The Rise of Entrepreneurial Parties in European Politics

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

2. Chapter 1. Introduction

   Vít Hloušek, Lubomír Kopeček, Petra Vodová

   Abstract

   The evolution of politics and society in the contemporary world has been a fascinating and challenging process. One of the most interesting phenomena of this process is the rise of entrepreneurial political parties across Europe. This new form of party is characterised by a centralised organisation, at whose focal point is a political entrepreneur. This introductory chapter explains the context of the birth of this phenomenon and outlines the basic structure of the book.

3. Chapter 2. Political Entrepreneurs and Their Parties: Conceptual and Typological Issues

   Vít Hloušek, Lubomír Kopeček, Petra Vodová

   Abstract

   This chapter places the phenomenon of entrepreneurial parties in the wider historical perspective of the types of political party. The text offers a definition of an entrepreneurial party based on a discussion of scholarly concepts. The empirical reality shows that political entrepreneurs differ in the size and role of their businesses and their approach to party organisation. The differences are used to create a typology which combines two characteristics. The first is the business facilities of political entrepreneurs, that is, their ability and willingness to invest their own financial, media, personnel and other resources into the start-up and operation of their parties. Simply put, there are political entrepreneurs ‘with a firm’ and those ‘without a firm’. The second characteristic is concerned with whether there is any party membership and territorial structure at all. Further, the chapter outlines the topics of party durability and collapse and presents a three-phase model of the institutionalisation of entrepreneurial parties.

4. Chapter 3. The Party as a Spin-off from a Business Empire

   Vít Hloušek, Lubomír Kopeček, Petra Vodová

   Abstract

   This chapter deals with five parties founded by rich businessmen who invested heavily in their projects and attempted to create solid organisational bases. Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, Babiš’s ANO and Uspaskich’s Labour Party rank among the most successful projects according to electoral results and repeated participation in governments. They combined anti-establishment and managerial-competency appeals, and created transparent organisations, centralised under their founding fathers and with important roles for marketing and electoral professionals. Mechanisms for ensuring loyalty created disciplined and cohesive parties. The two failing projects suffered from the peculiar leaders’ decisions about their own roles. Bárta’s Public Affairs, which succeeded with direct democracy appeals, later suffered from the leader’s non-transparent position, unclear intraparty mechanisms and problematic relations within government. The provocative style of the leader of Palikot’s Movement attracted voters. The targeting of this style into his parliamentary party led to its early disintegration. Neglected and weak grassroots organisations could not serve as an emergency brake when problems emerged.

5. Chapter 4. Two Tycoons and Their One-Man Shows

   Vít Hloušek, Lubomír Kopeček, Petra Vodová

   Abstract

   This chapter examines two parties, Team Stronach in Austria and Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLʼANO) in Slovakia, which were founded by businessmen with substantial resources but a minimal cadre base. Both leaders, Frank Stronach and Igor Matovič, used mainly anti-establishment and anti-party appeals. Stronach presented a technocratic political message, while Matovič displayed an attractive style of performance based on emotion and provocation. Team Stronach was a highly centralised aggregate of a handful of professional politicians, but its leader quickly lost the initial enthusiasm after a lukewarm result in the first parliamentary elections and the party had no chance of survival. Matovič created an even more exclusive organisation, and his concept of OLʼANO as a platform for independent candidates created a party with weak cohesion. However, he was much more methodical, systematic and persistent. This proved to be a sustainable strategy, in the medium term at least. Matovič’s OLʼANO also shows a good way of exploiting the opportunity structure.

6. Chapter 5. Entrepreneurial Parties Without Firms and Without Members

   Vít Hloušek, Lubomír Kopeček, Petra Vodová

   Abstract

   This chapter analyses two political entrepreneurs, Geert Wilders and Tomio Okamura, who managed to break through, even if they had no major financial or other business assets, and who decided to give up on building a membership or extensive organisational structure. Wilders’s Party for Freedom in the Netherlands is a good example of a well-thought-out design, where the founding father consistently worked to keep his political personnel cohesive, created effective tools for dealing with party dissent and positioned his party on the politically salient issues of immigration and Islam. Tomio Okamura’s Dawn of Direct Democracy in Czechia, by contrast, provides an illustration of flagrant mistakes made by the leader, especially his lack of interest in internal party cohesion or in an image undamaged by scandal—these factors caused the quick collapse of his party enterprise.

7. Chapter 6. How to Build a Party Organisation Without Financial Capital

   Vít Hloušek, Lubomír Kopeček, Petra Vodová

   Abstract

   This chapter analyses parties of political entrepreneurs who needed virtually no financial resources of their own and yet ultimately developed extensive organisations. The Progress Party founded by Anders Lange went through significant organisational changes under Carl I. Hagen, who transformed the small undisciplined party into an extremely centralist and authoritatively led mass organisation positioning itself on the anti-immigration topic. Tomio Okamura, the founder of Freedom and Direct Democracy, stressed anti-immigration appeals in his political project and invested in building territorial structures and selecting loyal regional leaderships, which gave rise to a disciplined and rooted parliamentary party. The least institutionalised project was the camouflaged party of Paweł Kukiz (Kukizʼ15), created as a civic association due to the leader’s criticism of partisanship. The weak socialisation of MPs, the rejection of state subsidies and neglect to build a territorial organisation led to the disintegration of the parliamentary party and showed the limited resilience of Kukiz’s project.

8. Chapter 7. Collapse or Survival: The Organisational Resilience of Entrepreneurial Parties

   Vít Hloušek, Lubomír Kopeček, Petra Vodová

   Abstract

   This concluding chapter summarises the main findings, connects them to the theoretical background and draws lessons about the survival or collapse of entrepreneurial parties. The comparative analyses show that the crucial elements for longer party survival are the talent and ability of the political entrepreneur to create a cohesive organisation and to sustain the interest of his supporters. However, the differences between the individual types of entrepreneurial parties matter, because they affect their vulnerability and the chances for institutionalisation. Further, there are specific effects, such as the impact of the huge external resources of political entrepreneurs and a favourable opportunity structure, for voter success. Similarly, the individual types correlate with different probabilities of using a technocratic political message, or unconventional behaviour and very radical political appeals. The chapter also analyses the risks posed by political entrepreneurship to democratic politics.

9. Backmatter