Party Careers in Federal Systems. Vertical Linkages within Austrian, German, Canadian and Australian Parties

Abstract

Political parties have a massive impact upon individual political careers. The article looks at the patterns of vertical career linkages in four federal systems. It finds strong differences in both quantity and quality of such patterns. The findings suggest that institutional settings matter but also distinct party trajectories.

Keywords:

• Political parties
• political careers
• federal systems
• vertical linkages

Acknowledgements

A first version of this article was presented at the workshop on ‘Political careers in multi-level systems’ at the Kloster Seeon, Bavaria. I would like to thank all participants for the very stimulating academic atmosphere and for valuable input. Thanks in particular to Jens Borchert and Klaus Stolz, who brought the group together, and to David Docherty, the discussant of my paper in Seeon. My research on the ÖVP was made possible by data provided by Franz Fallend (University of Salzburg), Elmar Pichl and Ursula Kroczek (ÖVP Bundespartei).

Notes

We may assume that parties in unitary systems are capable of having similar gatekeeping and policy-making roles. The specific quality of parties in multi-level settings is their influence on the degree of integration between the different political levels.

I will not deal with the Bavarian CSU, which is a separate party organization. The CSU is in permanent parliamentary coalition with the CDU at the national level and maintains close political contact with her sister party, the CDU, which is not organized in Bavaria. Thus, there is an extraordinary ‘double role’ for the CSU as a federal party on the one hand and as a regional party, governing in Bavaria for decades, on the other hand (Mintzel, 1999; Hepburn, 2008).

The SPÖ national executive consists of 70 members and is thus mainly a representative body (Müller, 1994: 68–70). According to the SPÖ statutes, there is a formal inner circle (Präsidium) within the national executive committee (Erweitertes Präsidium), with its currently 35 members. The inner circle comprises the party leader, his/her deputies (twelve at the moment), an SPÖ Prime Minister (Bundeskanzler) and the leader of the SPÖ women's section (SPÖ, 2002: §52 and §53).

The six sub-organizations of the ÖVP are three corporatist associations (Farmers’ League, Business League, Workers’ and Employees’ League) and three organizations representing the youth, the women and the elderly (ÖVP, 1999: §5).

Members of the ÖVP Präsidium, who are simultaneously members of the ÖVP Vorstand, are the national party leader and three vice-presidents, elected by the party conference, an honorary party leader, the general secretary, the leader of the ÖVP parliamentary group and the ÖVP speaker of parliament (ÖVP, 1999: §29).

This is still a conservative estimate of vertical linkages within the party leadership. I have not counted the rather widespread phenomenon of ‘guest’ status that the national party leader, the general secretary or leading figures of the parliamentary group possess in their respective Land organizations.

In the federal Senate, which is elected according to a system of single transferable votes, smaller parties have been successful and have even held the balance of power sometimes. The Australian Democrats have been the most important party in that respect (McAllister, 2002).

In March 2004, Stephen Harper, former leader of the Canadian Alliance, won the new party's first leadership race and subsequently appointed Peter MacKay, former leader of the PC, as deputy leader. In the federal election in June 2004, the Conservatives became the second strongest party in the Canadian parliament. After the election in January 2006, the Conservatives as the strongest force in the federal parliament could form a minority government, led by the new Prime Minister Harper (Segal, 2006; Flanagan, 2007).

Currently, the party conferences at State level comprise 50% union representatives and 50% constituency party representatives (ALP, 2007: Part C, 5). At the national level, there is no fixed union representation to the National Conference which consists of 400 delegates (ALP, 2007: part B, 6).

Concerning horizontal linkages, four national MPs (including the then party leader and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd) and seven Senators were members of the National Executive in 2008. The single largest group within the federal party leadership were representatives of trade unions. Among the 32 members, there were eight leading trade union functionaries, including presidents and secretaries from both national and State organizations (http://www.alp.org.au/about/natexec.php).

