Party membership is shrinking worldwide, posing a unique challenge to party leaders. The trend seems to be unstoppable, but there are ways even to use the new reality to your advantage. This guide explores innovative strategies for adaptation, ensuring political relevance months before EP elections.
Understanding the shift in political membership dynamics
The age of mass parties is long over. And not just on the membership level: classic social democratic and conservative parties are losing ground all over the world, being replaced by political start-ups, often without real membership. In a way, this is a good sign: the barrier of entry to politics is obviously lower than half a century ago, so establishment parties no longer have the upper hand in the political competition.
But instead of familiarity, what matters for most voters is the excitement of new, charismatic leaders, clear policy proposals, and cultural battles. This can at least partly be attributed to the technological changes of the past decades, especially social media, which overcharged political differences and is making politics ever more divisive. While in the past, calmer centrism might have worked, today, it’s impossible to stay relevant without a very clear message that causes outrage on the other political side.
The reality of modern parties
With mass parties on the decline, a whole style of politics is also extinct. Earlier, members were responsible for fundraising and getting out the vote, but that has been replaced. Instead of loyal party members, newer parties, and especially their charismatic leaders, might have followers who join them for one or two campaigns (electoral or otherwise) then move on to the next new thing a few years later. The momentum that can uplift parties in mere months can also break them after the excitement wears off, which means that even the most successful political startupper cannot count on a steady base – someone more exciting will surely appear on the stage.
Loyalty today is not towards the party but its leader. As politics become more and more personified, parties have no choice but to build excitement around their leaders, risking a potential fall from grace that might also be the party’s downfall. Charisma can replace everything: charisma can do fundraising; reach voters through online advertising; and even replace internal debates by showing the party the way.
Five innovative strategies for party adaptation
You either embrace this new type of politics, or you will fail. That’s the reality today, and those who understood it early were able to beat centuries-old parties relatively easily. Here are five strategies for your party to adapt to overcome this challenge.
- Activist-sympathisers over members: Highlighting the shift from a membership-based model to one prioritising engaged supporters ready to champion clear causes or leaders.
- Don’t be boring. With boring, “at the same time”-type of political statements, it is impossible to excite even the closest sympathisers of a party. Your party has to understand that if it wants people to join a campaign in person – or virtually –, it has to have clear policy proposals that can be disputed by the other side.
- Charisma trumps everything. Charismatic political leaders can gather large followers in a relatively short time in the age of social media. The task is simple: make sure that the party leader has enough charisma, and protect his or her image at every cost.
- Let go of the idea of a stable base. Parties no longer have stable voter bases. New parties and politicians will always emerge, and they will pose an existential threat to older parties. The earlier a party leadership accepts this new reality, the better – as it can lead to the frequent renewal of the party, injecting new elements of excitement into an old brand.
- Ally your party with social movements. Social movements of the 2020s can have much more power than any politician or party – think of #MeToo, BLM, and the alt-right. Party leaders have to constantly monitor the emerging social movements, and ally with them if they fight for the same causes. The extra energy some social movements bring can even break the whole party structure – better to be on the right side of it.