Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

assessing party membership figures: the mapp dataset

  • Datasets
  • Published:
European Political Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Assessments of party decline and decline of traditional forms of political participation often rely on the argument of party membership decline. Most studies analysing trends in party membership over time focus on aggregate country-level data at a few points in time. While they allow grasping general membership trends, they are not without shortcomings. This article presents the Members and Activists of Political Parties (MAPP) dataset related to the MAPP project. The dataset makes a large amount of data on party membership available to the larger public. The dataset provides 6,307 party membership data observations (M) covering 397 parties in 31 countries, mostly between 1945 and 2014. The article discusses the existing literature and data on party membership trends, how membership trends have been assessed so far, and the potential added value of the MAPP dataset.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1

Source: Dataset exported from the Scopus database, including 409 documents matching with 'party membership' as keywords and their 34,684 references; literature considered: only post-1992 articles (no books or conference/working papers). The reference list is available upon request.

Figure 2

Source: Left: Katz and Mair, 1992; Mair and van Biezen, 2001; van Biezen et al, 2012 (appendix of articles); Right: van Haute et al, 2016.

Figure 3

Source: van Haute et al, 2016.

Figure 4

Source: van Haute et al, 2016.

Figure 5

Source: van Haute et al, 2016.

Figure 6

Source: van Haute et al, 2016.

Figure 7

Source: van Haute et al, 2016.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bartolini, S. (1983) ‘The Membership of Mass Parties: The Social Democratic Experience 1889–1978’, in H. Daalder and P. Mair (eds.) Western European Party System. Continuity and Change, Beverly Hills: Sage, pp. 177–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cross, W. (2015) ‘Party Membership in Canada’, in E. van Haute and A. Gauja (eds.) Party Members and Activists, London: Routledge, pp. 50–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, R. and Wattenberg, M. (2000) Parties Without Partisans, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, R., Farrell, D. and McAllister, I. (2011) Political Parties and Democratic Linkage, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Delwit, P. (2011) ‘Still in Decline? Party Membership in Europe’, in E. van Haute (ed.) Party Membership in Europe. Explorations into the Anthills of Party Politics, Brussels: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, pp. 107–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, J., Denver, D. and Hands, G. (2006) ‘The relative electoral impact of central party co-ordination and size of party membership at constituency level’, Electoral Studies 25(4): 664–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, R.S., Mair, P., Bardi, L., Bille, L., Deschouwer, K., Farrell, D., Koole, R., Morlino, L., Müller, W., Pierre, J., Poguntke, T., Sunberg, J., Svasand, L., van de Velde, H., Webb, P. and Widfeldt, A. (1992) ‘The membership of political parties in European democracies, 1960-1990’, European Journal of Political Research 22(3): 329–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz., R.S. and Mair, P. (1995) ‘Changing models of party organization and party democracy: The emergence of the cartel party’, Party Politics 1(1): 5–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kölln, A.-K. (2015) ‘The effects of membership decline on party organisations in Europe’, European Journal of Political Research, advance online publication 20 August. doi:10.1111/1475-6765.12110.

  • Kosiara-Pedersen, K., Scarrow, S. and van Haute, E. (forthcoming 2017) ‘Rules of Engagement? Party Membership Costs, New Forms of Party Affiliation, and Partisan Participation’, in S. Scarrow, P. Webb and T. Poguntke (eds.), Organizing Representation: Political Parties, Participation, and Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mair, P. and van Biezen, I. (2001) ‘Party membership in twenty European democracies, 1980-2000’, Party Politics 7(1): 5–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marien, S. and Quintelier, E. (2011), ‘Trends in Party Membership in Europe. Investigation Into the Reasons for Declining Party Membership’, in E. van Haute (ed.) Party Membership in Europe. Exploration into the Anthills of Party Politics, Brussels: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, pp. 34–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazzoleni, O. and Voerman, G. (2016) ‘Memberless parties. Beyond the business-firm party model?’, Party Politics, advance online publication 25 January. doi:10.1177/1354068815627398.

