Εσωκομματική πολιτική και στρατηγική του κράτους: το "συμμετοχικό" εγχείρημα του ΠΑΣΟΚ (2004-2009)

Abstract

Over the past two decades, a series of transformations have been recorded at the level of party organizations, which have been interpreted as a 'democratization' or 'centralization' of intra-party politics. PASOK is the principal demonstrator of these organizational changes in the Greek party system and the 'participatory project' of the 2004-2009 period constitutes an ambitious effort to promote a different model of party organization. This article will examine the organizational innovations introduced during this period through Scarrow’s (1996) ‘three organizational dimensions’ analytical framework and Katz and Mair’s ‘cartel party theory’ (1995). It will be argued that the organizational restructuring of PASOK resulted in the strengthening of leadership and the 'party in central office' versus the 'party on the ground', the weakening of PASOK's collective bodies, both central and regional, and the formation of a model of party democracy based on the unmediated relationship between the President and the members/friends and the emergence of deliberation as a basic principle of the intra-party decision-making process. The autonomy of party leadership and bureaucracy is the consequence of their interpenetration with the state, primarily through the allocation of state subsidies to the organization. In this context, the state strategy determines the content of the 'participatory project' and makes the party in opposition a 'test tube' for its subsequent governmental practices.