Between Presidentialization, Cartelization and Personalization: The Influence of Incumbency during Crisis on the Organization of Radical Left Parties in Cyprus and Greece
We contribute to debates on the mechanisms and factors leading to organizational change within incumbent radical left parties in the context of the constraints brought by the post-2008 crisis in borrowing countries. Providing a short term perspective on processes revealed by the concepts of presidentialization, cartelization and personalization, we examine the organizational evolution of two European radical left parties that have been leading the government recently and ended up implementing austerity; the Greek SYRIZA (since 2015) and the Cypriot AKEL (between 2008 and 2013). To operationalize party organizational evolution during government incumbency we use party documents, media articles and in-depth interviews to investigate: i) the interaction between the three faces of the party organization in managing party and government affairs; ii) how the party organization as a whole interacts with outside social groups, that is, concerning both linkage strength and linkage diversification. Across these two dimensions we observe a higher degree of centralization towards those holding government office and away from the party in central office and on the ground; a subsequent increase in how powerful and autonomous individual leaders can become; a decrease in linkage strength with traditional allies, such as social movements and labour unions; and an increase in the openness of the party towards groups traditionally seen as in conflict with the interests of its core constituencies. Accordingly, we reveal a ‘deviation effect’ of government office on radical left party organization, defined as a shift away from the party’s pre-existing organizational tradition and identity in the direction of a presidentialized, cartelized and personalized party. At the same time, the effect and its relevance for the trajectory of the party differs between the two cases due to distinct, entrenched organizational practices as well as external factors that mediate the influence of leading the government on party organization.