What Makes a New Political Party Endure in Bulgaria? Formal Organizations and Informal Networks

Given the ephemerality of new parties across Central and Eastern Europe, the exception and ongoing success of the Bulgarian central-right conservative political party GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) over the past two decades is puzzling. Based on one year’s fieldwork in Bulgaria during which time interviews were conducted with relevant political figures across the country, the study aims to address the wider issue of party politics in eastern Europe and why some parties are short lived while others endure. Even though the study does not claim that party organization is the only source of new party endurance, it stresses party organization as a convincing explanatory tool. Three points emerge as potential wider lessons. Firstly, in line with the arguments of Margit Tavits, Jennifer Cyr and Teodora Yovcheva, the study stresses that the formalized party organization based on territorial branches and party membership still plays an important role. Considering the declining trend of party members in Western Europe, the steadily rising trend of GERB’s membership since its establishment is striking, demonstrating the party’s strategy of membership expansion. Members tend to cultivate relatively consistent support bases for the party even when the party is faced with unpopularity. However, merely counting the number of registered party members on paper does not give an indication of how active they are in reality. This leads to the second point of the study about activism that is inspired by Tomas Cirhan’s argument. GERB’s activism makes it endure. The study argues that in order to obtain political support, it is important to demonstrate care and engagement with the community through the strategy of running range of activities regularly, as opposed to the pure partisan strategy of directly inviting people to become party members. Not restricted by formal party membership, party activism can be conceptualized as the overlooked important dimension of party organizations: informal party networks - the key concept of the study’s third point. Informed by Steven Levitsky’s argument, the study argues that informal networks with the defining feature of activism help to link a political party to citizens as well as to build up long-term interpersonal trust with voters for their electoral support. Part of the reasons that parties like GERB endure is that they not only build structures, but also encourage structures to expand networks to reach more people. The study therefore stresses the importance of interaction between the formal dimension and the informal dimension of party organizations. Based on the aforementioned scholars who establish the framework of party organization but overestimate the salience of its formal dimension, the study contributes to the existing literature by flagging up the informal dimension of party organizations. Contribution is also made to the works of Susan Scarrow and the wider party membership studies through focusing on the significant neglected element of activism. Finally, the study contributes to the works of Sarah Engler by adding that the endurance of new political parties is not only the consequence of party ideology, but also about party organization.