Organising for victory ... and defeat? The organisational strategy of the Spanish workers' socialist party (1975-1996)

Abstract

From the transition to democracy in 1975 the Spanish Workers' Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español, PSOE) geared its organisational strategy towards the goal of victory, which occurred at the 1982 elections. In that short span of time it built a party organisation from scratch that contributed to its dominance in Spanish politics for nearly 15 years, until it was defeated in the 1996 elections. Although its defeat can be attributed to many other factors, its organisational form and strategy failed to improve its declining electoral prospects before defeat occurred and can be considered an important contributing factor. This thesis is about political parties, although it is only focused on one political party, the Spanish Workers’ Socialist Party. Moreover, it studies only certain aspects of political parties, namely the way they develop their organisation in the pursuit of their electoral goals. Yet, it is intended to be framed into questions that regard more general issues regarding the functioning and study of political parties and their organisation, and ultimately, democratic governance. The central role of political parties in democratic system has for long attracted political scientists to studying their organisation, functioning and interaction. Parties seem to be a good point of departure to speculate on the direction of current democratic political systems given that, as Katz and Mair (1995: 21) have noted, "each model of party organisation has an associated model of democracy"