This article provides a comprehensive theoretical model for analysing the influence of European party federations (Europarties) on their Central and Eastern European (CEE) partner parties. It draws on the concepts of Europeanization and party change and is, in principle, applicable to similar processes of party enlargement elsewhere. In the process of their Eastern enlargement, Europarties have searched for suitable CEE partner parties on which they have tried to exert influence. Thus far, little is known about the precise mechanisms involved and the actual impact of these processes. We argue that Europarty influence leads to party change on the side of the CEE partners, which brings about ‘West-Europeanization’. Europarties are expected to apply a double strategy that consists of a process of political exchange based on a largely asymmetric power relationship in favour of Europarties and a socialization strategy in which Europarties try to socialize their partners and convince them of the appropriateness of change. We present the theoretical and analytical tools for the analysis of the arguably largest extension of transnational party organizations, which provides ample testing ground for more general theories on party change. Furthermore, we present preliminary empirical evidence on the two most important cases, namely the European People's Party and the Party of European Socialists, which indicates that Europarties played an important role in the development of CEE parties and party systems in general.
Despite the widespread recognition of the relevance of intra-party democracy (IPD), there has been a lamentable scarcity of empirical data suitable for large-N cross-sectional comparative analysis. This has changed with the Political Party Database Project (PPDB) project. Against this background this chapter sheds some light on questions about whether and how IPD varies systematically by country and party level criteria. The empirical analysis shows that country-level factors are generally more important than party-level factors. Most importantly, the existence of a party law and levels of trust and affluence are associated with higher levels of IPD. However, the authors also find that smaller parties, in terms of membership size, are associated with higher levels of IPD. While the results must be interpreted with some caution, the authors believe they constitute a first step towards reframing the scholarly debate on IPD from what is normatively desirable to a discussion about causes and consequences of variations in IPD.
The participation of members in intra-party decision making has been extensively documented in the literature. This article brings forward the concept of party member rights that adds the dimension of freedom of opinion and action within the party. It aims to identify the causes behind these rights in political parties from three Central and Eastern European countries (Hungary, Romania and Slovakia). It argues and tests how party age, Europeanization and party leadership change may enhance PMR. The empirical evidence draws on an original dataset based on standardized content analysis of 142 party statutes between 1988 and 2012. The results reveal important and robust effects of these variables when controlling for other determinants.
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