Party Members and Activists (Routledge Research on Social and Political Elites)

Hardcover, xx + 227 pages, NOT ex-library. Limited minor wear only. Pages are clean and bright throughout with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. Issued without a dust jacket. -- This volume provides a comprehensive comparative analysis of political party membership and activism in contemporary democracies. The collected essays from leading scholars challenge the prevailing narrative of universal decline, revealing a more complex and nuanced picture. The work examines the changing nature of party organization, the motivations and profiles of modern party members, and the evolving roles they play within their parties and in election campaigns. Drawing on case studies from a wide range of established and new democracies, it explores the resilience and adaptation of party activism in an era of dealignment and rising populism. -- Contents: 1 Introduction: Party membership and activism / Emilie van Haute & Anika Gauja; 2 Party membership in Spain and congress delegates / Montserrat Baras, Oscar Barberà, Astrid Barrio, Patricia Correa & Juan Rodriguez-Teruel; 3 Party membership in Belgium: From the cradle to the grave? / Emilie van Haute; 4 Party membership in Canada / William Cross; 5 Party membership in Denmark: Fluctuating membership figures and organizational stability / Karina Kosiara-Pedersen; 6 Party membership in Germany: Rather formal, therefore uncool? / Tim Spier & Markus Klein; 7 Party membership in Israel: The era of party primaries / Gideon Rahat & Ofer Kenig; 8 Party membership in Italy / Giulia Sandri, Antonella Seddone & Georgia Bulli; 9 Party membership in the Netherlands / Josje den Ridder, Joop van Holsteyn & Ruud Koole; 10 Party membership in Norway: Declining but still viable? / Knut Heidar; 11 Party membership in Britain: A minority pursuit / Lynn Bennie; 12 Conclusion: Members and activists of political parties in comparative perspective / Anika Gauja & Emilie van Haute; References; Index -- "Membership of political parties is diverse. Not everyone participates and those who do, do not participate in the same way. This book engages with the debate over the significance and future of political parties as membership organisations and presents the first broad comparative analysis of party membership and activism. It is based on membership surveys which have been administered, gathered and collated by a group of prominent party scholars from across Europe, Canada and Israel. Utilizing this rich data source together with the insights of party scholars, the book investigates what party membership means in advanced industrial democracies. In doing so, it provides a clearer picture of who joins political parties, why they do it, the character of their political activism, how they engage with their parties, and what opinions they hold. This text will be of interest to scholars and students of comparative politics, particularly to those interested in representation, participation, political parties and elections.".…