The ‘Open Party’ and Its Limits in the 1980s

Abstract

Abstract This chapter turns to the belated reaction of the people’s parties to the draining of their social support and legitimacy, which had been proceeding slowly since the 1970s. The so-called ‘open party’ was, in name, a far-reaching attempt to redefine their relationship with citizens that aimed to move away from integration of their own constituencies inside party wings towards opening the party to society as a whole. The open party came with a few real reforms, such as the introduction of quotas to address persisting gender imbalances in party ranks. However, it was in the end mostly rhetorical and therefore had limited effect. Parties struggled to come up with creative initiatives that could really (re-)connect them to a society which was ever more fluid and individualistic, and failed to enact reforms that touched upon the privileges of established party elites. By the end of the 1980s the aspiration to open parties to society had even produced the contrary effect: by aiming to ‘dissolve’ into society people’s parties seemed to confirm that they were increasingly superfluous as a means of political participation.