  • Norris, P. (2002) Democratic Phoenix: Reinventing Political Activism, New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen, K. (2003) Party Membership Linkage: The Danish Case, København: Institut for Statskundskab, Københavns Universitet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarrow, S. (1996) Parties and Their Members, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Scarrow, S. (2000) ‘Parties without Members?’, in R. Dalton and M. Wattenberg (eds.) Parties Without Partisans. Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 79–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarrow, S. (2015) Beyond Party Members. Changing Approaches to Partisan Mobilization, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seyd, P. and Whiteley, P. (2004) ‘British Party Members: An Overview’, Party Politics 10(4): 355–366.

  • Sundberg, J. (1987) ‘Exploring the basis of declining party membership in Denmark: A Scandinavian comparison’, Scandinavian Political Studies 10(1): 17–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan, A. (2000) Members, Organization and Performance: An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Party Membership Size, Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Biezen, I., Mair, P. and Poguntke, T. (2012) ‘Going, going,…gone? The decline of party membership in contemporary Europe’, European Journal of Political Research 51(1): 24–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Haute, E. (2009) Party Membership in Europe: Exploration into the Anthills of Party Politics. Brussels: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Haute, E. (2015) ‘Joining isn’t Everything: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty in Party Organizations’, in R. Johnston and C. Sharman (eds.) Parties and Party Systems: Structure and Context. Vancouver: UBC Press, pp. 184–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Haute, E. and Gauja, A. (2015a) ‘Introduction: Party Membership and Activism’, in E. van Haute and A. Gauja (eds.) Party Members and Activists. London: Routledge, pp. 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Haute, E. and Gauja, A. (2015b) Party Members and Activists, London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Haute, E. et al. (2016) MAPP Dataset, Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.61234.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Beyme, K. (1985) Political Parties in Western Democracies, York: St. Martin’s Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weldon, S. (2006) ‘Downsize my polity? The impact of size on party membership and member activism’, Party Politics 12(4): 467–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whiteley, P., Seyd, P. and Richardson, J. (1994) True Blues. The Politics of Conservative Party Membership, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Widfeldt, A. (1997) Linking Parties with People? Party Membership in Sweden 1960-1997. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all country experts who contributed to the data collection: Baras Montserrat, Barberà Oscar, Barrio Astrid, Bennie Lynn, Bolin Niklas, Christophorou Christophoros, Correa Patricia, Cross William, Delwit Pascal, Ennser-Jedenastik Laurenz, Enyedi Zsolt, Espirito Santo Paula, Gauja Anika, Heidar Knut, Holsteyn Joop van, Ikstens Jānis, Indridason Indridi, Ionascu Alexandra, Jastramskis Mažvydas, Jupskås Anders Ravik, Kenig Ofer, Kocijan Bojana, Koole Ruud, Kosiara-Pedersen Karina, Krasovec Alenka, Ladner Andreas, Linek Lukas, Paczesniak Anna, Pettai Vello, Rahat Gideon, Ribeiro Pedro Floriano, Ridder Josje den, Rodriguez Teruel Juan, Sandri Giulia, Soare Sorina, Spier Tim, Voerman Gerrit, Weeks Liam, Westinen Jussi, Zemanik Michal. The MAPP project is supported by the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS) via a MIS grant (Mandat d’Impulsion Scientifique – Incentive Grant for Scientific Research).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre d’étude de la vie politique, Université libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50 – CP 124, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    emilie van haute, emilien paulis & vivien sierens

Authors
  1. emilie van haute
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. emilien paulis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. vivien sierens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to emilie van haute.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 19 kb)

Supplementary material 2 (XLSX 807 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

van haute, e., paulis, e. & sierens, v. assessing party membership figures: the mapp dataset. Eur Polit Sci 17, 366–377 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-016-0098-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-016-0098-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation