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The catch-all thesis
Original version of the essay, titled
"The Transformation of the Western EuropeanParty Systems"
by Otto Kirchheimerappears in the volume
"Political Parties and Political Development",
edited by
Joseph LaPalombara and Myron Weiner,
published in 1966
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According to the catch-all thesis
two main changes have taken place inpolitical parties:
1. Organisational
Parties have become more elitist
2. Ideological
Ideological differences between parties have
been reduced For the catch-all party, the top priority is
vote maximising
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Kirchheimers point of departure
is the ante-bellum (pre-war) Mass Integration Party,i.e. socialist working class parties. Had an important
function in socialising members into the political system
This they failed to do, due to resistance from thebourgeois parties (i.e. conservative, liberal or Christian
Democratic parties; here referred to as non-socialist) The socialist parties failed to integrate their members and
supporters into the official political system
Non-socialist parties did not even try. Remained partiesofIndividual Representation, with no incentives to
integrate people. Their core groups already had access tothe state and political system
Note the parallel between:
Kirchheimer: mass integration v individualrepresentation parties
Maurice Duverger: mass v cadre parties
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The conditions for these two types
of parties changed gradually and these changes became increasinglyapparent after WWII
The law of the political market took over
Extension of the right to vote meant that politicaldemocracy was established
At the same time, affluence and increasedstandard of living meant that traditional classboundaries eroded
Socialist parties saw their core of supportreduced, and also less loyal than before
Meanwhile the non-socialist parties began to seetheir chance to make electoral inroads into
previously unreachable groups
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The nature of elections changed
Earlier, elections were focused on mobilisation
of the social groups that supported them. Little
point in trying to convince other groups into
voting for them
The new development meant that elections were
also about persuasion
It had become possible to persuade people thattraditionally had belonged to social groups that
used to be unreachable for your party
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The parties had to adapt to the new
situation No longer any good for the traditional mass integrationparties to portray themselves as the champions of aparticular class, because
it would mean that they disqualified themselves fromcompeting for all the other, socially unattached, votesthat were now up for grabs
Socialist parties thus adapted to the new situation, andbecame what Kirchheimer calls Catch-All parties, or'people's parties'
These parties had given up their efforts to educate andintegrate underprivileged citizens, and insteadconcentrated on maximising their share of the vote
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According to Kirchheimer
catch-all parties are not totally unconstrained in theirappeal to the electorate. For example ChristianDemocratic parties cannot try to appeal to secular oranti-clerical people, and Social Democratic/Labour
parties may find it difficult to appeal to real estateinterests (this was written over 40 years ago) oragricultural interests
Still, this leaves them with large groups that are up forgrabs, for example the blue and white collar, wage
earning and salaried employees in the cities, and thecivil servants
This encourages parties to concentrate on issues whichwill meet little resistance, such as education
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Four functions of political parties,
according toK
irchheimer:1. Channels forintegrating
individuals and groups into the
political order
2. Determining policies
3. Nomination ofoffice holders4. Expression of opinion
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Catch all parties less able to
perform their key functions The integrative fuction not successful in the first place
The expressive function has become increasinglyproblematical
Before democracy, the business of government and theexpression of opinion were separate
With democracy, the functions of government businessand expression of opinion are concentrated into thesame organisations, the political parties.
