Party Institutions Research Articles

The institutionalisation of parliamentary party groups. Towards a concept

ABSTRACT Notable efforts have been made to apply the institutionalisation concept to legislatures, parties and party systems. In contrast, parliamentary party groups (PPGs) were either side-lined or bundled under the concept of institutionalised parliaments and parties, which implies some conceptual confusion. However, PPGs should be treated as distinct topic given their role in stabilising the parliamentary business in all modern assemblies. Encouraging research to close that gap, we introduce a framework to study the institutionalisation of PPGs for which we use illustrations from various polities. We suggest that highly institutionalised groups exhibit stable personnel, coherent legislative behaviour, structural differentiation, well-established procedural routines, and autonomy in terms of policy decision-making, leadership selection, and resources. Also, we examine PPGs as embedded institutions and provide a conceptual map for varying relationships with the institutionalisation of parliaments and parties. Finally, we point to a widely unexplored field for comparative research including investigations on democratisation.

Party System Institutionalization and Party Institutionalization : Concept, Measurement, and Implications to South Korea

Party System Institutionalization and Party Institutionalization : Concept, Measurement, and Implications to South Korea

Correlation between the Methods of Legal Regulation in the Political Party Legislation of Russia

The legal methods for regulating political party relations in Russia were analyzed using formal logical, systematic, institutional, and hermeneutic approaches. The Russian constitutional law employs the mixed method, which underpins the constitutionalization of political parties. In contrast, the prevailing imperative method emphasizes the administrative and legal foundations of the standards that define the rights and obligations of political parties. In turn, the interplay of the imperative and mixed methods in the Russian political party law has resulted in covert obligations for political parties, which are also their subjective rights. However, not all rights of political parties align with the concept of subjective rights as developed in constitutional and legal doctrine. The results obtained suggest that the current constitutional legislation in Russia is abstract, impeding a clear understanding of the rights and obligations of political parties. By exploring the doctrinal approaches, the strategies for recognizing the methods of legal regulation were singled out, depending on the interests protected by the analyzed legal standards. Thus, the specific methods of private and public law were identified, which, with the institution of political parties as an example, explain the complex nature of most legal standards. Taken together, these standards outline a complex variety of legal means to influence political party relations. Therefore, being crosssectoral, the political party standards facilitate the resolution of conflicts in law enforcement that arise in constitutional, party, electoral, and administrative legislation.

Two Decades of Women's Affirmative Action in Indonesia: Some Reflections and Recommendations

Democracy essentially requires equal rights between men and women. Both men and women should have equal opportunity to participate in public affairs such as politics. However, women’s political participation remains low compared to men. Women face many obstacles in expressing their political views, particularly in electoral politics. To address the issue, the government has adopted affirmative action by setting a gender quota to enhance women’s political representation. However, the quota does not automatically increase women’s electability parliament. Indonesia is an example of this case. Women’s political representation has never exceeded 30% since the introduction of direct elections. We used a qualitative method for this study. We found that four reasons cause the issue – women’s socio-political capital, the weakness of party institutionalization, the strict political competition among candidates, and voters’ pragmatic behavior during elections. We concluded that there should be severe attempts from various parties – government, political party, and civil society – to increase women’s political representation. Our study matters for mainstreaming gender equality and pushing democracy more substantively. Keywords: affirmative policy, Indonesia, women’s political representation.

Democratization or Extra-Constitutionalism: Ideas for Limiting the Term of Office for Chairmen of Political Parties in Indonesia

One aspect of the internal democratization of political parties that is not working is the lack of regeneration of political party leaders. This phenomenon presents oligarchic party practices and gives rise to a very elitist and feudalistic culture since political parties are controlled by the general chairman. This research is qualitative research with normative juridical methods using legal, conceptual, philosophical, and doctrinal approaches. This research is library research that examines and explores regulatory documents, books, journals, and other scientific works that are relevant to the topic of discussion. This article aims to provide new thinking in building internal institutions of democratic political parties. The results of data collection were analyzed in depth and then presented descriptively analytically. The conclusion of the article shows that by limiting the term of office of the general chairman of a political party, party internalization becomes more open. This idea advances party organizations that prioritize healthy competition. The terms of office need to be regulated in the political party law and do not need to be regulated in the political party's articles of association and bylaws for the sake of uniformity and legal certainty. The term of office of a political party leader is limited to 1 (one) period, namely five years, and a maximum of 2 (two) periods, namely ten years, if re-elected as general chairman at the political party conference forum and chairman election.

