Over the past decades, European democracies have experienced diminishing trust in their political representative institutions leading to a decline in party membership as well as both reduced electoral turnout and overall political participation (Van Biezen et al., 2012). In response, many European parties began reforming themselves allowing for the direct participation of party members or even non-members in various intra-party arenas, such as leadership selections through primaries. Parties claim that such reforms increase intra-party democracy (IPD) by making internal organisation more inclusive and by providing all party members or even non-members with decision-making power perilously reserved to the party elites (Hazan and Rahat, 2010). However, the positive effect of increased IPD on membership is highly contested and surprisingly few relevant empirical and comparative studies exist. The central research question of this thesis is what are the (different) consequences of adopting different types of primary rules for party members? Hence, my aim is to examine whether the introduction of primaries is in fact as negative for party members as outlined by Katz and Mair (1994), Lefebvre (2011) or Hopkin (2001) or, alternatively, whether it represents a chance to revitalize parties as membership organizations (Macpherson, 1977; Ware, 1979; Bille, 2001). Primaries are defined as selection process for party leaders and candidates in which the final vote rests with either party members in closed primaries, or loosely defined group of party supporters or the wider electorate, open primaries. Thus, introducing a primary leads to a change in the level of intra-party democracy, as it shifts power from a more exclusive selectorate to either of the two selectorates outlined above. While this project focuses on primaries that select top-executive candidates, the theory and conceptual framework developed can be applied to primaries more broadly. The general argument put forward is that to capture the differentiated effects of party primaries we have to study the interplay between the rules determining who can vote (selectorate) and who can run (candidacy requirements) in primaries. This thesis answers its central research question by developing a conceptual framework that combines these two dimensions for party primaries that select the party leader in public office. First, it outlines the underlying logic of the conceptual framework that links the two dimensions and then provides a theoretical discussion of its consequences for party members looking specifically at the interaction between the two. To assess the consequences of different primary reforms, the thesis focuses on four dimensions of party membership: the party membership level, the turnout in primaries, the quality of membership and the attitude towards the leadership. This perspective highlights that different combinations of selection rules and candidacy requirements in primaries result in four distinct types of intra-party democracy from the perception of party members. In turn, these types lead party members to respond in a distinct fashion. Using a mixed-method case study approach, the second part of the thesis tests the theoretical framework for various Western European parties. The analysis will mainly use primary and secondary document analysis as well as new and existing survey data complemented by qualitative in-depth membership surveys. The main conclusion is that only some combinations of primary rules can lead to a positive effect for members while others do not. For example, closed primaries with open candidacy requirements will lead to more active participation of members, while open primaries with open candidacy requirements will reduce membership participation considerably.

Embora a filiação partidária seja um tema clássico da agenda de ciência política, segue essa sendo relativamente pouco estudada. Igualmente, as ferramentas teórico-analíticas presentes na literatura estão muito centradas no contexto europeu, associadas geralmente ao contexto histórico da chamada crise de representação política. Propomos uma forma alternativa de se compreender a filiação: o ciclo da filiação partidária. Definimos a filiação como sendo composta de três elementos interdependentes: o recrutamento partidário, a ação partidária e o desligamento partidário. Em um primeiro momento, voltamo-nos à literatura internacional, buscando entender seus avanços a partir da óptica de nosso conceito de ciclo da filiação. Em seguida, analisamos cada etapa do ciclo a partir do contexto brasileiro. Utilizamos para tal a base pública de dados de filiação do TSE. Em linhas gerais, podemos concluir que cada etapa do ciclo de filiação possui forte relação com o ciclo eleitoral brasileiro. Além disso, temos indícios de que políticos profissionais e membros-base comportam-se de maneira distinta dentro dos partidos. Por fim, que as mudanças institucionais realizadas ao longo do período democrático têm impacto profundo na organização partidária de maneira geral. / Although party membership is a classic theme in political science, it still is a relatively understudied subject. Moreover, theoretical-analytical tools present in the literature are too much focused on the European context, while at the same time being associated with the historical context of the so-called crisis of political representation. We propose an alternative way of understanding party membership: the cycle of party membership. We define party membership as being composed of three interdependent elements: party recruitment, party participation, and party departure. At first, we turn to the international literature, trying to understand its advances from the perspective of our concept of membership cycle. Next, we analyze each stage of the cycle from the Brazilian context, using the public database of party membership provided by the TSE. In general terms, we can conclude that each stage of the party membership cycle in Brazil has a strong relationship with the electoral cycle. Furthermore, we have indications that professional politicians and base members behave differently within parties. Finally, institutional changes throughout the Brazilian democratic period seems to have a profound impact on party organization in general.

