Party Activism in the Internet Era: Testing for Reinforcement and Mobilization

Abstract

This paper takes the debate about the reinforcement and mobilization effects of the Internet to an area that has yet to be explored under this framework: party activism. It asks whether the Internet is modifying existing patterns of member participation and mobilization – i.e., of activism -- within parties. To explore this question and test for reinforcement and mobilization in party activism it uses an online survey to party activists of four Catalan parties (PSC, CDC, ERC, IC-V) that together represent more than 80% of the vote in national and regional elections. The analysis finds some support for the mobilization hypothesis. In contrast to traditional forms of party activism, Internet tends to mobilize party members who are frequent Internet users, who have approached the party through the net, who live in large municipalities and who have strong preferences in the issue of Catalan national identity.