Party Change and Continuity in Amsterdam

Abstract

The study of party organization has recently re-emphasized the changing nature of party structures and the probable connections of such organizational adaptation to both the changing environment under which parties work and party survival. This study is an empirical effort to precisely describe the conditions of organizational change in local parties and then to assess how this co-varies with their vote. The setting is Amsterdam and the time period 1961-93. The database comprises surveys of the leaders of the major parties undertaken in 1961, 1976 and 1993, focusing on three aspects of party organizational change: social clientele renewal, ideological change, and variations over time in activists' involvement in the local organization. Significant differences are found by party, by time period, and by organizational adaptation component. There does seem to be a linkage for certain parties between adaptive strategies and the increase or decrease in their vote.