In this doctoral dissertation, I put party members and activists back in context. I stress theimportance of two contextual dimensions, often overlooked in the scientific literature. On theone hand, I put forward social network explanations of party membership and activism,emphasizing the importance of social interactions, relations and structures, which were scarcelyexplored as potential triggers. Like other forms of participation, party membership haspredominantly been portrayed through individuals as isolated, independent units, disconnectedfrom their micro social environment. On the other hand, local party branches as research objecthave often been ignored in the literature on party organisations, dominated by research on thenational mother party. Yet, we know little about how these local groups organise, how theycontribute to the recruitment and retention of members, and, more broadly, how the local partylevel copes with the challenges faced by the national organisation.With contribution on both supply and demand side of party membership studies, my dissertationis interested in questioning party membership and activism through network triggers and localparty organisations. Therefore, the final work comprises and articulates three empiricalchapters, offering their own sets of empirical analyses developed on original data.Inspired by network theory of political participation, the first chapter highlights the role ofpersonal networks as micro-contexts. Relying on original survey data gathered among a quotasample of 2,800 Belgian citizens, the chapter raises the question how the structure andcomposition of citizens’ social networks influence their probability to be party members.Regarding the structure, I demonstrate that the chance of joining a party increases alongnetwork size and density, with a stronger effect when the network is operationalised throughpolitical discussion. Regarding the composition, I show a major, positive effect of politicalattributes (attitudes of others: satisfaction and party closeness; and behaviours of other: otherforms of participation and party membership) and homophily (congruence in the network onthose political attributes) on the chances of joining a party, and, furthermore, the dominant partyin the network. Besides, social composition and homophily calls for further investigations.Overall, the chapter shows the effect of social context: how individuals behave and think towardpolitical parties is intimately linked with the features of their close social environment.The second chapter looks at party membership in local context. Framed by a functionalapproach of local party organisations, the chapter is dedicated to a qualitative assessment oflocal party branches as social and political groups. I ask how they organise, how they function,and, ultimately, discuss how they are impacted by party change. For this, I rely on a qualitativeanalysis of various empirical materials: hours of ethnographic observation within 11 local partybranches active in Brussels, complemented by interviews with their local presidents and adocument analysis of party statutes and local party rules and procedures, complemented withother internal and public party documents (leaflets, emails, posters, invitations, minutes,agenda, etc.). I show, first, that the organisation of local parties can be read through the trypticdeveloped to apprehend their national organisation (on the ground, in central and public office).Actually, local branches are divided into smaller groups, which all adopt different formal rulesand informal practices. Second, I stress that local party branches fulfil specific functions and anessential role of organisational and democratic maintenance, even if national membershipfigures are dropping. Local parties are involved in a complex dynamic between their role intheir municipality and as part of a larger party organisation. Nonetheless, this second chapterconcludes by pinpointing evidence of local party change: ascendency of the central and publicoffice, concentration of power, gap between members and officials, focus on nominationfunctions, etc.The third and last chapter puts party members in social and local party context. Bringing backnetwork theory, the chapter questions to what extent party activism might be triggered by thesocial networks built by members with their local branch fellows, or with higher party actors.The chapter consists in a quantitative analysis of survey data collected among local partyinformants belonging to 5 of the 11 local party branches. Respondents completed a shortquestionnaire adopting a similar operationalisation of social networks as in the first part of thedissertation. I demonstrate that the central place occupied by members in the network of theirlocal party branch (network centrality) is a good predictor of involvement at both the local andother organisational levels. This finding provides evidence to the “strength of strong ties” theoryin context of party organisation. In other words, the more a member is connected to othermembers of the branch aside from formal party activities, the more probability for this memberto be a party activist. I also show that extensive contacts with elected officials enhance thechances of joining a local party branch. Finally, I highlight that party members motivated bysolidary incentives are less likely to take part in higher participatory opportunities proposed bypolitical parties.More generally, my dissertation explores contexts in which party members and activists areembedded. It goes beyond individualistic considerations of traditional political behaviour andbrings back the local level into the organisational analysis of party membership.Methodologically, I extensively rely on Social Network Analysis to provide original relationalinsights on phenomena deeply collective by nature. Empirically, I focus on Belgium, a casehighly relevant to test new, “social” perspective on party membership. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Since the early 1990s, increasing academic attention has been devoted to party membership. Numerous studies have evidenced a long-term declining trend affecting almost all traditional parties in Western Europe (Mair and Van Biezen, 2001; Van Biezen et al. 2012b). Yet, in recent years, there have been some signs of a revival of party membership (Whiteley et al. 2019). What are the main factors accounting for fluctuations in party membership levels across Western Europe from the 1990s until 2014? This is the main question this dissertation seeks to answer. The main objective of this dissertation is to identify the factors that significantly affect the ability of political parties to recruit members in Western Europe. So far, the academic literature has mainly focused on micro- and macro-level determinants of membership fluctuations and have involved long-term explanations of shifts in party membership. Their general focus has been to ask why citizens join political and not so much why and in which conditions political parties are able to recruit members. The impact of meso-level and short-term factors on party membership variations has been largely underexplored. To shed new light on these issues, this study proposes to apply theoretical perspectives and empirical tools developed by sociological and economical organization studies. Four main theoretical perspectives have been developed by organizational theories to explain variations in organizations’ size and structure: the evolutionary system perspective (ES), the sociological neo-institutionalism (SI), transaction cost theory (TCT) and the resource-based view (RBV). Explanatory insights from each of these perspectives were identified and explored in each of the four empirical chapters of this dissertation. Overall, this dissertation evidences several transformations in party membership. By diversifying temporal perspectives, units of analysis and levels of observation, it shows that the decline of party membership levels is not as universal and as linear as it is often assumed. Membership levels are affected by electoral and organizational lifecycles. Not all parties have been affected by the general decrease in membership levels and some new parties have managed to attract an increasing number of members. Besides, parties that have given their members a greater say in their internal decision making have generally managed to attract new members. By looking at infra-national dynamics of party membership, this dissertation also shows the importance of regional and local context and the heterogeneity of membership trajectories within the same party. It underlines the importance of electoral mobilization at the local level and the importance of individual recruiters for the composition of the membership. By reflecting on the causes of party membership fluctuations, this dissertation sheds light on some important challenges for the future of our representative democracies. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Participation through a political party is declining globally (Dalton & Wattenberg 2000). Instead, new, more horizontal forms of politics have emerged which undermine the mobilization capacity of parties (Cross & Young 2008). In Latin America, along with it, informality and the establishment of direct links between the leader and his followers are elements that further weaken the identification with a party organization. Nevertheless, parties persist, surviving from their precarious institutionality and adapting their strategies to obtain a base of militants that support the organization. How to understand this decision of participating in a political party in a context that discourages it?This article discusses the incentives for young people to choose to be militants in a Peruvian personalist party. For this, it studies the case of young people on Solidaridad Nacional party in Lima; an organization that, under the leadership of José Luna Gálvez in 2014, implemented a youth recruitment strategy that adapted the militant supply to the various motivations they had as altruist goals, a political career or opportunities for study or work. Thus, the study highlights the use of Diplomados Solidarios in charge of Telesup University for the recruitment and identification of militants, as well as the importance of altruistic motivations and social norms that attracts young people during the process of political socialization. / La participación a través de un partido político está en declive a nivel global (Dalton y Wattenberg 2000). En su lugar, han surgido nuevas formas de hacer política más horizontales, las cuales merman la capacidad de movilización de los partidos (Cross y Young 2008). En América Latina, junto a ello, la informalidad y el establecimiento de vínculos directos entre el líder y sus seguidores son elementos que debilitan aún más la identificación con una organización partidaria. No obstante, los partidos persisten, sobreviven desde su precaria institucionalidad, y adaptan sus estrategias para obtener una base de militantes que sostenga la organización. ¿Cómo entender esta decisión por participar dentro de un partido político en un contexto que la desincentiva?El presente artículo discute los incentivos por los que los jóvenes deciden militar en un partido personalista peruano. Para ello, se estudia el caso de los jóvenes del Partido Solidaridad Nacional en Lima; organización que, bajo el liderazgo de José Luna Gálvez en 2014, implementó una estrategia de captación de jóvenes que adecuó la oferta militante a las diversas motivaciones que poseían los militantes. Enre ellos, figuraban fines altruistas, el interés en una carrera política u oportunidades de estudio o trabajo. Así, resalta el empleo de Diplomados Solidarios a cargo de la Universidad Telesup para el reclutamiento e identificación de militantes, además de motivaciones altruistas y normas sociales que atraen a los jóvenes durante el proceso de socialización política.

