Lea Ypi - Political parties and partisanship

Lea Ypi, Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics, explores new social movements and the reformation of political parties.

About Lea Ypi

"I am Professor in Political Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

I am interested in the history of political thought, justice, democratic theory, critiques of capitalism and the intellectual history of the Balkans. My latest book, Free, a coming of age story is set in the transition from socialism to liberalism."

A wrong way of looking at political parties

In thinking about the question of whether political parties should be reformed and why they have failed historically, it’s important to turn to the question of what makes a party morally desirable. So, we turn to the foundations of what characterised parties. Why do we want parties and why do we want partisanship? To return to that question is to try and recover an understanding of what parties or, more importantly, partisanship is about: what would a democratic life lose if we were to lose partisanship? Why have the political parties that we know failed to channel what is most interesting and morally significant about parties? There are two parts to that question. The first part is perhaps more historical and has to do with the way democracy and capitalism come together, and the uneasy alliance between democracy and partisanship. It is also important to think about the mission of political parties. When we think about what parties are for, what they do, we tend to think of them as agents that operate within a particular political institutional setting, which is territorially bound, and fights elections in that setting. We seek representation from politicians whose core purpose is to run, fight and win elections. I think that is a wrong way of looking at what a party is- what it does and how it contributes to democracy.

Key Points

• Political parties should do more to encourage citizens to make demands, which they can then channel into legislation and policy.
• On the other hand, social movements should do more to seek political representation, which would make them more effective beyond a particular moment.
• The failures of social inclusion have led to the rise of populism and the far right.