Parties with Limited Resources?

On the Social Structure of the Membership of Small and Marginal Parties

verfasst von

Jan Eric Bartels, Frederik Springer

Abstract

Small and marginal parties (SMPs) are a constant feature of the party landscape in Germany’s political system. Some of these parties have failed to enter parliament for a long time, with many already dissolving soon after they were founded. One reason for this lack of political clout may be a lower level of resources at the individual level. Using data from the Forsa-Bus, we show that the socioeconomic makeup of members of SMPs differs from that of members of large parties. SMP members take up the middle ground between members of large parties and non-members, which means that these parties encourage the political participation of a more diverse socioeconomical group. This leads to a broader public being involved in the democratic process of elections than initially anticipated.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Politikwissenschaft

Externe Organisation(en)

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Representation

Anzahl der Seiten

20

ISSN

0034-4893

Publikationsdatum

25.06.2024

Publikationsstatus

Elektronisch veröffentlicht (E-Pub)

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Soziologie und Politikwissenschaften

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2024.2365678 (Zugang: Geschlossen)