TY - UNPB

T1 - Danish Party Membership

T2 - Paper presented at ‘Symposium 2009. Parteien ohne Mitglieder?', Institut für Deutsches und Europäisches Parteienrecht und Parteienforschung, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 23.-24. October, 2009.

AU - Kosiara-Pedersen, Karina

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - Political parties have as their main assignment the creation of linkage between citizens and government. They provide one of several channels of participation in modern democracies. Yet, the general trend across the Western world is that party membership figures decline. The purpose of this article is to report on the state of Danish party membership; the numbers and participation. The claim of the article is that total membership figures hide evidence of membership renewal and increases, and that mere party membership figures are insufficient when evaluating political parties as channels of participation. Instead, membership figures at party level as well as the participation of party members need to be taken into account in order to assess parties as channels of participation. This is supported by the analyses reported here which show that even though membership figures are declining, parties still attract new members, that party membership figures are not declining in all parties, and that party members vary in their participation in a wide variety of party activities, such as traditional campaigning activities, political discussions and financial contributions. Hence, this article contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of parties as channels of participation. These results allow for an elaboration on the consequences for and future role of political parties within modern democracies.

AB - Political parties have as their main assignment the creation of linkage between citizens and government. They provide one of several channels of participation in modern democracies. Yet, the general trend across the Western world is that party membership figures decline. The purpose of this article is to report on the state of Danish party membership; the numbers and participation. The claim of the article is that total membership figures hide evidence of membership renewal and increases, and that mere party membership figures are insufficient when evaluating political parties as channels of participation. Instead, membership figures at party level as well as the participation of party members need to be taken into account in order to assess parties as channels of participation. This is supported by the analyses reported here which show that even though membership figures are declining, parties still attract new members, that party membership figures are not declining in all parties, and that party members vary in their participation in a wide variety of party activities, such as traditional campaigning activities, political discussions and financial contributions. Hence, this article contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of parties as channels of participation. These results allow for an elaboration on the consequences for and future role of political parties within modern democracies.

M3 - Working paper

SN - 987-87-7393-571-2

BT - Danish Party Membership

PB - Museum Tusculanum

CY - Kbh

ER -