“The Influence of Movement Parties on Democratic Quality”

On 3 September 2021, a panel was chaired by ProDem scholars Fred Paxton and Lorenzo Mosca (University of Milan) at the ECPR General Conference. Martin Brusis (Babeş-Bolyai University) kindly agreed to be the panel discussant. The full description of the panel can be found below, along with the abstracts of the papers presented.

This panel considers the shifting terrain of contemporary democratic politics. Over the course of the past decade, a wave of popular discontent swept across much of the world, stoked by the financial crisis, the ensuing austerity and deep disenchantment with political institutions in both liberal democracies and autocracies. Social movements channeled and articulated aspirations for greater democratic accountability and participation, more equitable economic policies, greater concern for social welfare and climate change. Against a secular decline in party membership, voter turnout and institutional trust, movements have rekindled a participatory imaginary challenging the status quo of many democratic countries. Criticized for a supposed inability to enact the political and social change they advocated, social movements were harbingers of a new political vehicle, the movement party. The rise and electoral success of party movements—from Podemos in Spain, to the Movimento Cinque Stelle in Italy, Jobbik in Hungary, Momentum in the UK or La Republique en Marche in France—captured aspirations for progressive change as well as anger and anxieties about globalisation, migration and the socio-economic and cultural upheaval that such processes have wrought. Occupying the breadth of the ideological spectrum—from the far right to the radical left—these movements put forward a radical criticism of political or media institutions, advocating participatory as well as populist reformulations of notions of citizenship, civic practices and organisational structures. Against the odds, they have scaled up, endured and have the potential to become entrenched despite the initially limited resources available to them. Notwithstanding their ideological differences, digital media appear to have provided important opportunities for the emergence of techno-populist ‘connective’ movements and parties in media systems largely unfavourable to them, thereby posing renewed challenges to incumbents. Recently, though, governments’ efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19 disease have drastically reduced the space for unconventional political actions, also affecting the linkages between movement parties and civil society.

The panel brings together scholars and other informed observers to present papers discussing how over the last decade, social movements, party movements and other collective actors have learn and develop new or overhaul existing participatory cultures; congeal competitive political agendas that challenge established political positions; rekindle trust and even faith in political leadership and democratic governance; (re)shaped (un)conventional citizenship norms, practices and action repertoires. Considering the above, the panel will grapple with such questions as: what does the existence of social and/or party movements mean for democracy? What are the consequences of their rise for representative democracy? What implications have their ideological leanings on democratic quality? How does their digital media use bear on their forms of action, organisational structures and cultures or their relationship with the media? How the pandemic has affected their evolution as well as their linkages with civil society?

Papers presented:

The ProDem team presents at the ECPR General Conference September 2021 a joint paper. This conceptual exploration of how the triple interaction between citizens, social movements, and movement parties influences democratic quality in Europe lays out the theoretical groundwork for the Consortium’s future research. By placing the triple interaction between protest and institutional arenas, ProDem theorizes democratic quality as comprising the dimensions of participation, competition, and responsiveness. This analytical framework allows us to assess how the triple interaction influences: a) democratic participation by institutionally and extra-institutionally mobilizing citizens who were previously disengaged from politics; b) competition by polarising public debates on sensitive issues by delegitimising traditional sources of information in the media, as well as linkages to political elites and movement actors; and c) responsiveness of political institutions and the media including new political demands. This novel understanding of democratic quality between protest and institutional arena may contribute by insights into the interaction of citizens, social movements and movement parties and parliamentary politics. In doing so, it will enable us to assess democratic quality in the current turbulent climate where extra-institutional participation may play an increasingly important role.

In a new editorial headlining a special issue of Information, Communication & Society, Dan Mercea and Lorenzo Mosca set forth an agenda for studying movement party communication against the backdrop of topical questions about their purchase on democratic quality. The two members of the ProDem team reflect on how the generation of movement parties emerging in the wake of the 2007-8 financial crisis set out on a path to political innovation. These parties have “expressed greater sensitivity to neglected issues, a drive to renew links with marginalized social groups through more direct – chiefly online – communication with them as well as an ambition to overhaul both the party organization and the political system”. As such “movement parties have signalled a desire to disrupt and reimagine politics”. The latter bears renewed “critical examination against questions regarding the quality of democracy [and an apparent] mismatch between a populist rhetoric emphasizing the need for more immediate and greater participation in the party organization as well as policymaking and movement party practices”. The article is part of a series of theoretical papers that are scaffolding the ProDem project.

“Thirty Years of Capitalist Transformations in Central and Eastern Europe: Inequalities and Social Resistance”, organized by Babeș-Bolyai University and the Institute for Social Solidarity, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 20 – 22 May 2021.

A recent panel co-organized by Diana Mărgărit, with the participation of Dana S. Trif and ProDem expert Henry Rammelt, analyzed the unexpected rise of Romanian social movements. The panel – Social Movements and Counter-Movements in Times of Crisis – organized within the framework of the conference Thirty Years of Capitalist Transformations in Central and Eastern Europe: Inequalities and Social Resistance, Cluj-Napoca, 20-22 May 2021, discussed the most recent, and by some accounts the only post-1989 wave of social protests leading to the emergence of Romanian social movements and movement parties. Beginning in 2013 and reaching their highest moment of intensity in January/February 2017, these mass demonstrations energized a whole new generation of political activists, effectively stopping Romania’s slip towards illiberalism.

In a recent online discussion organized on May 19, 2021 by the Vienna-based Institut für den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa, ProDem team member Dana S. Trif joined former Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, journalist Carmen Bendovski, historian Kurt Scharr and Berlin-based Romanian expert Janka Vogel in a discussion about the political situation in Romania, six months after the elections of December 6, 2020. What are the long-term effects of the 2017 pro-democracy, anti-corruption protests? Is their impact still felt in Romanian politics? Dana S. Trif joined the other panelists in an assessment of Romania’s current political developments. One major development post-2017 is that USR PLUS, the movement party drawing its roots from the social movement associated with these protests, has become an important coalition member. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll, with the December 2020 elections generating at least one major political surprise. AUR, a far-right populist party, succeeded in convincing 9% of the voters with its nationalist and anti-quarantine message. The COVID-19 pandemic is adding therefore a new layer of volatility to Romanian politics, with the outcome of the 2024 elections still difficult to predict. The whole discussion can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFK_rOXiL-M&t=1622s

We proudly present our poster presentation for the virtual poster exhibition of our funder VolkswagenStiftung.