Explaining Party Member Activism

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The purpose of chapter 9 is to analyse why Scandinavian party members participate and contribute to party linkage. We analyse the extent to which resources, views on intra-party democracy, political disagreement, and civil society integration have an impact upon five distinct forms of party member activism: meeting attendance, decision making, campaigning, and offline and online ambassadorial behaviour. We find some, but limited, support for the hypotheses about a positive relationship between resources and participation (H1), that members with views reflecting a ‘mass party’ participatory culture are more likely to participate (H2a), and a positive relationship between satisfaction with intra-party democracy and participation (H2b). Our analyses yield no support for the argument that members who agree with the party are more likely to participate than those who disagree (H3). However, we do find strong support for the positive impact of civil society integration on participation (H4). In sum, we find that party member activism is not further skewed hence pointing towards a stable rather than weak participatory linkage. A multidimensional understanding of traditional, dues-paying party membership is appropriate. Party members are a mixed bunch whom parties can mobilize to different types of participation in various ways.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNordic Party Members : Linkages in Troubled Times
EditorsMarie Demker, Knut Heidar, Karina Kosiara-Pedersen
Number of pages24
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherRowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publication date2019
Pages175-198
Chapter9
ISBN (Print)9781785523250
ISBN (Electronic)9781785523267
Publication statusPublished - 2019

ID: 233653415