This thesis studies how Liberal Democrat members and supporters use Internet tools to mobilise volunteers within local election campaigns. It also identifies who is most likely to use these tools and who is most likely to perceive that they are useful. Existing studies of the use of Internet tools to mobilise volunteers are limited because they have typically focused upon the Internet-as-a-whole, instead of breaking it down into smaller, more meaningful categories. It is important to study Internet tools individually as they each have different features and some are more deeply integrated into mobilisation practices than others. Therefore, this thesis addresses this limitation by focusing upon three specific Internet tools: Facebook, Twitter and email. It uses data generated from a participant observation, survey and series of semi-structured interviews. Similarly, few studies have been carried out in England or within the context of second order elections. As a result, this thesis explores the perceptions of grassroots activists in relation to English local elections, thus offering a relatively unique perspective upon the link between Internet tools and volunteer mobilisation. The findings confirm that it is beneficial to analyse Internet tools individually because there are significant differences in how they are used, in addition to who uses them and who perceives them to be useful. Email is the most commonly used; it is also perceived to be the most useful for mobilising volunteers and increasing membership. Younger people are more likely to use Facebook and Twitter and to perceive that they are useful tools, whereas older people are less likely to do so. This emphasises the importance of younger supporters, as the party would find it more difficult to reach online audiences without them. This thesis argues that people that become involved as a result of Internet tools are less likely to remain heavily involved over the long-term. For instance, externally elected public officials are less likely to join online or use Internet tools to mobilise volunteers and increase membership. This fits with a wider pattern of engagement amongst party elites and long-term members. It emphasises the importance of using a combination of online and offline tools to mobilise volunteers and increase membership.

