The business firm model of party organisation: Cases from Spain and Italy

TLDR

New party organization research has focused on how institutionalised parties adapt to pressures toward catch‑all or electoral‑professional behavior. The article investigates how new parties respond to these pressures. The authors generate a rational‑choice model of the party as a business firm and analyze UCD (Spain) and Forza Italia (Italy) to assess the consequences of such an organization. The analysis shows that business‑firm parties tend to be electorally unstable, politically incoherent, and inclined to serve particularistic interests. Abstract.

Abstract

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.