My research aim is to to assess to what extent anti-system organizations conform to, or differ from typical patterns and legacies of party organization within their (national) context. To achieve this aim I develop standardized tools and concepts for investigating organizational development and effectiveness in anti-system, protest parties. The hypothesis is that measures adopted to bring more transparency to party finances and spendings during the electoral campaigns speeded up the convergence of newer political parties, that originally appeared as movements of society, into agents of the state (Biezen, 2005). Contextual competitive patterns, which will act as opportunities or constraints, will influence institutionalization, complexity, centralization and coherence. The internal organizational configuration is constantly in interaction with the partisan and institutional environment. Political parties are isomorphic organizations, structured by contextual conditions (Harmel and Janda, 1982). My perspective is influenced by literature on party models (Krouwel, 2006; Heinisch, Mazzeloni, 2016 ), and I two state that organizational traits are a practical response by specific parties to competitive challenges. The article will outline the origin, foundation and early development of the party. It will trace organizational change over time, focusing on the extent of organization, centralization and cohesion. It will compare the selected political parties to assess whether their organizational features are, in fact, different from the rest. It draws substantially on the works of R. Heinisch and Mazzeloni regarding the institutionalization of right-wing populist parties and on Kenneth Janda’s on party organization.
Bibliography
Biezen, I. V. (2005). On the Theory and Practice of Party Formation and Adaptation in New Democracies. European Journal of Political Research, 44, 147-174.
Harmel, R., & Janda, K. (1994). An Integrated Theory of Party Goals and Party Change. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 6(3), 259–287.
Heinisch, R., & Mazzoleni, O. (2016). Understanding Populist Party Organisation: The Radical Right in Western Europe. London: Palgrave.
Krouwel, A. (2006). Party models. SAGE Publications Ltd, https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781848608047