TY - CHAP

T1 - Nordic Party Membership Trends

AU - Bolin, Niklas

AU - Kosiara-Pedersen, Karina

AU - Kristinsson , Gunnar Helgi

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Party membership figures are relevant for membership linkage as the number of members indicates parties’ reach within civil society. Against this background, this chapter examines trends in Nordic political parties’ membership ratios. More specifically, we map variations across countries, among party families, and between old and new parties. Our analysis shows that party membership in the Nordic countries, as in most other parts of the Western world, is in decline. Importantly, however, we find that the Icelandic case stands out and goes against this trend. The analysis also reveals that the decline has been more severe for some groups of parties than others. As expected, parties with roots in traditional economic cleavages have lost quite large shares of their memberships. In contrast, the green and the radical right party families are, on average, on the rise. Similarly, we also found that the big losses of members during the past decades are primarily an effect of a decrease among the old parties, whereas newer parties show an increase.

AB - Party membership figures are relevant for membership linkage as the number of members indicates parties’ reach within civil society. Against this background, this chapter examines trends in Nordic political parties’ membership ratios. More specifically, we map variations across countries, among party families, and between old and new parties. Our analysis shows that party membership in the Nordic countries, as in most other parts of the Western world, is in decline. Importantly, however, we find that the Icelandic case stands out and goes against this trend. The analysis also reveals that the decline has been more severe for some groups of parties than others. As expected, parties with roots in traditional economic cleavages have lost quite large shares of their memberships. In contrast, the green and the radical right party families are, on average, on the rise. Similarly, we also found that the big losses of members during the past decades are primarily an effect of a decrease among the old parties, whereas newer parties show an increase.

UR - https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781785523267/Nordic-Party-Members-Linkages-in-Troubled-Times

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9781785523250

SN - 1785523252

SP - 29

EP - 50

BT - Nordic Party Members: Linkages in Troubled Times

A2 - Demker, Marie

A2 - Heidar, Knut

A2 - Kosiara-Pedersen, Karina

PB - Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ER -