Party Decline and Response the Effects of Membership Decline on Party Organisations in Western Europe, 1960-2010

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Party Decline and Response the Effects of Membership Decline on Party Organisations in Western Europe, 1960-2010 Party decline and response The effects of membership decline on party organisations in Western Europe, 1960-2010 Ann-Kristin Kölln Graduation Committee Chair Prof. Dr. ir. T. Mouthaan, University of Twente Secretary Prof. Dr. ir. T. Mouthaan, University of Twente Supervisors Prof. Dr. C.W.A.M. Aarts, University of Twente Prof. Dr. J.J.A. Thomassen, University of Twente Members Prof. Dr. S.A.H. Denters, University of Twente Prof. Dr. A. Need, University of Twente Prof. Dr. I.C. van Biezen, Leiden University Prof. Dr. P. Webb, University of Sussex The research undertaken in this project was facilitated by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). This thesis was printed with financial support from the Institute for Innovation and Governance Studies (IGS) and the Department of Public Administration (PA) of the University of Twente. Cover image and design by Léon Polko (www.leonpolko.nl) Manuscript edited by Zethyn Ruby McKinley – ZEDITS (http://zedits.com) Printed by CPI Wöhrmann Print Service, Zutphen ISBN: 978-90-365-3616-5 DOI: 10.3990/1/9789036536165 Ann-Kristin Kölln, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author. PARTY DECLINE AND RESPONSE THE EFFECTS OF MEMBERSHIP DECLINE ON PARTY ORGANISATIONS IN WESTERN EUROPE, 1960-2010 Dissertation to obtain the degree of doctor at the University of Twente, on the authority of the rector magnificus, prof. dr. H. Brinksma, on account of the decision of the graduation committee, to be publicly defended on Friday 21 February, 2014 at 12.45 p.m. by Ann-Kristin Kölln born on 9 March, 1986 in Buchholz in der Nordheide The dissertation has been approved by Prof. Dr. C.W.A.M. Aarts, University of Twente Prof. Dr. J.J.A. Thomassen, University of Twente Der Erinnerung an Carla Kölln gewidmet. Acknowledgements This book does not only stand for the end of a scientific project but, for the moment, also for the end of a memorable time for me in Enschede and the Netherlands. Preliminary ideas for this research project developed already during my time at Warwick University. I am grateful for Renske Doorenspleet’s academic support and her encouragement in pursuing a PhD, especially in the Netherlands. Undoubtedly, this project would not have been possible without the academic and professional involvement of my supervisors. Kees Aarts first started out together with Yfke Ongena. After my first year, Yfke left for the University of Groningen and Jacques Thomassen joined our meetings. I am grateful to all three of them; they have contributed in different and important ways to this project. I have learned a lot from working with and alongside Kees. I always liked his parsimonious and ‘no nonsense’ approach to science in which interesting questions and high quality are the key points. It has been very inspiring and influential for my own conception of scientific research. Despite having been extremely busy over the past years, Kees has been remarkably engaged in my project, even to the point of us having weekly meetings during my second year. He has continuously given me a lot of scientific leeway and encouraged my independent work, while being supportive and involved whenever it was necessary. For all of this I am very grateful to Kees. I would like to extend my gratitude to Jacques, who was willing to join the supervision of this project after the first year and shortly before his official retirement. His sharp and critical comments contributed greatly to our discussions, and his experience in political science and research improved this study considerably. They both also supported and facilitated my Visiting Fellowship at the Department of Political Science of the University of Gothenburg in 2012. Larger parts of the manuscript were written during that time as part of the Multidisciplinary Opinion and Democracy research group. The experience broadened my perspective academically and personally. I would like to thank my colleagues there, who shared an interest in my work from day one, and who quickly gave me the feeling of being integrated. Peter Esaiasson, in particular, supported me in my research, and our on- going joint work has been a source of academic joy ever since we started it. Beyond that, Peter also prepared me for the next steps by strongly encouraging me to apply for postdoc funding. I would also like to thank those friends and colleagues in Gothenburg who took the patience to teach me Swedish. Throughout the entire period of this project the PhD student community was an important and powerful outlet for fun and