| Part of the Politics series |
| Party politics |
|---|
 Politicsportal |
A business-firm party, entrepreneurial party, [2] or personal party [3] [4] [5] is a type of political party that is centered on a charismatic political entrepreneur, most often created by that person to further their own interests. [6]
It can be considered "the most extreme case of party personalization, consisting in the full control by an individual leader of the party he has himself created", in the words of political scientist Mauro Calise. [3] A business-firm party is modeled off the top-down organizational structure of a corporation [7] [8] as opposed to operating on the basis of internal party democracy. [9] The party structure is related to the older type of elite party, but is even more strongly oligarchic in form, as the political entrepreneur maintains complete control of the party's assets. [6] The entrepreneur controls all aspects of the party's platform and campaigning, plays the ultimate role in selecting candidates to run in elections, managing the party's resources, and wielding party discipline over other politicians in the party. [3]
One characteristic distinguishing them from other parties is that the party organization is either dormant or limited outside of campaign seasons, and members are actively discouraged from becoming more involved in the party, therefore leading entrepreneurial parties to lack grassroots capacity. [3] Entrepreneurial parties may have only one member, the party leader (as in the case of Party for Freedom or the Ticino League), or very few aside from politicians. The Party for Freedom initially did not recruit members out of fear of infiltration by the far-right; later, deputy leader Martin Bosma said that a party membership structure interfered with direct accountability between party leadership and voters. In a completely memberless business-firm party, volunteers, donors, and officeholders invest time, money, and their reputation (if the party is controversial) without any formal say in the party's operations. [8]
More monocratic systems of government, such as presidential systems, tend to encourage the formation of personal parties while the personalization of politics fuels the centralization of power. [10] : 9 Entrepreneurial parties tend to be short-lived and rarely outlast their founders, except where the entrepreneur is successful in using his charisma to build a mass-membership party, as in the case of the Finns Party. [3] [11] [12] Due to the lack of grassroots mobilization, leader-oriented parties may be less successful in local and regional politics, which are more distant from the charismatic leader, as occurred with ANO 2011 and Forza Italia. [7] [13]
Entrepreneurial parties are commonly far-right, nationalist, and/or populist. [6] However, another tendency is not to have a firm ideology and instead closely follow opinion polls while being vague or self-contradictory on the party's standpoint. [7] Tatiana Kostadinova and Barry Levitt argue that in a personalist party, "interactions between the leader and other politicians are driven mainly by loyalty to that leader rather than, for example, organizational rules, ideological affinities, or programmatic commitments". [9] Business-firm parties are likely to emerge in new democracies [14] and in situations of high electoral volatility. [6] They may also result from declines in political participation and membership in traditional parties. [8] In central Europe, entrepreneurial parties have formed as a type of state capture where state powers are used for private benefit. [15] Entrepreneurial parties are especially common in Latin America. [6] In Slovakia, the personal Freedom and Solidarity party has a market-liberal ideology. [5]
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany requires that political parties "conform to democratic principles" in their internal organization. [16] [17] When the Socialist Reich Party was banned in 1952, the Federal Constitutional Court's judgement stated: "If a party's internal organization does not correspond to democratic principles, one may generally conclude that the party seeks to impose upon the state the structural principles that it has implemented within its own organization." [17] The constitutions of Portugal, Spain, Argentina, and Turkey include similar provisions. [17] Israeli jurist Yigal Mersel argues that non-democratically organized parties are undesirable because "There is a greater likelihood of the pursuit of nondemocratic goals in parties that have a nondemocratic structure." [17]
National Alliance was a national conservative political party in Italy. It was the successor of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a neo-fascist party founded in 1946 by former followers of Benito Mussolini that had moderated its policies over its last decades and finally distanced itself from its former ideology, a move known as post-fascismo, during a convention in Fiuggi by dissolving into the new party in 1995.
Forza Italia was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic, liberal, social democratic and populist tendencies. It was founded by Silvio Berlusconi, who served as Prime Minister of Italy four times.
The Civic Democratic Party is a conservative and economic liberal political party in the Czech Republic. The party sits centre-right on the political spectrum, and holds 34 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, and is the second strongest party by number of seats following the 2021 election. It is the only political party in the Czech Republic that has maintained an uninterrupted representation in the Chamber of Deputies.
Law and Justice is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński.
