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Rethinking FactionalismTypologies, Intra-Party Dynamics and Three Faces of FactionalismQueen Mary University of London, f.boucek{at}qmul.ac.uk It is time to think again about the conceptualization of factionalism in political science. Following a brief review of scholarly contributions in the field, I argue that the analytical approach based on typologies and categories of subparty groups is not very useful in explaining intra-party behaviour and the process of change because, by their nature, these are static tools. Building on previous contributions to the study of factions, notably Sartori, I suggest focusing on intra-party dynamics instead of on organizational forms of faction. Factionalism should be viewed in non-exclusive terms, i.e. as a dynamic process of subgroup partitioning. It is a multifaceted phenomenon that can transform itself over time in response to incentives. Based on conclusions from case study research of factionalized parties in established democracies, I identify three main faces of factionalism: cooperative, competitive and degenerative. I suggest that the process of change may occur in a cycle that contributes to party disintegration, as illustrated by the case of the Christian Democratic Party in Italy (DC), which imploded in the mid-1990s under the centrifugal pulls of its factions.
Key Words: factionalism • intra-party politics • Italy’s Christian Democrats (DC) • Japan’s Liberal Democrats (LDP) • Sartori
Party Politics, Vol. 15, No. 4,
455-485 (2009) |
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