The Rise of Entrepreneurial Parties in European Politics

222 Pages·2020·1.946 MB·English

by  Vít Hloušek, Lubomír Kopeček, Petra Vodová

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN EUROPEAN POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
The Rise of
Entrepreneurial Parties
in European Politics

Vít Hloušek · Lubomír Kopeček · Petra Vodová
Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology
Series Editors
Carlo Ruzza
School of International Studies
University of Trento
Trento, Italy
Hans-Jörg Trenz
Department of Media, Cognition & Communication
University of Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark
Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology addresses contemporary
themes in the field of Political Sociology. Over recent years, attention has
turned increasingly to processes of Europeanization and globalization and
the social and political spaces that are opened by them. These processes
comprise both institutional-constitutional change and new dynamics of
social transnationalism. Europeanization and globalization are also about
changing power relations as they affect people’s lives, social networks and
forms of mobility.
The Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology series addresses
linkages between regulation, institution building and the full range of
societal repercussions at local, regional, national, European and global
level, and will sharpen understanding of changing patterns of attitudes and
behaviours of individuals and groups, the political use of new rights and
opportunities by citizens, new conflict lines and coalitions, societal inter-
actions and networking, and shifting loyalties and solidarity within and
across the European space.
We welcome proposals from across the spectrum of Political Sociology
and Political Science, on dimensions of citizenship; political attitudes
and values; political communication and public spheres; states, commu-
nities, governance structure and political institutions; forms of political
participation; populism and the radical right; and democracy and
democratization.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14630
Vít Hloušek • Lubomír Kopecek
̌
Petra Vodová
The Rise of
Entrepreneurial
Parties in European
Politics
Vít Hloušek
Lubomír Kopeček
Department of International Relations
Department of Political Science
and European Studies
Masaryk University
Masaryk University
Brno, Czech Republic
Brno, Czech Republic
Petra Vodová
Department of Political Science
University of Hradec Králové
Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology
ISBN 978-3-030-41915-8 ISBN 978-3-030-41916-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41916-5
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A
cknowledgements
This book could not have been written without the Czech Science
Foundation’s grant project ‘Political Entrepreneurs: The Czech Republic
in a Comparative Perspective’ (code GA17-02226S). This project created
several partial studies, of which two, published in the Czech Journal of
Political Science (No. 2/2017), were partially used in this book. We thank
Grigorij Mesežnikov of Bratislava’s Institute for Public Affairs and Vlastimil
Havlík from our own Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno,
for their suggestions that helped us to improve the chapters.
The stable environment of the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk
University, Brno, inspired our discussions with colleagues and students
about entrepreneurial parties and other contemporary political phenom-
ena in Europe. We particularly thank Roman Chytilek and Peter Spáč,
who were involved in the partial studies in the above-mentioned grant-
funded project, and Andrew Roberts. We also thank the administrative
staff at the faculty, Lucie Mořkovská, Lenka Plachá, Tereza Stašáková, Jan
Kleiner and Eva Dopplerová, who alleviated much of the non-academic
burden linked with the grant project. We are also grateful to Beata
Kosowska-Gas̨toł from the Jagiellonian University Kraków and Piotr Sula
and Joanna Kozierska from the University of Wrocław for their consulta-
tions and commentaries on the Polish parties.
A big thank-you goes to Tim Haughton of the University of Birmingham
for his careful reading and review of the whole manuscript, which helped
us to improve it substantially. Of course, all errors, mistakes and inaccura-
cies are wholly ours. We are grateful to Štěpán Kaňa for his brilliant trans-
lation of the manuscript into English.
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are glad Palgrave Macmillan is open to supporting projects such as
ours. In particular, we are grateful to Ambra Finotello and Anne Birchley-
Brun, our editors, for their advice and assistance.
Authors, Brno, December 2019
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 Political Entrepreneurs and Their Parties: Conceptual and
Typological Issues 9
Types of Parties in the Context of Historical and Social Trends 11
Conceptual Differences, Definition and Concept of
Entrepreneurial Parties 14
A Typology of Entrepreneurial Parties 19
The Institutionalisation of Entrepreneurial Parties 23
Research Sources and Instruments 26
3 The Party as a Spin-off from a Business Empire 29
The (In)Famous Pioneer: Berlusconi’s Forza Italia 31
‘Down with the Dinosaurs!’ or Too Private Public Affairs in
Czechia 39
Manage Everything as a Firm: Andrej Babiš’s ANO in Czechia 48
On the Wrong Side of Lithuanian Law: Viktor Uspaskich and His
Labour Party 63
Palikot’s Movement: A One-off Sensation Involving a Polish
Political Provocateur 71
Similarities and Differences 82
vii
viii CONTENTS
4 Two Tycoons and Their One-Man Shows 93
Austria’s Team Stronach: Politics as a Failed Financial
Investment 94
The Slovak Performer Igor Matovič and His Ordinary People 101
Similarities and Differences 113
5 Entrepreneurial Parties Without Firms and Without
Members 119
How to Build a Successful Project: Geert Wilders’s Party for
Freedom 120
A Closed Party Failed Project: Tomio Okamura’s Dawn of Direct
Democracy 126
Similarities and Differences 134
6 How to Build a Party Organisation Without Financial
Capital 139
The Norwegian Progress Party: From a Free- Wheeling, Indignant
Dog-Kennel Owner to a Centralist Leader 141
Paweł Kukiz: A Polish Punk-Rock Star’s Campaign Against
Political Parties 149
Tomio Okamura’s Struggle on Behalf of the Czech Nation
Against Immigrant ‘Parasites’ 157
Similarities and Differences 167
7 Collapse or Survival: The Organisational Resilience of
Entrepreneurial Parties 173
Risks Posed by Political Entrepreneurship to Democratic Politics 181
References 187
Index 211
A
bbreviAtions
ABL Agentura bílého lva; White Lion Agency (Czechia)
AfD Alternative für Deutschland; Alternative for Germany
ALDE Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
ANO Akce nespokojených obcǎ nů; Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (Czechia)
BZÖ Bündnis Zukunft Österreich; The Alliance for the Future of Austria
DP Darbo partija; Lithuania’s Labour Party
EU European Union
FI Forza Italia
FPÖ Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs; Freedom Party of Austria
FrP Fremskrittspartiet; Progress Party (Norway)
MP Member of Parliament
ODS Obcǎ nská demokratická strana; Civic Democratic Party (Czechia)
OĽANO Obycǎ jní l´udia a nezávislé osobnosti; Ordinary People and
Independent Personalities (Slovakia)
ÖRF Österreichischer Rundfunk; Austrian Broadcasting Corporation
ÖVP Österreichische Volkspartei; Austrian People’s Party
PiS Prawo i Sprawiedliwośc;́ Law and Justice (Poland)
PO Platforma Obywatelska; Civic Platform (Poland)
PSB Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates (US political consulting firm)
PVV Partij voor de Vrijheid; Party for Freedom (the Netherlands)
RAI Radiotelevisione italiana (public-service broadcaster)
RP Ruch Palikota; Palikot’s Movement (Poland)
SaS Sloboda a Solidarita; Freedom and Solidarity (Slovakia)
SLD Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej; Union of the Democratic Left
(Poland)
SPD Svoboda a prí̌má demokracie; Freedom and Direct Democracy
(Czechia)
ix