LAUSR

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the participation of the membership in new digital parties, i.e., Five Stars Movement and Podemos. Following the pioneering example of the Pirates parties, those two parties rely on digital platform to make crucial decisions. While the literature has extensively dealt with several aspects of party organizations, little has been said on membership participation. The aim of this paper is to inquire whether new (digital) participatory tools are able to boost political participation. Firstly, I evaluate the types of membership that these parties allow. Secondly, I analyze when, under which rules and in which fields direct democracy tolls have been used. Thirdly, I evaluate the overall participation of the membership to internal consultations. The (partial) conclusion that I reach is that, albeit presenting different characteristics, the platform implemented by the parties have tried to expand direct democracy in the internal decision-making. However, the low participation rates indicate that direct democracy risks to be an empty vessel if not coupled with a constant political mobilization.