Party Congress Politics

Political parties function as linkage between state and society in modern democracies. Individuals and societal groups organize in parties to compete in elections and to shape society according to their common ideals. However, within parties, interests and political goal orientations tend to diverge. In particular, intra-party divides frequently arise between the party leadership focused on the partys electoral success and party activists, who are primarily policy-oriented. The level of activist influence on party decisions, thus the power balance between the party leadership and party activists, is therefore an important determinant of party politics. While intra-party power is a prominent topic in the party organization literature with important implications for the workings of democracy, we know relatively little about how, and under what circumstances, party activists actually affect intra-party decision-making. The project studies these power relations within political parties. For one, we examine long- term trends in the power balance between party leaders and party activists. Is there a general decline of activist influence and increasing dominance by the party leadership? Secondly, we systematically explore short-term drivers of change. How does, amongst other things, electoral performance or government participation affect the power relations between leaders and activists? We collect and analyze data based on party congress minutes and other internal documents of Austrian parties, as well as related news media reports. Building on these documents, we use various content analytical methods, extracting information on the preferences of party leaders and party activists, the conflicts between these actors, and their relative influence on party decisions, to answer the projects research questions.