Syllabus
Introduction: the role of political parties in modern democracies
Organisational changes of political parties
Cyber parties
Memberless parties
Business-firm parties
Left-libertarian parties - Green partries
Left-libertarian parties - pirate parties
Populist parties
Radical-right wing populist parties
Populism, technocracy and democracy
Eurosceptical parties
Other parties - feminist parties, animal parties, joke parties.
Annotation
The course is intended for master's level students. It is designed as a series of lectures about new types of political parties that are new/modern in organisational and ideological terms. The key distinction between "traditional" and "modern" as far as ideology (policies) is concerned is the theory by S. M. Lipset and S. Rokkan (1967). Political parties which do not fit in this distinction are considered as modern parties.These are, for example, left-wing libertarian parties, including green parties and pirate parties. Also included are the radical-right / left populist parties, the Eurosceptic parties. The course also discusses other types of parties that are not essential from a practial (electoral) point of view, but are important from a theoretical perspective. From the organizational point of view, the course covers some of organisational developments since the 1960s with regard to the declining party membership, the growing importance of party leaders, the professionalization of party activities, etc. In this respect, for example, electoral-professional parties, cartel parties, business parties, cyber parties, etc. are presented.
As of 2023/2023 academic year, the course will be taught in English only as Modern Political Parties in Comparative Perspective.