Mass, Cadre or Franchise Parties? Assessing Scotland’s Local Party Organizations

Abstract

This article assesses Scotland’s constituency party organizations. In particular, it examines the level of membership and societal penetration evident in Scotland’s party organizations, and aims to place this in comparative perspective. It also examines Scottish local parties in relation to party organizational models that have the grassroots as their focus, and suggests that Scottish local party organizations demonstrate a broad convergence around the “modern cadre” party model of Koole (1994). The first section outlines a number of important themes within the party organization literature and provides an overview of the data utilized, primarily an extensive survey of Scottish constituency parties carried out in the aftermath of the 2003 Scottish parliament election. Part two examines the development of party membership and societal penetration in Scottish constituencies and places Scotland comparatively. The third part examines intra‐party politics, while the fourth moves on to discuss candidate selection. The fifth section outlines the resources and organizational coverage of local parties. The concluding discussion assesses the quantitative and qualitative aspects of party organizational models and their applicability in relation to grassroots party organization in Scotland.