However, the last years have seen some ALP regional barons taking on federal party positions. Most prominently, Mike Rann, Premier of South Australia, has been elected as one of the three party presidents to head the federal ALP for the 2006–09 period. In 2009, he was replaced by Anna Bligh, Premier of Queensland.

The Federal office bearers of the Liberal Party are the party president, two vice-presidents, the past president, the treasurer and the presidents of the women's committee and the youth organization (Liberal Party of Australia, 2009: Art. 25).

The seven divisions of the Liberal Party are the six State branches plus the Australian Capital Territory branch. In the Northern Territory, the Country Liberal Party is an affiliate to the Liberal Party of Australia; its president is represented in the Federal Executive as an observer (Liberal Party of Australia, 1997: 3).

However, as parliamentary leaders of their respective levels, a Liberal Prime Minister of Australia would meet any Liberal State Premier (none in 2004; one in 2008) in the Federal Council. Yet, we may assume that there will be better forums for intergovernmental bargaining than the party executive with its 60-odd members.

There are two sub-state party presidents (elected among all sub-state party presidents) among the currently 11 members of the smaller LPC leadership body. The other members are the party leader, the party president, two vice-presidents, the national director, the national campaign chair, the national policy chair, the chief financial officer and a representative of the party commissions (Liberal Party of Canada, 2006: Art. 30).

However, sub-national party representation (including the provincial party leaders and party presidents) is restricted to the NDP Federal Council which assembles close to 200 delegates. In the smaller and more influential leadership body, the NDP Executive with about 40 members, the federal party and the trade unions dominate (Dyck, 1996: 171; Pelletier, 1996: 143–145).

A typical representative of the first category is Don Plett, the first party president of the CPC. He had been a member of the provincial PC party leadership in Manitoba, organizing several electoral campaigns, before he entered the National Council of the Alliance Party and worked eagerly for the merger of the two parties. For the second category, take Jean LeBlanc, senior manager in the international drilling industry and now owner of a medium-sized firm (see the biographical notes of National Council members, http://www.conservatives.ca).

In the federal parliament of 2000, only 26 of the 301 MPs had previously been elected to provincial parliaments (Filippov et al., 2004: 210). Docherty (2005) notes that in contrast to the larger provincial parliaments there is more movement from the small Atlantic legislatures to the federal level. In small numbers but sometimes spectacular circumstances, ambitious politicians left federal parliament for a government position at the provincial level. Among them are Bob Rae (Ontario), Lucien Boucard (Quebec) and Jean Charest (Quebec), who all became provincial premiers.

In the cases I have looked at, horizontal linkages were mainly provided by the participation of the parliamentary leader and a State/provincial caucus representative in the regional party executives.

However, the biographical data concerning party positions are somehow fragmentary. For example, there is often little information as to when membership in regional party executives started. Thus, our knowledge on office sequences within parties is sketchy.

Take, for instance, the political biography of Karl Blecha (SPÖ). He was a leading member of different socialist youth organizations before he became a member of a regional SPÖ party executive in 1964, on which he served until 1998. Blecha obtained a federal parliamentary mandate in 1970 and moved to the government benches in 1983 (until 1989). In 1975, Blecha became a member of the federal party executive (until 1990). Thus, in the 1980s, he cumulated party offices at both levels plus a public office at the federal level. In the 2000s, Blecha was again a member of the federal SPÖ party executive (http://www.spoe.at).

A good example for the succession of offices is provided by the political biography of Carmen Lawrence, party president of the Australian Labor Party in 2004. She started her parliamentary career in 1986, when she was elected to the sub-national parliament in Perth. In 1990, she became Premier of Western Australia, the first female prime minister ‘down under’. In 1994, she was elected to the federal parliament and joined the federal government. Lawrence remained in Canberra, as both a cabinet minister until 1996 and an oppositional Shadow Minister afterwards, until 2002. In 2004, she was elected by the party members as federal ALP president (http://www.alp.org.au).