Political Science and International Studies
PhD Researcher in Politics (ESRC 1+3)
College of Social Sciences and International Studies, University of Exeter
Start date: September 2016
Research topic: Membership Surges in Political Parties: What does this mean for the party, its members and society?
Only a small percentage of citizens in advanced industrial democracies are members of a political party; the numbers have largely been declining over the last five decades. Current knowledge tells us that the minority who do join have five dimensions of incentives for doing so, some being more popular than others. Yet, when a party experiences an acute period of expansion in its memberbase, do peoples’ incentives for joining change? Are different kinds of people attracted? How does this affect the party and wider society? Using advanced statistical methods, supplemented with qualitative interviews and content analysis, the project aims to answers these questions.
Research supervisors: Professor Nicole Bollever
Email: hw487@exeter.ac.uk