The business firm model of party organisation: Cases from Spain and Italy
Corresponding Author
JONATHAN HOPKIN
Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham, UK
Jonathan Hopkin Department of Political Science & International Studies, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK Phone: (0121) 4146386; Fax: (0121) 4143496; E-mail: [email protected]
Caterina Paolucci Department of Social and Political Sciences, European University Institute, Badia Fiesolana, Via Roccettini 9, I-50016 S. Domenico di Fiesole (FI), Italy; E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
CATERINA PAOLUCCI
Department of Social and Political Sciences, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
Jonathan Hopkin Department of Political Science & International Studies, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK Phone: (0121) 4146386; Fax: (0121) 4143496; E-mail: [email protected]
Caterina Paolucci Department of Social and Political Sciences, European University Institute, Badia Fiesolana, Via Roccettini 9, I-50016 S. Domenico di Fiesole (FI), Italy; E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
JONATHAN HOPKIN
Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham, UK
Jonathan Hopkin Department of Political Science & International Studies, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK Phone: (0121) 4146386; Fax: (0121) 4143496; E-mail: [email protected]
Caterina Paolucci Department of Social and Political Sciences, European University Institute, Badia Fiesolana, Via Roccettini 9, I-50016 S. Domenico di Fiesole (FI), Italy; E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
CATERINA PAOLUCCI
Department of Social and Political Sciences, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
Jonathan Hopkin Department of Political Science & International Studies, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK Phone: (0121) 4146386; Fax: (0121) 4143496; E-mail: [email protected]
Caterina Paolucci Department of Social and Political Sciences, European University Institute, Badia Fiesolana, Via Roccettini 9, I-50016 S. Domenico di Fiesole (FI), Italy; E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Abstract. Discussion of new forms of party organisation have largely focused on the ways in which institutionalised parties have adapted to pressures towards ‘catch–all’ or ‘electoral–professional’ behaviour. This article examines the ways in which new parties respond to these pressures. A model of the ‘party as business firm’ is generated from rational choice assumptions and it is suggested that such a model can emerge when new party systems are created in advanced societies. Two cases of political parties which resemble the business firm model in important ways are analysed in order to gauge the consequences of this type of party organisation: UCD in Spain and Forza Italia in Italy. On the basis of this analysis it is argued that business firm parties are likely to be electorally unstable and politically incoherent, and also prone to serving particularistic interests.
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