Direct Democracy and Party Membership: Testing the Role of Political Efficacy
| Author | Wen-Chun Chang |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14789299211034278 |
| Published date | 01 February 2023 |
| Date | 01 February 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299211034278
Political Studies Review
2023, Vol. 21(1) 3 –20
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14789299211034278
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Direct Democracy and
Party Membership: Testing
the Role of Political Efficacy
Wen-Chun Chang
Abstract
The declines in political party memberships along with an increase in direct democracy have drawn
numerous scholarly discussions. Previous literature has explored the relationship between direct
democracy and party membership, but the role of political efficacy in shaping this relationship has
not been systematically examined. In particular, direct democracy can increase political efficacy
by enhancing citizens’ civic skills and perceptions about government responsiveness and indirectly
raise citizens’ interests in joining political parties. Using the structural equation model, this study
shows that political efficacy strongly correlates with direct democracy and plays a significant role
in influencing the effect of direct democracy on party membership. Moreover, results from the
bootstrap mediation test of examining potential causal inferences suggest that there are distinct
differences in the indirect effects of direct democracy mediated by internal efficacy and external
efficacy on party membership.
Keywords
direct democracy, referendum, party membership, political efficacy
Accepted: 2 July 2021
Introduction
In the system of representative democracy, it is often argued that political parties provide
the fundamental function of aggregating people’s preferences into public policies.
However, emerging evidence shows that party membership has declined for the past dec-
ades in many advanced democracies (Mair, 2013; Mair and van Biezen, 2001; Peters,
2016; Van Biezen et al., 2012), drawing concerns about the functioning and development
of democracy from many scholars and policymakers. For explaining the decline of party
membership, prior literature emphasizes that the emergence of new media facilitated by
digital technology providing alternatives for obtaining political information (Gibson
et al., 2017) and the provision of direct democracy have reduced citizens’ trust in govern-
ment and the importance of political parties (Bauer and Fatke, 2014; Dyck and Lascher,
Department of Public Finance, National Taipei University, Sanxia, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Corresponding author:
Wen-Chun Chang, Department of Public Finance, National Taipei University, Sanxia 23741, New Taipei City,
Taiwan.
Email: wchang@mail.ntpu.edu.tw
1034278PSW0010.1177/14789299211034278Political Studies ReviewChang
research-article2021
Article
4 Political Studies Review 21(1)
2009; Fatke, 2014; Ladner and Braendle, 1999). As a result, people’s attitude toward
partisan affiliation has changed.
Regarding the importance of party membership, some studies indicate that political
parties do not necessarily need a large number of members to function as long as they can
gain support from electorates mainly through political appeals that allow them to compete
in elections. By contrast, other studies argue that the roles of political parties in repre-
sentative democracy crucially depend on whether they can mobilize citizens and mem-
bers to be the crucial link between political elites and ordinary citizens (Mair, 2013; Van
Biezen et al., 2012).
The provision of direct democracy might potentially mitigate the significance of polit-
ical parties since citizens can openly make policy decisions without the representations of
political parties in the political process. Moreover, it is possible that political parties can
regain their importance within the process of direct democracy by mobilizing and repre-
senting citizen interests. In doing so, political parties will be able to strengthen their links
between the people and the state.
While party members still have importance in the functioning of representative democ-
racies, there are drastic structural changes taking place in many democratic societies
partly caused by the use of direct democracy in making policy decisions. Although the
existing literature has widely studied the functions of political parties in the context of
direct democracy (Fatke, 2014; Ladner and Braendle, 1999; Peters, 2016), the role of
political efficacy in shaping the relationship between direct democracy and party mem-
bership remains less known. In particular, while direct democracy might undermine the
role of political parties, it could enhance political efficacy. The literature of the civic
voluntarism model (CVM) and the general incentives model (GIM) (van Haute and
Gauja, 2015; Whiteley, 2011) has shown that individuals who have a stronger sense of
political efficacy are more likely to be party members. When political efficacy positively
relates to party membership, direct democracy may have a negative direct effect as well
as a positive indirect effect mediated by political efficacy on party membership.
The main purpose of this study is thus to further investigate the role of political effi-
cacy in shaping the relationship between direct democracy and party membership. The
main findings from this study can be summarized as follows. First, direct democracy
directly impacts party membership, and depending on which theoretical approach is
taken, it either boosts it (allure thesis) or depresses it (disaffection thesis). Second, direct
democracy also impacts political efficacy, and political efficacy impacts party member-
ship. Third, direct democracy further impacts party membership indirectly, via its impact
on political efficacy.
Literature Review
Direct Democracy and Party Membership
According to traditional wisdom, political parties are a fundamental element of repre-
sentative democracy that transfers citizens’ preferences into public policies as well as
provides the mechanism of checks and balances for minimizing the abuse of power and
corruption (Peters, 2016; Van Biezen et al., 2012). With these features, the recent declines
in both party memberships and involvement in traditional party activities have caused
many concerns regarding the functioning of democracy (Faucher, 2015; Mair, 2013;
Peters, 2016).
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