The organizational strength of local party organizations in Flanders

Local party systems in Western democracies are often characterized by the presence of so-called ‘independent’ or ‘nonpartisan’ actors competing for local powers with local chapters of national parties. While local party branches are generally considered as institutionalized, long-term organizations with a stable organizational structure, independent lists have been criticized for being short-term and only loosely structured political groups with little representative accountability (Soos, 2005; Steyvers, Reynaert, Ceuninck, Valcke, & Verhelst, 2008). Other authors however, argue that the o... Mehr ...