This book analyses the emergence of modern parties in nineteenth-century Europe and explores their connection with the slowly developing institution of democracy. The close relationship between party and democracy was established by the founders of the first modern parties who presented themselves as representatives of the people. Focusing on the ideas and practices of party founders, this book moves away from the traditional view that party formation was the result of industrialisation. It instead shows that the response of party founders was to frame and establish the modern party as an alternative to existing models of political representation, and one that was characterised by popular participation.In order to mobilize their followers, party founders gave new meaning to existing structures and developed new practices of political organization. The result was the creation of organizations that continue to shape the history of modern democracy. Exploring the foundation of three political parties: the German Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SDAP); the Dutch Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP); and the British National Liberal Federation, the author analyses the phenomenon of innovative party formation in nineteenth-century Europe, before the democratic mass-membership party had become a widely accepted concept. Taking a transnational and comparative approach, this book illustrates the decisive role of party founders in the formation of modern democracy, making it an essential read for anyone researching the history of democracy and political parties.
Author(s): Anne Heyer
Series: Palgrave Studies In Political History
Edition: 1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF
Pages: 295
Tags: European History; Political History; World History, Global And Transnational History; Modern History; History, General
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Figures
1 Introduction
1.1 Parties and Democracy
1.2 Party Emergence in an Interdisciplinary Perspective
1.3 Comparing Party Emergence
1.4 Case Selection: Three Democratic Parties
1.5 Book Structure
2 A New Perspective on Party Emergence
2.1 “Powerful Unity”
2.2 Industrialization and Suffrage Extension
2.3 Organizing as a Transnational Phenomenon
2.4 The Rise of Party Founders
2.5 The Organizational Model of the Anti-Corn Law League
2.6 Towards a New Explanation of Early Party Organizations
3 The Issue of Education: How the Association Became Party
3.1 Opposition to Political Organization
3.2 Dutch Anti-School Law League
Contested Political Protest
Two Roads to the Christian School
3.3 Federation of German Workers’ Association
Education as a Uniting Frame
Two National Organizations for German Workers
Politicization
3.4 British National Education League
Birmingham and the Caucus
Solving the Democratic Problem
3.5 Justifying Party Organization
4 Making the Party
4.1 Three Founding Assemblies
4.2 The Congress of the German SDAP
Turmoil in Eisenach
In Search of the Best Organizational Model
4.3 The Conference of the British NLF
A Celebratory Gathering in Birmingham
The Danger of Manipulation
4.4 The Gathering of the Preliminary Central Committee of the ARP
Democrats Against Aristocrats in Utrecht
The “Sensitive” Party Leader
4.5 The Meaning of Procedures
5 Mobilizing and Disciplining: The Relationship Between Leaders and the Masses
5.1 Political Community as Family
5.2 Charisma in the Dutch ARP
Popular Mobilization Through Paternalistic Leadership
Resistance to Personification
5.3 Rational-Legal Procedures in the German SDAP
Under Pressure: Disagreement and Unity
A Close Community of Brave Men
5.4 A Hybrid Approach in the British NLF
Master and Darling of His Town
The Great Party Split
5.5 Making the Democratic Party Work
6 The Role of Elections
6.1 The Illusion of Electoral Efficiency
6.2 The Myth of the Electoral Machine: The British NLF
The Power of Disciplined Organization
The Rebellious Side of Mass Mobilization
6.3 Elections as a Mechanism for Internal Consolidation: The Dutch ARP
A Future in “Darkness”?
The Party in Parliament vs. The Party in the Land
6.4 Parliament as a Stage: The German SDAP
A Revolutionary Party’s Perspective on Elections
Liebknecht’s Usefulness Principle
Party Discipline and Electoral Strategy
6.5 The Function of Elections
Conclusion
A New Perspective on Party Emergence
The Issue of Education: How the Association Became Party
Making the Party
Mobilizing and Disciplining: The Relationship Between Leaders and the Masses
The Role of Elections
The Crisis of the Democratic Party?
Bibliography
Index
