Digital Parties: The Challenges of Online Organisation and Participation

by Giulia Sandri, Juan Rodríguez-Teruel, Oscar Barberà, Patricia Correa

Length: 314 pages
Edition: 1
Language: English
Publisher: Springer
Publication Date: 2021-10-13
ISBN-10: 3030786676
ISBN-13: 9783030786670
Sales Rank: #0 (See Top 100 Books)

This book analyzes how mainstream and new parties are building their digital platforms and transitioning from traditional (offline) organizations into the digital world.

The authors present an innovative empirical exploration of the democratic consequences and technical challenges of the digitalization of party organizations from a comparative perspective. They provide an original account of how party digital platforms are regulated and used, and a crucial discussion of the main technological and democratic issues that political parties face in their digital transition. Further, the authors assess the consequences of these digitalization processes for political participation and party membership, as well as the impact on party organizational models and electoral campaign potential. The book looks into one of the less-studied aspects of digital democracy, also presenting empirical evidence and case studies. It presents different parties and their adoption of digital participation platforms, from the Pirate Parties in Northern Europe to Podemos in Spain, La France Insoumise in France, the Five Stars Movement in Italy, or the German Greens.

Therefore, the book is a must-read for scholars of political science, policy-makers, and practitioners, interested in a better understanding of the transition of political parties into the digital world.

Acknowledgements
Contents
Editors and Contributors
1 Political Parties Transition into the Digital Era
	1.1 Introduction
	1.2 Digital Political Participation and Political Parties
	1.3 Digital Parties: An Emerging Party Model?
	1.4 The Digitalisation of Political Parties and Its Consequences
	1.5 Research Questions and Plan of the Book
	References
2 The Five-Pillar Model of Parties’ Migration into the Digital
	2.1 Introduction
	2.2 The Five-Pillar Model of Parties’ Migration into the Digital
	2.3 Current Literature Located in the Five-Pillar Model
	2.4 Range of Application and Open Questions
	References
3 Regulating i-Voting Within Countries and Parties
	3.1 Introduction
	3.2 Defining i-Voting and Its Legal Framework
	3.3 How to Analyse the Process of i-Voting in States and Parties on the Basis of the Electoral Cycle
	3.4 Key Aspects of Democratic Norms Applying to i-Voting
	3.5 Practices of i-Voting at National Level
		3.5.1 Estonia
		3.5.2 Switzerland
	3.6 Conclusions
	References
4 Studying Digital Parties: Methods, Challenges and Responses
	4.1 Introduction
	4.2 How Have Parties Traditionally Been Studied?
	4.3 Methods for Studying Digital Parties
	4.4 What to Study in Digital Parties?
	4.5 The Challenge of Studying Digital Parties
	4.6 Conclusion
	References
5 i-Voting Regulation Within Digital Parties: The Case of Podemos and Five Stars Movement
	5.1 Introduction
	5.2 Democratic and Technical Norms of i-Voting Within Parties
		5.2.1 Democratic Norms
		5.2.2 Technical Standards of E-Decision-Making and i-Voting
	5.3 i-Voting Within Parties
	5.4 The M5S
		5.4.1 Regulations
		5.4.2 Democratic Norms and Technical Standards
	5.5 Podemos
		5.5.1 Regulations
		5.5.2 Democratic Norms and Technical Standards
	5.6 Discussion and Conclusion
	References
6 Cyber-Parties’ Membership Between Empowerment and Pseudo-participation: The Cases of Podemos and the Five Star Movement
	6.1 Introduction
	6.2 Members’ Empowerment or Pseudo-participation?
	6.3 The Easiest Way to Become a Member: Podemos and FSM Online Membership
		6.3.1 Genesis, Evolution and Organisation
		6.3.2 Similar, Not Identical: The Membership Within Podemos and FSM
	6.4 Members’ Involvement: How Innovative and Participatory Are Digital Platforms?
		6.4.1 The Digital Platforms and the Rules for Participation
		6.4.2 Participation: ‘Quantity’ and ‘Quality’
	6.5 Conclusions
	References
7 Anti-party Digital Parties Between Direct and Reactive Democracy. The Case of La France Insoumise
	7.1 Introduction
	7.2 Theoretical Background
	7.3 La France Insoumise: An Anti-party Digital Party
	7.4 LFI Online: Features and Use of Digital Platforms
	7.5 Effects of Digital Organisation: Conceptualising the Organisational Tensions of LFI
	7.6 Conclusions
	References
8 How to Remain Indispensable in the Twenty-First Century? The Digital Adaptation of PSOE and PSP in a Crisis Context
	8.1 Introduction: Democracy, Political Parties and the Internet
	8.2 The Iberian Connection: Spain-Portugal, PSOE-PSP
	8.3 The Digitisation of the PSOE and PSP Participation Tools
		8.3.1 Bottom-Up Digital Tools
		8.3.2 Top-Down Digital Tools
	8.4 Conclusions
	References
9 The Secret Digital Garden of Politics: Spanish Parties and Their Intranets
	9.1 Introduction
	9.2 Research Questions and Methodology
	9.3 Spanish Political Parties’ Intranets
		9.3.1 People’s Party
		9.3.2 Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party
		9.3.3 Ciudadanos
		9.3.4 Podemos
		9.3.5 VOX
		9.3.6 Compromís
		9.3.7 Catalan European Democratic Party
	9.4 The Five-Pillar Model Applied to the Spanish Political Parties
	9.5 Conclusion
	References
10 Political Parties and New ICTs: Between Tradition and Innovation
	10.1 Introduction
	10.2 Digitalization and Parties’ Organizational Change
	10.3 The Selected Cases
	10.4 Italy
	10.5 Spain
	10.6 Greece
	10.7 France
	10.8 Conclusions
	References
11 Pirate Parties: The Original Digital Party Family
	11.1 Introduction
	11.2 The Digital Politics and Organisation of Pirate Parties
	11.3 The Pirate Party in Finland
	11.4 The Pirate Party in the Czech Republic
	11.5 Discussion
	References
12 Is There Such a Thing as a Web-Native Party? Use and Role of Online Participation Tools in the Green and Pirate Parties in Germany
	12.1 Introduction
	12.2 Background
		12.2.1 Green Party
		12.2.2 Pirate Party
	12.3 Methods
	12.4 Use and Role of Online Participation Platforms
		12.4.1 Green Party
		12.4.2 Pirate Party
	12.5 Effects of Online Participation Platforms
	12.6 Conclusion
	12.7 Note on Positionality
	Annex 1: List of Party Documents
		Green Party Germany
		Pirate Party Germany
	Annex 2: Interviews
		Green Party Germany
		Pirate Party Germany
	References
13 Tactical Web Use in Bumpy Times—A Comparison of Conservative Parties’ Digital Presence
	13.1 Introduction
	13.2 Mainstream Parties in the Digital: Public Image, Leadership and Membership
	13.3 Case Design and Case Description
	13.4 Data and Methods
	13.5 Findings
		13.5.1 Germany’s CDU 2013–2015: Highlighting Success
		13.5.2 Germany’s CDU in a Transitional Phase in
		13.5.3 Germany’s CDU 2017–2018: Continuity in Design, Change in Function and Personnel
		13.5.4 The UK Conservatives 2013–2015: Campaigning on All Levels
		13.5.5 UK Conservatives in 2016 and 2017: Experimenting with Focus, Features and Functions
	13.6 Conclusion
	Appendix
	References
14 Digital Parties as Personalistic-Authoritarian Business-Firm Models. Is Japan Following European Trends?
	14.1 Introduction
	14.2 Political Parties as Business-Firms and Digital Models—A New Typology
	14.3 The Assembly to Energise Japan
		14.3.1 Foundation
		14.3.2 Political Positions
		14.3.3 Direct Democracy Through the Internet
		14.3.4 Party Organisation and Its Decline
	14.4 The No Party to Support
		14.4.1 The Election Campaign of the NPS and Its Results
		14.4.2 Organisational Structure of the NPS: Business-Firm Model
	14.5 Party to Protect the People from the NHK
	14.6 Conclusion: Some Limits for New Parties
	References
15 The Digitalisation of Political Parties in Comparative Perspective
	15.1 Introduction
	15.2 How Political Parties Are Migrating to the Digital Sphere
		15.2.1 Platforms and the Parties' Public Image
		15.2.2 Membership
		15.2.3 Decision-Making and power
		15.2.4 Policy-Making
	15.3 Explaining Divergences in Party Digitalisation Patterns: A First Assessment
	15.4 Perspectives on Party Digitalisation: From Cases and Causes to Compared Consequences
	References