Party Politics and Campaign Strategies: Policy Making and Organizational Changes of the Greek Socialist Party During the 2004 Electoral Campaign

Abstract

ABSTRACT Party change as an issue of party politics has been approached as deriving from internal and/or external stimuli; to date, however, no research has been conducted regarding the party reforms taking place during an electoral campaign. This article examines the extent to which electoral campaigns can function as external stimuli on party change processes. The hypothesis presented is that the new Greek socialist leader George Papandreou, elected in February 2004 after the resignation of Costas Simitis, utilized the March 2004 legislative elections as a means by which to transform the party, aiming to implement two simultaneous goals: electoral victory and a change in the party's policy propositions and organizational structure. The article explores (1) how the leadership took advantage of the campaign in order to initiate this transformation, (2) how these two major goals—electoral victory and party change—were coordinated during the electoral period and what the leader's role was in such operations, and (3) how the party apparatus reacted to the initiative taken by the leadership.