misery. Kira, Ignacio, Wenqi, Bengü, Ivo, Cheryl, Lotta, and Thomas from within and outside the University of Twente have made the PhD experience so much nicer. At this point special thanks are in order to my office mates in 4262. I am very thankful for their patience with my moody me and their extensive help with the daily practicalities during the time my foot was broken in spring 2013. Their support made being injured while living alone and abroad a lot more bearable and feasible. A warm thank you in particular goes to Sedef and Steven from the PhD community. They were there for me whenever the academic became personal, especially during the last year. Working with and next to Sedef has proved to be better than any summer school I could have possibly attended. Our regular, open-minded but critical exchanges of ideas scribbled onto the whiteboard have taught me so much about science and methodology. This project always improved greatly whenever she offered to act as ‘ignorant reader’ of its parts. In addition, Sedef has provided much- needed and -appreciated encouragement when motivations were at their lowest during the last year. Similarly, Steven has been a major source of motivation when finalising this project. Spending time with him – while discovering the outskirts of the Netherlands – made me often times bridge the academic and the personal. I found in him someone to discuss party politics literature with, who was only slightly ahead in his own PhD. It was great to be living together through this intense last phase, and I am grateful that I could turn to him whenever I felt like it. Over the last year, Lucie, Gilles, and Tjerk have formed a group for often intense discussions of academic issues. But more often they were an incredibly fun, mischievous and ‘what’s next’-crowd to hang out with that spiced up my life in Enschede after office hours. Often unexpected, Tjerk and Lucie’s garden, Gille’s balcony, my window spot, or the Molly Malone turned into happy places to discuss and giggle about current issues, as well as to make preliminary plans for the future. It is fantastic to see that some of these plans are already materialising, and I can only hope that we will meet for many more BBQs. Outside of academia and Enschede, I am especially grateful to Zethyn and Janina. It is quite astonishing that Zethyn and I continue to be in such close contact despite the distance between California and Northern Europe. But it is in parts her dedicated, open-minded, and cosmopolitan personality that has been facilitating this. Zethyn (or her company ZEDITS) has not only been editing the manuscript with a keen eye for detail, she has also frequently been engaging me in quite challenging discussions about party politics. I am grateful for all of this as well as her constant encouragement and belief in me and my skills. With Janina I have always been able to discuss and share nonsense as well as the really important things in life. Throughout working on this project she has often times been the like-minded anchor that helped me putting things into perspective. Days and nights spent together in Bonn, Buchholz, Düsseldorf, Enschede, Hamburg, Kiel, and Münster always turned into adventures that left me giggly and addictively light-hearted for days. Despite the many times we have moved houses already, I have still not given up on my ambition to revive our successful table tennis doubles soon. I would like to thank my brother and my parents for having been so flexible with regards to my frequently changing addresses and telephone numbers in the past years. Their open-mindedness and engagement (and Skype) made it possible that I never felt really far away. Frequent conversations about science with Basti have sharpened my understanding and argument of this project. But above all, I appreciated the time we spent talking about or actually doing ‘Quatsch’ because it offered the relaxation and distraction I often wanted and needed. My parents’ support has been invaluable for so many reasons. It is often times the little things, such as secretly placing a bag of Haribo into my luggage or bailing me out with extra petrol in a traffic jam on the motorway, that are so important. They can mean unexpected comfort when things go wrong. Finally, I would like to give my warmest and most heartfelt thanks to Göran for his advice, help, patience, and support. Buchholz/Enschede, January 2014 Ann-Kristin Kölln Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................... xvii List of Tables...................................................................................................................................... xix 1 – Introduction ....................................................................................................................................
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