Campaigning and the Catch-All Party

The Process of Party Transformation in Britain

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6315445
AutoresJennifer K Smith (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, autor correspondente)
Ano2009
Volume15
Fascículo5
Páginas555-572
Data de publicação2009-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoParty Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1354-0688 • E-ISSN: 1460-3683
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1354068809336396
OpenAlexW2072975721
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas13
Referências citadas28

Otto Kirchheimer’s well-known diagnosis of ‘catch-all’ partism in Western Europe rests on an implicit causal argument about the consequences of social change for political parties. This article takes up the causal story underlying Kirchheimer’s account and traces its implications for a specific, though central, party activity: campaigning. As Kirchheimer discerned, the transformation of advanced industrial societies radically altered the context of parties’ strategic decision-making. In the area of election campaigning, parties confronted heightened incentives to approach the electorate with ‘persuasive’ rather than more traditional ‘mobilizing’ appeals and developed a greatly increased demand for reliable information about voter preferences. These shifts, in turn, had consequences for party organization, promoting the centralization and marginalization of individual members Kirchheimer associates with the catch-all party type. Through the lens of campaign change, then, we can observe the causal processes that unite the diverse features Kirchheimer links to his catch-all party — although our attention is also drawn to ways in which party development has not conformed to Kirchheimer’s expectations. This article illustrates these intersecting processes with a discussion of Labour and Conservative campaigns in Britain

Argument (complex analysis · Context (archaeology · Economics · Incentive · Law and economics · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Social Policy and Reform Studies