Catch-all parties find it difficult to maintain the expressivefunction, because they must put re-election at risk
There is a conflict between the parties' role as critics ofthe establishment and their role as support for theestablishment
The expressive function is hindered by restrictions and
tactical considerations
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Reasons why catch-all parties
cannot perform their functions: Drastic reduction ofideological baggage in
favour of short term tactical considerations andattempts to appeal to the new groups
A strengthening of the top leadership groupsand, consequently
downgrading ofindividual party members
Less emphasis on parties' respective traditional
core class in favour of recruiting voters amongthe population at large
Attempts to secure access to a wide range ofinterest groups
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Access to interest groups
has happened partly due to financial considerations
but the main reason is that the interest groups providesomething that the catch-all parties have left behind them, namelyloyal voters
If the party has distanced itself from their traditional sociallydefined support groups, interest groups may offer a short-cut backto the support of such groups
Often random who wins in a competition between catch-all parties
Therefore party has to look for what Kirchheimer calls "a morepermanent clientele". Only the interest group can provide "massreservoirs of readily accessible voters"
Co-operation between parties and interest groups is not new. Whatis new is the type ofrelationship between them
There used to be co-operation towards the same goals between,for example, socialist parties and trade unions
A catch-all party tries to secure links to other interest groups, sothat they gain access a broader range of interest group members
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The most important function of
catch-all parties is the nomination of political leaders The de-ideologisation and reduction of politically
controversial policies mean that personalities becomemore important in the quest for votes
Thus, the choice of the best leader is crucial for the party
At the same time parties have increased the distance toordinary citizens
Parties used to provide a channel of protest, a source of
visions for the future and also protection Now, Kirchheimer argued, parties have become remote,
quasi-official and alien structures.
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Kirchheimer was normative
He did not make much of an attempt to hide thathe was critical of the development into catch-allparties
His criticism came from a Leftist, democraticsocialist, perspective
He deplored the loss of the parties' ability andwillingness to facilitate the integration of ordinarycitizens into the political system
He had a class-based perspective on society,and he seemed to suggest that the catch-allparties are letting the underprivileged classesdown
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Kirchheimer also unhappy
about catch-all partiess focus on getting
elected
The way he puts the argument, it could be that if
a high and equal level of education had beenachieved, then the catch-all model would work
quite well. But he does not accept that this level
of high and equal level of education has been
reached, and therefore significant groups in
society are being let down
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The development into catch-all
parties has adversely affected the parties' role aslinks, ortransmission belts, betweenpeople and the governmental institutions
This is partly because the parties are nolonger interested in representing theinterests, thoughts and ambitions of
ordinary people It is also because the catch-all parties donot offer any participatory facilities
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The fact that voters have been cut off from the organisations of the
catch-all parties, and reduced to voting customers, couldbackfire on the parties
A party, argues Kirchheimer, cannot be any more rationalthan the voters. The voters were once subject to some
sort of discipline, provided by the parties of massintegration
Now that this discipline is no longer at hand, the catch-allparties may be transformed into too blunt an instrument toprovide a link between government and the people
What he means is that, in return for involving, protectingand integrating ordinary people in the political process,the mass integration parties could count on their loyalsupport
If they stop involving, protecting and integrating people,the support from their traditional supporters may not be as
reliable as the catch-all parties may think
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Then,
concludes Kirchheimer,: "we may yet
come to regret the passing -- even if it was
inevitable -- of the class-mass party and
the denominational party, as we alreadyregret the passing of other features in
yesterday's stage of Western civilisation"
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Leon D. Epstein
in his book Political Parties in Western Democracies"(1967) came to the same conclusion as Kirchheimer but Epstein saw this as positive
Epstein argued that it was no longer rational for parties
to provide citizens with political participation and largenumbers of influential rank-and-file members
Members could get in the way of rational adjustments ofthe parties' policies, and the free and unconstrainedcompetition against other parties
Hence, to stay competitive in the electoral market,parties had to drop internal membership democracy andactivist based campaigning
This he called contagion from the right, meaning thatthe non-socialist type of party organisation would prevail
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Maurice Duverger
some 15 years earlier, had predicted preciselythe opposite. H argued that parties need activemembers to be competitive
But Epstein disagreed. Parties cannot afford tohave influential members and activists
The growth of the media, the development ofopinion polls and the general technological
development meant that it was cumbersome andrisky to fight election campaigns based on alarge membership organisation. Members areunpredictable, and inefficient recuiters of votes
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Thus, Epstein and Kirchheimer
reached a similar conclusion
There are, however, two main differences:
First: Kirchheimer does not speak of a
contagion. The catch-all party is a newtype of party which all the existing parties
have to relate to
Second: Epstein is positive to the
development, while Kirchheimerdeplores it
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