British Party Members An Overview

Party membership and activism is declining among Britain’s three major parties. Using individual membership survey data, evidence of this decline, particularly in party activism, is presented. Reasons for the decline are considered. It is suggested that choice-based rather than structural explanations are more persuasive. The impact of the decline upon the parties and the political system is considered. The article concludes that it is possible for parties to stimulate membership and activism. KEY WORDS Britain party activists party members It might seem perverse to devote an entire issue of Party Politics to party members when they appear to be a dying breed of political activists in the advanced industrial democracies. Both the supply of political enthusiasts eager to join parties, and the demand of parties for such enthusiasts, seems to be waning. Rather than the mass-membership party being a party of the future, as predicted by Duverger (1954), it now appears to be a party of the past. Mair (1997: 124) claims that among three distinct elements of party organization – the party in public office, the party bureaucracy and the voluntary membership organization – the first two remain strong, but the third is in decline. The contemporary party, it would appear, is becoming, or has already become, an organization with a relatively small number of members, or with no members at all as distinct from supporters. If membership parties are in free-fall decline why might this be so, and what might be the consequences both for parties in particular, and for the political system more generally? Should attempts be made to arrest the decline and, if so, how might this be done? To fully answer these questions we need to know more about party members. In particular, more needs to be known about why individuals join parties, what they do as party members, what are their beliefs and what are their distinguishing characteristics