The Left in Europe - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

Netherlands
party is trying to create structures that facilitate “offline” criticism (e.g. by
post) of its policies by the grass roots, the voters and the interested public.
All in all the application of the participation principle at all levels has made
the SP extremely successful and flexible in identifying and taking up new
issues and serves as a counter to the “expert-centred” Polder Model.
The members tend to perform the classical or ideal-typical function of a
connecting link between electorate and party, representing the electorate to
a greater extent than is the case with the other Dutch parties. In the latter
the members’ function has so atrophied that the opinion research institutes
are supposed to identify voters outside the core electorate so that policies
can be adapted accordingly (one need only think of the German SPD’s encroachments
on new voter strata in the course of the Neo-Social Democratic
renewal.)
The SP differs from other parties by virtue of its new overall structure.
Even if the inner party circles at the head of the SP have moved in the direction
of professionalization by acquiring an extended circle of consultants
(in such fields as design, coaching, election campaigns), there is no switching
of roles between SP politicians and lobbyists or consultants from the
world of business. So far, however, its action and organizing model has enabled
it to avoid the typical processes whereby members and activists become
alienated from the full-time party functionaries on the one hand and
the electorate on the other, since direct action brings the leaders and midlevel
functionaries into contact with the grass roots and interest groups,
while the inner-party process of political opinion- and will-formation increasingly
takes place with the participation of the entire electoral base.
This is only possible thanks to the high number of participating members. 26
The special feature of the SP, therefore, is the relationship between the
party as a whole and its electoral base.
The SP has never been either a manifesto nor a movement party. It is
geared vaguely to the “common man”, who is not progressive per se. To
identify it with the typically well-educated adherents of the antiglobalization
movement would, however, be to limit it. The fixation on
widening its electoral success means that it cannot be linked too closely to
left-wing sections of the trade unions. Such a link would deny it access to
the culturally more conservative Christian social centre in The Netherlands.
26 Unlike other parties – especially the PvdA which, despite a partial comeback in 2006, lost more than
50,000 members between 1980 and 2007 – the SP has tripled its membership since its parliamentary
debut in 1994 (cf. Voerman 2007b). In January 2009 – for the first time – the SP lost about 500 members
in comparison to the previous year. (cf. www.dnpp.nl).
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