Party Membership and Activism in a NewDemocracy: Evidence from the PortugueseCase

摘要

While the analysis of party models and types of party members has beenwidely discussed at the theoretical level, empirical research has not attracted similarattention. is study contributes to filling this gap by examining an understudied case,namely party members in Portuguese political parties. e key objective of this articleis to make a contribution to the study of activism and dedication to the party, in acomparative perceptive, considering different types of parties. e survey applied wasbased on an on-line questionnaire conducted within the MAPP (Members and Activistsof Political Parties) research network. e dataset included members of several partiesranging from typical catch-all parties (PS - Socialist Party; PSD - Social DemocraticParty) to elite-based types (CDS-PP - Social Democratic Centre-Popular Party), aswell as 'movement' party types (BE - Le Bloc; LIVRE). e study covers four maindimensions of party membership: party members' socio-demographic profile, ideologicalattitudes, reasons for joining the party, and activism levels and types. We show thatparty membership in Portugal follows similar trends to other advanced Europeandemocracies, albeit with important differences between parties. ese results are animportant barometer for measuring the quality of democracy, especially one as youngas Portugal's.