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Freedom of speech within political parties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2021

Udit Bhatia  and
Fabio Wolkenstein Open the ORCID record for Fabio Wolkenstein [Opens in a new window]
Udit Bhatia
Affiliation:
Junior Research Fellow, Jesus College, University of Oxford, OxfordUK
Fabio Wolkenstein*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor in Political Science, Aarhus Universitet, Institut for Statskundskab, Political Science, Aarhus CDenmark Adjunct Researcher in Political Theory, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen, Political Science, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
*
*E-mail: wolkenstein@ps.au.dk
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Abstract

The expulsion of party members for the expression of dissent is a common practice in democratic states around the world, which can have momentous consequences for individual parties and the political system at large. In this article, we address the question of whether limitations on party members’ free speech can be defended on normative grounds. Drawing on a conception of parties that sees them as broader membership organisations that allow citizens to exercise political agency in a unique fashion, as well as on insights from the broader normative-theoretical literature on organisations, we build a strong presumptive case that interference with party members’ political freedoms is normatively problematic. Exploring numerous weighty arguments in favour of limiting freedom of speech within parties, we find that none of them provides a knock-down argument against our case. The argument we advance has important implications for contemporary theoretical debates about parties and partisanship, and for the regulation of parties’ internal affairs more generally.

Keywords

political partiespartisanshipfree speechintra-party democracyactivism
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , November 2021 , pp. 431 - 448
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Consortium for Political Research

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