Structuring Intra-Party Politics : A Mixed-Method Study of Ideological and Hierarchical Factions in Parties
Kölln, Ann-Kristin and Polk, Jonathan LU
(2023)
In Comparative Political Studies
- Abstract
- Scholars acknowledge the existence of intra-party divisions and the potentially negative electoral effects of disunity. Some assume that intra-party divides are between professional politicians and grassroots members, others highlight the importance of ideological blocs. Yet, precisely mapping factional structures, especially ideological factions, is difficult because of the “black box of intra-party politics.” Based on theories of party change and spatial competition, we argue for the existence of two distinct ideological factional dimensions that may differ from hierarchical factions. We test our expectations by triangulating evidence from three unique datasets from Sweden: a survey of party members, a media content analysis, and... (More)
- Scholars acknowledge the existence of intra-party divisions and the potentially negative electoral effects of disunity. Some assume that intra-party divides are between professional politicians and grassroots members, others highlight the importance of ideological blocs. Yet, precisely mapping factional structures, especially ideological factions, is difficult because of the “black box of intra-party politics.” Based on theories of party change and spatial competition, we argue for the existence of two distinct ideological factional dimensions that may differ from hierarchical factions. We test our expectations by triangulating evidence from three unique datasets from Sweden: a survey of party members, a media content analysis, and interviews with politicians. Our mixed-methods approach allows identifying the number, structure, content, sizes, and ideological positions of factions. The results show substantial variation in all aspects and that hierarchical and ideological factions rarely coincide. These findings have important theoretical, conceptual, and methodological implications for comparative politics. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1948d397-a0df-46b3-9eef-9a93dbaac514
- author
- Kölln, Ann-Kristin
and Polk, Jonathan
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-08-10
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- political parties, qualitative methods, quantitative methods
- in
- Comparative Political Studies
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85167561384
- ISSN
- 1552-3829
- DOI
- 10.1177/00104140231194067
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1948d397-a0df-46b3-9eef-9a93dbaac514
- date added to LUP
- 2023-08-14 09:18:56
- date last changed
- 2023-08-23 04:02:10
@article{1948d397-a0df-46b3-9eef-9a93dbaac514,
abstract = {{Scholars acknowledge the existence of intra-party divisions and the potentially negative electoral effects of disunity. Some assume that intra-party divides are between professional politicians and grassroots members, others highlight the importance of ideological blocs. Yet, precisely mapping factional structures, especially ideological factions, is difficult because of the “black box of intra-party politics.” Based on theories of party change and spatial competition, we argue for the existence of two distinct ideological factional dimensions that may differ from hierarchical factions. We test our expectations by triangulating evidence from three unique datasets from Sweden: a survey of party members, a media content analysis, and interviews with politicians. Our mixed-methods approach allows identifying the number, structure, content, sizes, and ideological positions of factions. The results show substantial variation in all aspects and that hierarchical and ideological factions rarely coincide. These findings have important theoretical, conceptual, and methodological implications for comparative politics.}},
author = {{Kölln, Ann-Kristin and Polk, Jonathan}},
issn = {{1552-3829}},
keywords = {{political parties; qualitative methods; quantitative methods}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{08}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Comparative Political Studies}},
title = {{Structuring Intra-Party Politics : A Mixed-Method Study of Ideological and Hierarchical Factions in Parties}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00104140231194067}},
doi = {{10.1177/00104140231194067}},
year = {{2023}},
}