Weak party system institutionalization and autocratization: evidence from Tunisia

ABSTRACT Why do party systems remain weak in transitioning countries in ways that can hamper the democratization process? We answer this question through a case study of Tunisia, which was the only success story of the Arab uprisings. Tunisia has experienced a process of autocratization since President Saied's presidential coup in 2021. Utilizing a historical institutionalist framework, we conducted interviews with 15 leaders from the major political parties. We find that, in contrast to conventional wisdom, the strong party institutionalization under authoritarian rule did not lead to an institutionalized party system after authoritarian rule ended. We attribute this dynamic to the inability of regime-successor parties to institutionalize, perpetuating democratic vulnerabilities inherited from authoritarian rule. We also find that too-powerful civil societies can be detrimental to transitions. The labour union, UGTT, acted as a de facto veto player and limited the ability of cabinets to implement reforms. Furthermore, leftist parties could not benefit from the UGTT's base. The 2011 revolution was a critical juncture that could have facilitated the establishment of an institutionalized party system. However, the political elite's institutional choices put additional challenges on parties. The weakness of the party system in turn contributed to President Saied's self-coup and dismantling of Tunisia's democratic institutions.

Tanah tak Bertuan: Volatilitas dan Stabilitas Elektoral di Jawa Barat Pasca Ode Baru

The changing power of political parties is one of the most important phenomena studied in democratic political systems. It can shed light on the extent to which political parties are connected to voters, the strengthening or weakening of party institutionalisation, the influence of personalities in politics, the influence of electoral and party institutional design, and so on. Studies on political party change (electoral volatility and stability) have been conducted comparatively, and some studies are conducted by looking at the national context of Indonesia. However, while studies have been conducted on these issues at the local level, they remain overlooked. This article fills this gap by presenting a description and analysis of electoral volatility and stability in West Java in the post-New Order era. Using the theoretical framework of electoral volatility and stability as well as the theory of party system institutionalisation (PSI), this study proposes three findings: high party turnover; higher electoral volatility in West Java compared to national electoral volatility; more competitive political party competition at the district/city level in West Java. The findings on electoral volatility, stability and competition are influenced by the restrictions of political party regulations, which have an impact on the decreasing number of political parties in elections, the personalisation of politics and the presidentialisation of politics, as well as the historical roots of the old-established parties that have been entrenched since the New Order era.

COMMUNIST PARTY’S REGIONAL CONFERENCE AND REGIONAL COMMITTEE AS INSTITUTIONS OF REGIONAL POWER OF THE LATE SOVIET ERA (based on the material of the Upper Volga regions)

The article analyses the social characteristics of key regional structures of the Communist Party power and the features of their composition. The study focuses on the Party institutions of regional power in the late USSR: the regional Party conference, the regional committee of the Party, the bureau of the regional committee of the Party. Considerable attention is paid in the article to the historiography of the issue of regional power in the USSR. The methodological framework of the study consisted of an institutional approach, a combination of source analysis and the oral history paradigm, the principles of historicism and systematicity. The theoretical basis of the article is based on the network approach to institutions of power (ideas of Aleksandr Konovalov, Viktor Mokhov, Oleg Khlevniuk, Yoram Gorlizki). The central concept of the study is the concept of “regional leadership network”. The “ administrative market theory” is of an auxiliary nature. Acording to Simon Kordonskiy. The basis of the corpus of sources for the article was unpublished material from archives of Russia’s regions (Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Yaroslavl). A significant part of the sources consisted of oral history evidence – semi-structured interviews conducted personally by the author. The article concludes that contradictory trends had been growing in regional Party institutions of power. It is noted that there was an active inclusion of broad sections of the population in regional authorities, based on the values of Soviet democracy. However, actual decision-making was in the hands of the Party nomenclature clique, headed by the first secretary of the regional Party committee. It is emphasised that the real institutional centre for making management decisions at the regional level of government in the USSR was the Bureau of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party. A general increase in the educational level of the Party conference delegates and members of the regional committee of the Party is noted.

Sistem Proporsional Terbuka Bukan Akar Politik Uang Dalam Pemilu

The influence of an open proportional representation system with a majority vote does not explain the rise of money politics and political corruption after the election period. Systemically, the influence of the electoral system is aimed more at establishing a stable party system and modeling coalition models to produce a model of political balance in managing relations between the Government and Parliament. Meanwhile, the quality of the implementation of the electoral system is actually determined by the quality of the institutionalization of political parties, including the tendency of the type of party. Money politics is the result of the poor quality of political institutions in a type of party that only focuses on electoral interests.

Bugarska vanjska politika i priznanje Bosne i Hercegovine

This paper explains that Bulgaria took the responsibility to be the only country to recognise the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina already in January 1992, with the deep conviction that only in this way equality could be achieved between all former Yugoslav republics, and specifically for Bosnia and Herzegovina – the impending tragedy could be prevented. The chronological framework of the article presents Bulgarian foreign policy from the mid-1980s to the international recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s statehood in April 1992. In the early 1990s Bulgaria had a special interest and a specific concern regarding the process of rethinking the existing relations between the detached republics in the multinational Yugoslav federation. When negotiations on the future of Yugoslavia ended in failure in the spring of 1991, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry developed a new approach in relations with Yugoslavia. The emphasis shifted from contacts with the leadership of the federation to contacts with the leaderships of the republics. As soon as Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence on June 25, 1991, the official Bulgarian position followed that of the European Community (EC), which had initially advocated the preservation of the Yugoslav federation. At the same time, Sofia expressed its principled view that the individual Yugoslav republics were free to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination. Already during the early autumn of 1991, Sofia officially received guests at government level from Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia. After them, Bulgaria’s attention turned to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bulgarian ambassador in Belgrade visited Sarajevo on 22 and 23 October 1991. He held an impressive number of meetings covering the whole spectrum of state and party institutions. At the end of 1991 Bulgaria was preparing to establish full relations with the Yugoslav republics. It was ready to recognise their independence, but it had stated an official position that it would synchronise concrete steps in this respect with the moves of the EC. The positions of Turkey and Greece were also important for Bulgaria. On January 13, 1992, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry decided to include Bosnia and Herzegovina „in a package” with the other Yugoslav republics to be recognised as independent states. The Bulgarian government’s decision was officially announced on 15 January 1992. Some Bulgarian politicians had some concerns about Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had not even yet held a referendum on secession from Yugoslavia. The opinion of the Bulgarian Prime Minister Philip Dimitrov was decisive: „It was more beneficial for me to look incompetent in constitutional and legal terms on the issue of Bosnia than to create a mess for me and be one of the people who encouraged Milosevic to enter Bosnia”. Although it claimed that it was relying on the criteria adopted by the EC, Bulgaria actually went much further than the EC, which only recognised Slovenia and Croatia. Sofia’s recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina was symbolically important because it came in a moment of rising extreme internal conflict when the whole of Europe was silent and hesitant how to react.

Analysis of Elite Contestation and Political Base of the GOLKAR Party during the 2014-2016 Joko Widodo Administration

This study aims to examine the elite contestation and political base of the GOLKAR Party during the 2014-2016 Joko Widodo administration. From this analysis, the following novelties are observed. Firstly, elite contestation often evaluates the power struggle only, although it is presently analyzed with its socio-political base. Secondly, the existing study of elite cooperation and competition prioritizes the experience of liberal democracies in the Western tradition, requiring elite autonomy from the state. In this case, the elites in the GOLKAR competition and cooperation are interrelated with the state. Thirdly, elite theory is presently used with contestation in political party organizations despite relevant implementation not being performed after tracing and exploring bibliometrics with the VOSviewer application. These three studies show that only strong party institutions and elite adaptation are required in the new system during a political transition. In the qualitative study, the elites successfully build networks and cooperate with government elites and organizations, which also possess the popularity, leadership, reputation, and capital to succeed in contestation using quantitative data.

Ideological polarization in roll call votes in constitutional conventions: The case of Chile in 2021–2

Abstract What factors account for polarization in constitutional conventions comprised of party members and many independents without prior legislative experience? Using the 4,669 roll call votes in the 155-member constitutional convention in Chile (2021–2), comprised of more independents than party members, we explore the determinants of ideological polarization. Relying on absolute values for the WNominate scores, we find that party members are less polarized than independents and that prior legislative experience does not impact polarization. In institutionalized party systems that allow independents to compete with party members on a level playing field, a larger presence of independents in legislatures might help increase ideological polarization while a larger number of party members helps reduce ideological polarization in roll call votes.

