🎤 Keynote – Political Parties and Democracy: Resilience or Decay? | Oslo, Norway | September 18, 2025 🇳🇴

At the ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Thomas Poguntke delivered a keynote lecture on the evolving relationship between political parties and democracy, addressing the central question: Do parties today demonstrate resilience or decay?

Drawing on data from the Political Party Database, the analysis explored three key dimensions:

  • Structural strength of parties

  • Intra-party democracy

  • Broader role within democratic systems

📌 Key Insights:

  • Party membership has declined across many contexts

  • Organizational strength often persists, sustained by state resources such as finance and staff

  • Parties increasingly shift from societal anchorage to state dependence, altering their linkage functions and reinforcing elite-centred politics

⚖️ The conclusion highlights a dual reality: parties remain essential yet transformed, reflecting both resilience and erosion in today’s democracies.

👤 About the Speaker:

Thomas Poguntke has held the Chair of Comparative Politics at HHU-Düsseldorf since 2010 and is co-director of the Düsseldorf Party Research Institute (PRuF). He co-leads with Susan Scarrow (Houston) and Paul Webb (Sussex) a longitudinal study of political parties in 50+ countries: Political Party Database.

📍 Location: ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway

📅 Date: September 18, 2025

🤝 Partner: University of Oslo

#PoliticalParties #Democracy #OrganizationalStrength #IntraPartyDemocracy #ElectoralLinkage