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The Challenges of Inclusive Intra-party Selection Methods

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Democratizing Candidate Selection

Abstract

Political parties around the world are democratizing the ways in which they select legislative candidates and party leaders. The move towards more inclusive methods, often labelled as “primaries”, is at least partly a response to declining party membership and growing public disaffection towards party politics. While this democratization of intra-party affairs has the potential to enhance democratic values such as participation, competitiveness and transparency, it also creates several challenges. This chapter begins by defining the term primary election (including the various types of primaries) and documenting the rapid expansion of inclusive selection methods worldwide. We then turn to a discussion of the various challenges associated with these methods. This includes concerns about oversight and accountability, the possibility of low-quality participation, fears of the divisiveness of primary elections, and questions surrounding the representational outcomes that primaries produce.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ashkelon Academic College, Ashkelon, Israel

    Ofer Kenig

  2. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Scott Pruysers

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  1. Ofer Kenig
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  2. Scott Pruysers
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Correspondence to Scott Pruysers .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Guillermo Cordero

  2. Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain

    Xavier Coller

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Kenig, O., Pruysers, S. (2018). The Challenges of Inclusive Intra-party Selection Methods. In: Cordero, G., Coller, X. (eds) Democratizing Candidate Selection. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76550-1_2

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