The temporary and partial personalization of political parties in India: A comparison of Indira Gandhi's INC and Narendra Modi's BJP

AbstractObjectiveWe analyze the extent to which the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were personalized during the tenures of India's two most famous populist prime ministers, Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi, respectively.MethodsWe use findings from contemporary Indian historiography and journalism, as well as academic secondary sources, to analyze the degree of personalization in both the INC and the BJP based on three separate dimensions of party institutionalization: internal institutionalization, external institutionalization, and objective durability.ResultsWe find evidence of partial personalization in both the INC and the BJP. To the extent that personalization took place in both cases, it involved an informal and temporary concentration of power in the hands of one leader. Both parties' formal structures remained largely constant and both parties remained valued as institutions by both voters and party members.ConclusionIndira Gandhi and Narendra Modi both became two of India's most powerful prime ministers through charismatic populist appeals and cults of personality. While meaningful and important, these outward appearances still give a somewhat misleading image of the degree to which their respective parties underwent personalization during their tenures. Both the BJP and the INC saw a temporary and personal personalization during their time in office while remaining institutionalized parties with objective durability even after their charismatic leaders leave office.

Implementasi Fungsi Pendidikan Politik Oleh Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan Di Kabupaten Purworejo Menurut Undang-Undang Nomor 2 Tahun 2011 Tentang Perubahan Atas Undang-Undang Nomor 2 Tahun 2008 Tentang Partai Partai Politik

A political party is an institution that is necessary in the democratic world; if you have chosen a democratic system to regulate the life of the nation and state, one of the essential instruments in democracy is the institution of political parties. Political education is a significant activity in a nation based on democracy because democracy and the democratization process require absolute conditions for political public education; how the function of political education by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle in Purworejo Regency is by Law Number 2 of 2011 concerning Amendments to Law Number 2 of 2008 concerning Political Parties. This study aims to analyze the implementation of norms related to the function of political education by DPC PDI Perjuangan in Purworejo Regency. This research uses an empirical approach. This study uses a qualitative descriptive analysis method with a case approach. The data used in this study are primary data obtained directly by researchers in the field through respondents through observation, interviews, and questionnaire distribution, as well as secondary data, namely data obtained or obtained from information or knowledge obtained indirectly, including official documents, books, and research results in the form of reports. The data collection techniques used in this study are field studies and literature studies. The result of this study is that there are seven political education activities carried out by PDI Perjuangan Purworejo Regency, namely, political education through socialization, political education through social, political education through art and culture, political education through religion, political education through party wing organizations, political education through seminars, political education through party schools.

Do Islamist Parties Reach More Women? Party Institutionalization and Constituency Service in Algeria

ABSTRACT Why do Islamist parties succeed electorally? Some scholars posit that Islamists’ success stems from their ability to institutionalize constituent relations and serve marginalized citizens. I test this hypothesis using an original survey of 782 Algerian citizens focusing on constituency service interactions with legislators. I argue and show empirically that Islamist parties’ more institutionalized constituency service practices allow them to reach citizens outside of their existing networks and those from groups that are marginalized from patronage networks with the state (e.g. women) to a greater extent than non-Islamist parties. By offering evidence of Islamists’ responsiveness to citizens from diverse backgrounds, this study suggests that authoritarian states’ reliance on clientelism leaves them vulnerable to challenges by opposition movements that can mobilize around religion and serve as intermediaries for citizens.

Opposition party institutionalisation in authoritarian settings: the case of Uganda

ABSTRACT This article analyses the process of institutionalisation among Ugandan opposition parties and highlights the tensions at play between party institutionalisation and broader party goals in authoritarian settings. Based upon qualitative research conducted between 2016 and 2023, we offer a historical analysis of the steps towards institutionalisation – understood as a process, rather than a state – taken by two Ugandan parties: the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and the Democratic Party (DP). Uganda features historical parties such as the DP that were severely weakened by the ‘Movement era’ but endured despite losing ground, and newer opposition forces, such as the FDC, that proved relatively stronger despite being divided over the question of building party structures, thus providing an interesting case study. Ultimately, this article demonstrates the complex, and at times conflicting, implications of institutionalisation for opposition parties’ ability to achieve their objectives in an authoritarian regime.

