How liberal parties organise

This chapter analyzes what differentiates the organizations of Liberal parties from those of other party families. Due to their ideological preferences and parliamentary origins, Liberal parties are expected to display specific characteristics in terms of degree of organization and level of centralization, which would point toward an emphasis on individuals and their freedom rather than the collective, and on the parliamentary party rather than the extra-parliamentary organization. However, our analyses show that in terms of degree of organization, Liberal parties tend to display an organizational structure largely similar to other party families. In terms of level of centralization, Liberal parties distinguish themselves by a specific combination of costs and benefits of membership and by more contested leadership selection processes. Using newly available datasets, this chapter conducts the first large scale comparative study of Liberal parties’ organizational specificities.