Much Ado About Nothing: Intra-Party Democracy in Poland. Analysed from Party Statutes’
Much Ado About Nothing: Intra-Party Democracy in Poland. Analysed from Party Statutes’

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to examine intra-party democracy (IPD) in Poland over time, assess whether it has increased or declined, and explore generational differences among parties. We analysed parties that entered parliament following the 2023 elections. Our study was based on content analysis of party statutes, employing the analytical framework developed by von dem Berge et al. (2013). We assumed that the level of IPD changed over time and that parties established within a mature political system would exhibit higher levels of IPD than those founded during the early stages of political transformation. We also hypothesised that newer parties would prove more inclined to involve their members in decision-making processes and to use plebiscitary intra-party democracy (PIPD). However, our findings revealed a more ambiguous picture than anticipated. No significant differences between the parties were identified. Assembly-based intra-party democracy (AIPD) seemed to be the standard in parties of all generations, with only a few exceptions where some form of PIPD was used as a complementary approach.

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