1. PARTY, PEOPLE, POLITICS THE NEED FOR ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE Dr Henning Meyer London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Social Europe Journal

2. STRUCTURE Movement and catch-all party Parties and society Recent Reforms in Labour and SPD Discussion

3. MOVEMENT AND CATCH ALL PARTY Social democratic parties lost movement character Cultural dimension is key Social roots have been lost

4. MOVEMENT AND CATCH ALL PARTY II Decline of support for catch-all parties not just a social democratic phenomenon Transition from catch-all parties to electoral professional parties Centralisation of power  experience hard to break through

5. MOVEMENT AND CATCH ALL PARTY III What used to be a bottom-up movement has become a top-down professional structure in many cases

6. PARTIES AND SOCIETY Parties are perceived as having lost touch with the live of people Party membership is not representative of society Party structures are perceived as narrow-minded and old fashioned

7. PARTIES AND SOCIETY II Population open for social democratic arguments but parties activities do not fit lifestyle New sociology of working lives with more location moves and urbanisation Also need to reach out to traditional electorate  often attracted to right- wing parties

8. PARTIES AND SOCIETY III Need to reach out to layers of society completely disconnected from politics (migrant families, …) In a nutshell parties have become narrow and top-down and not representative of society

9. REFOUNDING LABOUR Party decline connected to turnout decline UK in 1950: 84%  UK in 2001: 59% In the same period of time party membership has fallen from 4 million in Labour and Conservatives to under 500.000 in Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in 2005

10. REFOUNDING LABOUR II Refounding Labour was a consultation process for how to open up party structures Finding new ways to engage with members – taking their opinions seriously Finding new ways to bridge the divide between members, supporters and voters

11. REFOUNDING LABOUR III Local party structures are often perceived as old-fashioned Attending party meetings often perceived as boring Help local parties to adopt the best structure for their local needs

12. SPD REFORMS Driving force is to re-connect to citizens and their concerns Three Challenges 1. Citizen’s expectations of political participation have grown (want to shape things not just ‘fit’ into an existing organisation)

13. SPD REFORMS II 2. Working conditions have changed and have become more flexible. Time and place is not certain anymore 3. Role models have changed and some groups of society retreat from political discourse altogether

14. SPD REFORMS III Therefore party reform should concentrate on more democracy and participation Parties need to open up to society (taking members more seriously and open up to non-members) Cooperate more with unions, NGOs, social movements and community organisations

15. CONCLUSION The challenges seem similar: New ways of participation and being taking seriously Bridging the gap between members, supporters and voters Reconnect with society (for instance with new alliances) Adjust to new forms of professional and private life

16. DISCUSSION Thank you very much for your attention!