Pencegahan Pelanggaran Tindak Pidana Pemilu melalui Pendaftaran dan Verifikasi Partai Politik Berdasarkan Undang-Undang Pemilu

After 24 years of reform, the people passionately anticipate direct general elections as a process of power transition and evaluation of the performance of political parties over the previous five years. Similarly, the registration and verification phases of political parties participating in the 2024 Election, which began on Friday, July 29, 2022, and ended on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, have concluded for the 2024 Election. The requirement for verification of political parties is an effort to improve the institutions of political parties to make them more professional in their management, as well as to verify the readiness and fulfillment of the requirements of political parties, both new and those that have participated in previous elections. In addition, if the registration and verification of political parties process proceeds smoothly, the subsequent stages will also go smoothly. One is to minimize or prevent violations of election criminal acts that can diminish the wisdom and efficiency of the 2024 Election process and stages. This study uses normative and empirical research methods and qualitative analysis to examine the relationship between the registration and verification of political parties and efforts to prevent election crime violations. This study demonstrates that verifying political party candidates can assist electors in selecting credible and competent public officials. However, verification provisions and procedures can increase the chance of election crimes and electoral misconduct. Therefore, the election commission (KPU) and Bawaslu must be resolute and unaffected by any interference that could harm the integrity of elections and democracy. The community is also responsible for supervising and providing aspirations so that election regulations do not diminish enthusiasm for conducting elections with integrity.

Gamson going global? Cabinet proportionality in comparative perspective

Abstract We conduct a global, large-N analysis of proportionality in the partisan distribution of cabinet portfolios. Formulated in the context of postwar Western European parliamentary democracy, Gamson’s Law predicts that parties joining a coalition government will receive cabinet ministries in direct proportion to the seats they are contributing to the coalition on the floor of the legislature. Using a sample of 1551 country-years of coalitional government in 97 countries from 1966 to 2019, and comparing all main constitutional formats (parliamentary, presidential, and semi-presidential), we find that Gamson’s Law does not travel well outside its context of origin. Among the constitutional predictors of cabinet proportionality, we find that pure presidentialism is a major outlier, with an exaggerated form of formateur advantage. Introducing party-system and assembly-level predictors to the debate, we find that party institutionalization tends to increase fairness in portfolio allocation within parliamentary systems only.

Institusionalisasi Partai Politik: Studi Kasus Partai Demokrat di Era Kepemimpinan Agus Harimurti Yudhyono Periode 2020-2022

This research discusses the institutionalization of the Democratic Party in the leadership era of Agus Harimurti Yudhyono (AHY) for the 2020-2022 period. The research results show that the Democratic Party in the era of AHY's leadership for the 2020-2022 period has made various efforts to realize ideal party institutional strengthening. However, the identification of the Democratic Party as a Family Party with the placement of Susilo Bambang Yudhyono (SBY) as Chair of the Party High Council and Edi Baskoro Yudhyono (Ibas) as Chair of the Party Fraction in the structure of the Democratic Party's Central Leadership Council (DPP) for the 2020-2025 period is a challenge in itself. the process of strengthening the party's institutions. Nevertheless, the results of this research show that the Democratic Party in the era of AHY's leadership for the 2020-2022 period has a relatively strong level of institutionalization. This shows that, even though the Democratic Party is identified as the Family Party, the influence of the family party factor does not have a significant impact on the institutional weakening of the Democratic Party in the era of AHY's leadership for the 2020-2022 period. This research uses Randall and Svasand's theory of political party institutionalization through internal aspects viewed from the systemic dimension and external aspects viewed from the public image dimension. Meanwhile, to identify the Democratic Party as a Family Party, the theory and concept of the Family Party from Peter Mair and Case Mudde is used through the dimensions of the party's origins and ideology.

Challenges on Party Institutionalization: The Broken Linkage of Three Faces of Party in the National Democrats on Promoting Renewable Energy Bill

This article explores institutionalization challenges in the National Democrats (NasDem) Party in promoting the Renewable Energy Bill, viewed from the party’s three faces. NasDem is strategically involved in policy decision-making in the Indonesian parliament, but the three faces of the party are yet to be seen. Despite being established over a decade ago, the direction of institutionalization is still transforming, especially in the linkage between public office and the party at the grassroots. The research question is: How do the three faces of the party in NasDem impact the challenges of institutionalization? Drawing from the Renewable Energy Bill case studies, we argue that three challenges exist. First, a personalistic party’s strong influence leads to failure in two-way communications, especially at the grassroots. Second, the vision of the renewable energy law was notimplemented at the grassroots because the party had to focus on regional policies. Third, although the renewable energy vision has not been fully implemented, the idea of ‘green politics’ has been realized by the party wing at the grassroots through the political education program.