In the presented thesis the author analyses the possible influence of the membership of judges in political parties, churches, and religious societies, on independence and impartiality. On one side, there stands a political orientation and expression of political opinions, which is quite significantly repressed in the Czech Republic for all the judges. On top, the draft of the amendment of the Courts and Judges Act presently discussed in the Parliament includes a prohibition of membership of judges in political parties. On the other side, there stands a religious belief and a membership of a judge in a church and in a religious society that does not raise nearly any doubts about judges' independence and impartiality. That is why the author has decided to analyze both of the memberships together in the presented thesis and compare them to each other. The thesis itself is systematically written in eight parts which are divided into chapters and subchapters. In the beginning, the reader is introduced to the basic terms - independence and impartiality of judges. Then the author continues presenting rules of judicial ethics that aim to upheld independence and impartiality. Consequently, the author analyses the influence of political orientation and religious belief on judges' decision making. Generally...

This thesis tests the hypothesis that increasing state subsidies to political parties cause a declined party membership. The theory that predicted this development was constructed by Epstein in 1967 and presented in his book Political Parties in Western Democracies. The theoretical propositions have been debated by political scientists since then, but no thorough test has been conducted.  In order to test the hypothesis state subsidies data and party membership data was collected for the national parties from eight states. The data was then analysed by use of the panel data models. Panel data models make use of the regression analysis technique. Examples of specialized such models are analysis through the fundamental parameter of change, first differencing and pooled analysis. The results provided by the models proved to not give a straight answer. Instead, the results pointed in different directions.  The most likely interpretation of the results is that increasing state subsidies to political parties does not cause a decline in party membership. To validate such a result would require that most of the results pointed in the same direction. Thus, the hypothesis of the investigation should be considered falsified. Instead the focus of future studies should probably be directed at the supply side of party membership. When party membership decline is explained by the supply side this means that the decline is explained by people stop having motive to become party members. However, it is important to remember that other interpretations of the results are possible as well.

The presented work is situated on the borderline between gender history and women's history. It aims to analyze the agenda of the Czechoslovak female deputies between 1918 and 1948. The work describe, analyze and looks for common features of political, social and gender motivation and program priorities in the parliamentary activities of the female deputies of the Czechoslovak Parliament. Work looks for connections between agenda of female deputies and the social and political situation of the state like geopolitical or economic crisis. This work focuses on the development of what is understanted under the term "female issues" and how big is the part of female issues in the overall agenda of female deputies during the period. The text is also interested in relations female deputies with their male colleagues. The author presents types of women's requirements, which female deputies considered to contribute to women as social group. The primary focus is on the anticipated evolution from female ambassadors to real parliament member with comprehensive political program. Key words Female members of parliament, Františka Zeminová, Czechoslovakian parliament, female issues, political party membership, 1918-1948, women's suffrage, gender

The thesis How Do Ordinary Party Members Perceive Themselves? The Case of the KDU-CSL explores both the relation between an ordinary party member and his political party and his role within the party. Therefore, the subject or our research represents the ordinary party member of the KDU-CSL defined as a member without any elected or executive political office. The theoretical framework of the thesis refers to a range authors concerning with political parties and their organisational aspects. The principal empirical part of the thesis is devoted to an analysis of party members in two Czech regions - Prague and the South Moravian region. The thesis is based on the primary qualitative research (semi-structured in-depth interviews and content textual analysis) conducted by the author herself.