The Rally for the Republic – Republican Party of Czechoslovakia is a minor political party in the Czech Republic, strongly opposed to the EU, NATO and immigration. The party and its leader Miroslav Sládek are particularly known for their radical attitudes towards Roma people (antiziganism) and Germans.
The Christian Democratic Centre was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy from 1994 to 2002. Formed from a right-wing split from Christian Democracy, the party joined the centre-right coalition, and was a member of the European People's Party (EPP).
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism[definition under discussion] that concentrates on upholding national, cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist conservatism and social conservatism, while departing from economic liberalism and libertarianism, as well as taking a more pragmatic approach to regulatory economics and protectionism. National conservatives usually combine conservatism with nationalist stances, emphasizing cultural conservatism, family values and opposition to illegal immigration or opposition to immigration per se. National conservative parties often have roots in environments with a rural, traditionalist or peripheral basis, contrasting with the more urban support base of liberal conservative parties.
The People of Freedom was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL launched by Silvio Berlusconi as an electoral list, including Forza Italia and National Alliance, on 27 February for the 2008 Italian general election. The list was later transformed into a party during a party congress on 27–29 March 2009. The party's leading members included Angelino Alfano, Renato Schifani, Renato Brunetta, Roberto Formigoni, Maurizio Sacconi, Maurizio Gasparri, Mariastella Gelmini, Antonio Martino, Giancarlo Galan, Maurizio Lupi, Gaetano Quagliariello, Daniela Santanchè, Sandro Bondi, and Raffaele Fitto.
The Czechoslovak National Democracy, called also Czechoslovak National Democratic Party, was a First Republic right-wing political party in Czechoslovakia.
The 1994 Italian general election was held on 27 and 28 March 1994 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic for the 12th legislature. Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition won a large majority in the Chamber of Deputies but just missed winning a majority in the Senate.
Michela Vittoria Brambilla is an Italian politician, animal rights activist and businesswoman. On 12 May 2008 she was nominated undersecretary (Tourism) in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet; on 8 May 2009 she was appointed Minister of Culture and Tourism, a position held until 2011. In 2007 she set up The People of Freedom, the goal of which was to merge the right-wing allies of Berlusconi. She is a current leader of the Animalist Movement.
The political career of Silvio Berlusconi (1994–2011) began in 1994, when Berlusconi entered politics for the first time serving intermittent terms as Prime Minister of Italy from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011, his career was racked with controversies and trials; amongst these was his failure to honour his promise to sell his personal assets in Mediaset, the largest television broadcaster network in Italy, in order to dispel any perceived conflicts of interest.
Tomio Okamura is a Czech far-right politician and entrepreneur. He founded the Czech political parties Dawn of Direct Democracy and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD). Since October 2013, he has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (MP), initially for Dawn of Direct Democracy and then from May 2015 for SPD, of which he is also leader. He previously served as an independent Senator for Zlín district from October 2012 until his election to the Chamber of Deputies a year later.
The centre-right coalition is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed the Forza Italia party. It has mostly competed with the centre-left coalition. It is composed of right-leaning parties in the Italian political arena, which generally advocate tax reduction and oppose immigration, and in some cases are eurosceptic.
Forza Italia is a centre-right political party in Italy, whose ideology includes elements of liberal conservatism, Christian democracy, liberalism and populism. FI is a member of the European People's Party. Silvio Berlusconi was the party's leader and president until his death in 2023. The party has since been led by Antonio Tajani, who had been vice president and coordinator and now functions as secretary. Other leading members include Elisabetta Casellati.
Dawn – National Coalition, short Dawn, Dawn of Direct Democracy or Tomio Okamura's Dawn of Direct Democracy, was a right-wing populist, Eurosceptic political party in the Czech Republic.
ANO, officially called ANO 2011, is a right-wing populist political party in the Czech Republic, led by businessman Andrej Babiš, who served as Prime Minister from 2017 to 2021.
Freedom and Direct Democracy is a political party in the Czech Republic. It is led by Tomio Okamura and it holds 20 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
Lombardy renewed its delegation to the Italian Senate on March 27, 1994. This election was a part of national Italian general election of 1994 even if, according to the Italian Constitution, every senatorial challenge in each Region is a single and independent race.
Hanspeter Kriesi is a professor of political science at the European University Institute in Florence where he holds the Stein Rokkan Chair in Comparative Politics. Previously, he has been teaching at the universities of Amsterdam, Geneva and Zurich. He was born in Bischofszell, Switzerland.