The Rise of Entrepreneurial Parties in European Politics

ISBN-13: 9783030419158 / Angielski / Twarda / 2020 / 215 str.

Vit Hlousek; Lubomir Kopeček; Petra Vodova

Recenzje

"The book has succeeded in moving us forward in the continuous search for different party types. Its definition, typology and differentiation of specific entrepreneurial parties should be appreciated, not only by political scientists and students of politics, but also by politicians and journalists, interested in the practice of party politics." (Lukás Hájek, European Political Science, Vol. 21, 2022)

"The book makes important conceptual, analytical and empirical contributions to the study of party politics. ... the study provides a comprehensive account of recent developments that informs us about the variation between entrepreneurial parties. The book is a meticulous and extensively documented study that could be useful to both academic audiences and practitioners interested in the formation, persistence and failure of new parties." (Sergiu Gherghina, Party Politics, Vol. 28 (5), 2022)

"This is a highly relevant and pioneering study that should intrigue all academics studying European politics. ... Richness of the accounts the book offers is its yet another major strength, arising certainly to no small degree from the brave descriptions of all sorts of behind-closed-doors dealings. Indeed, with how well the book documents the party-building process with respect to its success or failure, one could even remark that it would make an excellent read for political entrepreneurs themselves." (Filip Fila, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, November 11, 2020)

Spis treści

​Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Political entrepreneurs and their parties: conceptual and typological issues

Types of parties in the context of historical and social trends

Conceptual differences, definition and concept of entrepreneurial parties

A typology of entrepreneurial parties

The institutionalisation of entrepreneurial parties

Research sources and instruments 

Chapter 3 The party as a spin-off from a business empire

The (in)famous pioneer: Berlusconi’s Forza Italia 

 ‘Down with the dinosaurs!’ or too private Public Affairs in Czechia

Manage everything as a firm: Andrej Babiš’s ANO in Czechia

On the wrong side of Lithuanian law: Viktor Uspaskich and his Labour Party

Palikot’s Movement: a one-off sensation involving a Polish political provocateur 

Similarities and differences

Chapter 4 Two tycoons and their one-man shows

Austria’s Team Stronach: politics as a failed financial investment

The Slovak performer Igor Matovič and his Ordinary People 

Similarities and differences

Chapter 5 Entrepreneurial parties without firms and without members

How to build a successful project: Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom

A closed party failed project: Tomio Okamura’s Dawn of Direct Democracy 

Similarities and differences 

Chapter 6 How to build a party organisation without financial capital

The Norwegian Progress Party: From a free-wheeling, indignant dog-kennel owner to a centralist leader 

Paweł Kukiz: a Polish punk-rock star’s campaign against political parties 

Tomio Okamura’s struggle on behalf of the Czech nation against immigrant ‘parasites’

Similarities and differences

Chapter 7 Collapse or survival: the organisational resilience of entrepreneurial parties

Risks posed by political entrepreneurship to democratic politics

O autorze

Vít Hloušek is Professor of European Politics at Masaryk University, Czech Republic.

Lubomír Kopeček is Professor of Political Science at Masaryk University, Czech Republic.

Petra Vodová is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.

Blurb

‘Drawing on examples from across the European continent, the authors chart the rise, fall and occasional endurance of entrepreneurial parties, highlighting their internal structures, sources of finance and pitches to the electorate. This is a pioneering study furnished with fascinating insights and detailed analysis from which scholars and students of political parties will learn a lot.’

–Tim Haughton, University of Birmingham, UK

 

‘This is a pioneering study which brings a comparative typology to bear on an important and under-explored set of parties hitherto mainly researched as individual case studies. It is also especially to be commended for bringing together parties from both Western and Eastern Europe in a single coherent analytical framework, and for unravelling the difficult distinction between parties founded by businesses and businesspeople and a broader set of top-down start-up parties created with a looser “entrepreneurial” rationale. The book will be essential reading for anyone wanting to get to grips with some of the more recent shifts is landscape of party politics in contemporary Europe and their consequences for democratic politics.’

–Seán Hanley, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL, UK

 

Political parties run by entrepreneurs as a means to their own end are a recent phenomenon found in many countries, and their electoral influence has never been greater. This book offers a thorough comparative analysis of such parties in Western and East-Central Europe. The book clearly separates these party enterprises from other, more traditional, political platforms as it contributes to our understanding of the potential of entrepreneurial parties. The authors offer a unique typology based on two characteristics: whether the party receives private financial, media or other investment; and the nature of its membership and territorial structure. Famous examples of entrepreneurial parties, alongside their lesser-known counterparts, serve in this book as valuable material for conceptual innovation and the investigation into why certain entrepreneurial party types succeed or fail.

Vít Hloušek is Professor of European Politics at Masaryk University, Czech Republic.

Lubomír Kopeček is Professor of Political Science at Masaryk University, Czech Republic.

Petra Vodová is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.