Grassroots Organization, Internal Coherence, and Secular Party Performance

• In Event: Secular-Religious Cleavage and Party Competition in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Under what conditions do political parties with a secularizing agenda become electorally successful? The existing scholarship on the recent experience of the MENA region rightfully points out that political parties that advocate a secular agenda often do not perform well when faced with Islamist parties. Yet, evidence from other contexts shows that there is significant variation in the performance of secular parties competing with Islamist ones in particular and religious ones in general. Our goal is to understand the underlying causes of success or failure for secular parties. We focus on two potential theoretical explanations. The first is on the grassroots organization of secular parties in comparison to their main rivals, and the second on the internal coherence of these parties. Empirically our analysis compares contexts that vary in terms of secular party electoral performance but share a set of theoretically relevant commonalities such as the existence of a rival religious party. We focus on: 1. Successful secular party performance against religious rivals (France 1891-1914; Spain 1982-1996; Turkey 1970-2002). 2. Alternation between the secular and religious parties (Spain 1933-1936; Tunisia 2012-2018). 3.Unsuccessful secular party performance against religious parties (Tunisia 2018-present; Turkey 2002-present). The comparative analysis focuses on political cleavages and a particular organizational evolution that weaken the internal cohesion of secular parties as well as the extent to which these parties have the ability to develop and sustain a grassroots organization that includes the countryside.

Authors

• H. Zeynep Bulutgil, University College London

• Aytuğ Şaşmaz, Bryn Mawr College