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Movement-Parties in Action: Challenges and Outcomes
Abstract Submissions Closed
RC18 Political Sociology (host committee)
Language: Spanish and English
Session Type: Oral
Movement-parties in action: Challenges and outcomes
The transition from social movements to political parties is not a new phenomenon. The socialist, communist and social democratic parties around the world had their point of departure in the workers' movement. Likewise, the environmental movements of the 1960s and 1970s, together with the anti-nuclear movement, formed the basis of green parties such as Die Grünen in Germany and Les Verts in France. In recent years, we have seen an upsurge of this type of political party. From Podemos in Spain, Syriza in Greece to the MAS in Bolivia and the Frente Amplio in Chile, movement-parties have reshaped both the content and the actors that define the political game. Movement-parties – which according to Kitschelt (2006) refers to coalitions of activists that seek to apply the same organizational and strategic practices of social movements in the arena of political party competition – face various challenges when taking part of institutional politics. They need to maintain their relationships with those grassroots movement from where they originated. They also require constructing internal decision-making mechanisms to decide both on policy issues and the relationship with other political parties. This session welcomes proposals focusing on, but not limited to, cases of movement-parties that recently have had electoral success. It aims to discuss both the challenges and outcomes that they have faced while in office.