Internal Organization of Europarties: Designing a Comparative Framework
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INTERNAL ORGANIZATION OF EUROPARTIES: DESIGNING A COMPARATIVE FRAMEWORK By Zdravko Veljanov Submitted to Central European University Department of Political Science In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Supervisor: Professor Zsolt Enyedi Budapest, Hungary CEU eTD Collection 2019 Abstract The thesis looks at Europarty development and develops a framework for their comparison, which is based on the level of institutionalization and organizational setup. It explores key features of institutional organization of Europarties, particularly through their functional and organizational evolution. It combines IR and CP approaches and on the basis of party statutes content analysis and interviews with Europarties’ elites (i) develops indicators to measure institutionalization, and (ii) presents ideal organizational framework for Europarties comparison. The thesis shows that Europarties share the same internal organs as a result of the institutional environment in which they evolved. It also shows increased levels of institutionalization of the two biggest Europarties, EPP and PES, and organizational convergence. The first part of the thesis provides a detailed descriptive analysis of institutionalization and party organization at European level. The analytical section is divided into two parts. The first part addresses Europarties primary documents, whilst the second part focuses on two cases EPP and PES, where the newly developed comparative framework is tested. CEU eTD Collection i Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Zsolt Enyedi, for the continuous support, guidance, motivation and comments. His guidance helped me at all times of research and writing. His comments during classes and in the process of writing have been an invaluable asset and I deeply appreciate it. My gratitude also goes to the officials from the four Europarties who have agreed to take part of the research and their willingness to share information with me. I would also like to thank the entire academic and administrative staff from the Political Science Department for this amazing year. The whole CEU community for the mutual support in tough times, Political Science colleagues for the amazing debates and discussions and the RC study room people for the long hours. Special thanks go to my friends who have been there with me throughout my whole life. They will always be special people in my life. I would particularly want to thank my amazing wife and best friend, Hristina Veljanova, for her immense and unconditional support throughout the year and for always been there in tough and happy moments. My gratitude also goes to my parents, Koce and Nada Veljanovi, without whose unquestionable support I would not be where I am today and also to a long list of close relatives who have always been there during this unexpected journey. Special thanks to my two amazing nephews, Mihail and Kiril, who were always there to cheer you up. CEU eTD Collection ii Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ iii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. v List of Tables.................................................................................................................... v List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... vi Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 1. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................. 5 2. Methodology and Research Design ........................................................................... 9 2.1. Descriptive Section ..................................................................................................... 9 2.2. Analysis of Documents and Content ......................................................................... 10 2.3. Case Studies .............................................................................................................. 12 2.4. Interview Data .......................................................................................................... 13 3. The Origins and Development of Europarties .......................................................... 14 4. Framework of Analysis ........................................................................................... 21 4.1. Institutionalization .................................................................................................... 21 4.1.1. Institutionalization of National Parties ......................................................................................... 21 4.1.2. Institutionalization of Europarties ................................................................................................. 23 4.2. Development of Functions ......................................................................................... 25 4.2.1. National Parties ............................................................................................................................. 25 4.2.2. Europarties .................................................................................................................................... 27 5. Organizational Setup – Party Statutes ..................................................................... 31 5.1. Party Organs ............................................................................................................ 32 5.1.1. Congress ....................................................................................................................................... 33 5.1.2. Political Assembly (Council) ........................................................................................................ 36 5.1.3. Presidency/Council/Bureau .......................................................................................................... 36 5.2. Other Bodies ............................................................................................................. 37 5.2.1. Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) ........................................................................................... 38 5.2.2. European Political Foundations and Other Network Organizations ............................................. 38 CEU eTD Collection 5.3. Increased Institutionalization ................................................................................... 40 5.3.1. Finance .......................................................................................................................................... 40 5.3.2. Party staff ...................................................................................................................................... 42 5.3.3. Membership .................................................................................................................................. 43 6. Case Studies: EPP and PES within the New Framework ......................................... 45 6.1. Level of Institutionalization of EPP and PES ............................................................ 45 6.2. Organizational Framework ...................................................................................... 51 iii Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 58 Appendix A ..................................................................................................................... 61 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 62 CEU eTD Collection iv List of Figures Figure 1:Timeline of Europarty formation .............................................................................. 19 Figure 2: Party functions of national political parties .............................................................. 26 Figure 3: Positions of party families ........................................................................................ 50 Figure 4: Organigram of Europarties Figure 5: Organizational structure .................... 52 Figure 6: Functions of Europarties .......................................................................................... 53 Figure 7: Ideal typical organization of Europarties ................................................................. 54 List of Tables Table 1: Important changes through each decade of party development ................................. 19 Table 2: Functions and roles of Europarties ............................................................................ 30 Table 3: Party organs of Europarties ....................................................................................... 33 Table 4: Overview of Europarties Congresses ......................................................................... 34 Table 5: Powers and composition of Europarties ...................................................................