrated citizens
into political societies.
Kirchheimer 1966


Focus on electoral priorities alters this relationship between state and
society.
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.
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.
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.
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


2) Managed electoral competition



Shared sense of survival.
3) Campaign resources provided by the state


Competition based on efficient stewardship.
Campaign resources provided to parties “inside the state”
4) Greater rights to participation within party.
Centralization of party decisions weakens local
party institutions.
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.
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
Conclusion:
Stage Five? New Politics/New Parties


Poguntke 1987; Harmel 2002
Counter-response to cartel parties.


Parliamentary leadership (if it exists) is weak.


Power invested in the localities.
Some movements have opened up participation to
non-members.


Representing their followers is key (similar to mass
parties).
Associated with environmentalism and postmaterialist
movements; a ‘side effect’ of a more educated/affluent
electorate.
No developed party has adopted this form.
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
