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Abstract
The consensus among Finnish commentators is that the True Finn Party (PS), which grew dramatically to become the second largest electoral party in 2011, is an institutionalised party – that is, it is ‘here to stay’. Although led for virtually the whole of its 19-year existence by Timo Soini, the PS, unlike say Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Popolo Della Libertà, is not viewed as a ‘personal party’ in which its expected lifespan is dependent on the political lifespan of its founder-leader. But how institutionalised really is it and when can a party be said to be institutionalised? Building on the syndrome of properties widely ascribed to the process in the literature, the theoretical contribution of this article is to provide a composite definition and the first systematic operationalisation of the notion of party institutionalisation. The empirical section measures the extent of party institutionalisation using the populist-entrepreneur True Finn Party as a test case whilst the concluding discussion considers the wider question of the conceptual utility of institutionalisation for the analysis of party change.
Notes
1. We are grateful to one of the referees for emphasising this point.
2. Equally, as Boucek (Citation2009) and others have noted, factionalism or more precisely the accommodation of factionalism can hold parties together.
3. The classification of age groups in the EVA surveys changed in 2010. Thus, for the period 2006–09 the categories are recorded as 18–35, 36–55, 56–65 and over 65, whereas for EVA 2010–11 and FGES Citation2011, the categories are coded 18–30, 31–50, 51–65 and over 65.
4. ‘Kovien akkojen asialla’, Helsingin Sanomat, 28 April 2013.
5. ‘Mikä on rasismia perussuomalaisille’, Helsingin Sanomat, 13 January 2013. This was an interview with the senior party official Matti Putkonen.
6. ‘Gallupit sojottaa ylöspäin’, Timo Soinin ploki, 23 October 2013.
7. At the 2013 PS party conference Soini expressed his irritation at the infighting in the Helsinki district organisation. ‘Soini ärtyi Helsingin piirin riitelystä’, Helsingin Sanomat, 30 June 2013.
8. ‘Kunnallispolitiikan rasistinen möläytys kuohuttaa perussuomalaisia’, Helsingin Sanomat, 12 November 2013.
9. ‘Perussuomalaiset haalii naisehdokkaita erityiskannustimilla’, Helsingin Sanomat, 9 September 2012; ‘Uusi puoluesihteeri haluaa kentän kuntoon’, Helsingin Sanomat, 30 June 2013.
10. ‘Soini ei usko saavansa haastajia puheenjohtajiksi’, Helsingin Sanomat, 26 January 2013.
11. ‘Hankala nainen hymyilee taas’, Helsingin Sanomat, 19 February 2014.
12. ‘Perussuomalainen vaihtoehtobudgetti’, Perussuomalaisten eduskuntaryhmä, 22 October 2013.