Closer to citizens or ticking boxes? Political parties and participatory practices in Hungary

Oross, D. and Gherghina, S. (2023) Closer to citizens or ticking boxes? Political parties and participatory practices in Hungary. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, (doi: 10.1525/cpcs.2023.1825060) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Political parties use participatory practices to connect with their members and with the broader electorate. While substantial research indicates how people get involved, very little is known about why political parties use participatory practices. The present article addresses this gap in the literature and seeks to identify the reasons parties do so. We elaborate an analytical framework that includes three main categories of explanations: party characteristics, internal dynamics, and external dynamics. Our analysis focuses on Hungary, explores party statutes and manifestos, and relies on 26 semi-structured interviews with party elites from ten political parties. The findings indicate that parties have several purposes in mind, which vary across parties, that are often linked to broader concerns about citizen engagement and to attempts to give members a voice in internal and external decision-making processes.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This article is based upon work from COST Action “Constitution-making and deliberative democracy” (CA17135), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). This work was also supported by Hungarian Scientific Research Fund [grant number PD_131408].
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gherghina, Dr Sergiu
• Authors: Oross, D., and Gherghina, S.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Communist and Post-Communist Studies
• Publisher: University of California Press
• ISSN: 0967-067X
• ISSN (Online): 1873-6920
• Published Online: 28 June 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 by The Regents of the University of California
• First Published: First published in Communist and Post-Communist Studies 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy