New (types of) parties? A characterization of Danish parties

Almost 30 years ago, Katz & Mair published their seminal Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy: The Emergence of the Cartel Party as both a sum up of the project they had led on how parties organize in democracies, and as a starting point for the journal of Party Politics, promoting further party research. Their article not only summed up the development in parties’ organization and their democratic role but also pointed to future developments. Katz & Mair argued that Denmark was a most likely case for cartel party tendencies due to the collaborative nature of lawmaking with broad policy coalitions, however, research at the time indicated that Danish parties only had cartel party traits at the party level, not at the party system level. Since then, several new parties have been formed in the Danish parties, many of which have been relevant in Sartori’s sense. To what extent are the established and new parties cartel parties? Based on party statutes, party documents, media coverage and interview, I analyze what characterizes the 12 Danish parties represented in parliament, hence, also parties’ democratic role, responsiveness and representation, with a particular aim at showing the tension within the cartel party model at the party and party system level.