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Critical Debate

Legitimation (of the parties) and partisan ambivalences

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  • Francesco Raniolo
Francesco Raniolo
Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Calabria
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/qoe-18135

Pubblicato 2025-12-04

Parole chiave

  • Partisan Ambivalence,
  • Legitimization,
  • Integration,
  • Conflict,
  • Intermediation,
  • Representation
    • ...Più
    Meno

Come citare

Raniolo, F. (2025). Legitimation (of the parties) and partisan ambivalences. Italian Journal of Electoral Studies. https://doi.org/10.36253/qoe-18135

Copyright (c) 2025 Francesco Raniolo

Creative Commons License

TQuesto lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale.

Abstract

This short note is inspired by Piero Ignazi’s article in this issue of QOE–IJES. The basic idea is that the legitimacy of political parties is the outcome of an ongoing, contingent, tension-laden and ambivalent process (legitimization). This ambivalence is not merely circumstantial but embedded in the very logic of partisan action. Which we can characterize as a set of conceptual oppositions between ideals and practices, normative expectations and organizational realities, what parties are and what they do. The article discusses four partisan ambivalences (or dichotomies): part vs. whole, conflict vs. integration, society vs. state, and representation vs. government.  In times of democratic regression these ambivalences become disruptive, undermining the credibility of parties as legitimate actors. The crisis of party legitimacy, then is a symptom of a broader transformation in the role of political parties in the 21st century. Transformations that redefine the very function and identity of political parties.

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