Right-Wing Populist Party Organisation across Europe: The Survival of the Mass-Party?

Abstract

This panel analyses the nature of populist radical right party (PRRP) organisations and the relationship between PRRP organisations, leaders, and party members. We present initial results of our comparative research project which studies long-established PRRP parties in Western Europe: the League in Italy, the Flemish Interest in Belgium, the Swiss People’s Party, and the Finns. PRRPs are often still associated with centralised and ‘charismatic’ leadership, but we find that several PRRPs have invested in creating organisations more similar to the ‘mass party’ model, in which parties actively recruit members and create communities of loyal partisans activists. In our four case study papers, we explore how party elites attempt to foster involvement, activism and loyalty from the party base. We analyse how these efforts are managed within each party's, often highly centralised, organisational structures. Through these in-depth case studies, our papers also reflect on the nature and development of the mass party model in the current era. Our panel will conclude with a comparative analysis of all four cases. This analysis explores the extent to which personalisation and centralisation have helped to manage organisational tensions in PRRPs and to facilitate changes in leadership. It will also reflect on the importance of these organisational structures and dynamics for populist parties today.

Title	Details
Fostering and Exporting a Modern Mass Party: Agency and Structure in Salvini’s League	View Paper Details
Between horizontality and centralization: Organizational form and practice in the Finns Party	View Paper Details
Rootedness, Activism and Centralisation: The Case of the Swiss People’s Party	View Paper Details
The Vlaams Belang: A Mass Party of the 21st century	View Paper Details
The Survival of the Mass Party: Centralisation, Rootedness and Control Among Populist Radical Right Parties (PRRPs) in Europe	View Paper Details