Members with insatiable appetite? Consequences of the use of digital platforms on party members’ opinion on intra-party democracy

Technology plays a significant role in how parties involve their members into the intra-party decision-making process. Building on the findings of earlier qualitative research on Hungarian political parties practices to facilitate the online participation of their members (Oross-Tap, 2021), the paper aims to reveal differences in party members’ perceptions on intra-party democracy. Using survey data collected in 2021 among Hungarian party members the paper compares perceptions of members of those parties that enable the use of digital platforms for decision making to those members who are not able to do so. To measure the consequences of digitalization for the internal party democracy, the paper will compare party members’ perception on 1. how much their party is open to their opinion and 2. how they perceive party members’ ability to get informed in the politics of the party and take decisions. Findings of the paper will add new evidence to the discussion how digitalization might be reshaping internal party politics.