How parties (don’t) protect: Intimidation, harassment and violence in politics, and what party organizations do to prevent and handle it

Séminaire/webinaire de l'axe Partis, Élections et Représentation with Karina Kosiara-Pedersen, Associate Professor/Lektor, PhD, University of Copenhagen

Abstract

In light of well-documented cases of harassment and violence in politics, a pertinent question to address is whether – and how – parties organize to ensure that such behaviors do not inhibit their members’ participation, their candidates’ campaigning or their elected representatives’ quality of representation. Have parties responded to the rising (attention to) political violence in general? In particular, in response to the #MeToo movement, many organizations and workplaces initiated discussions, implemented policies and established mechanisms specifically to prevent and address harassment, intimidation and violence. Did parties also adopt such regulations, and if so, what did these regulations look like? This presentation takes an important first empirical step in analyzing the adoption and content of the formal regulations of parties spanning the ideological spectrum from left to right. The preliminary conclusion is that there is both cross- and within country variation. Some parties have implemented regulations to prevent and address harassment, intimidation and violence, parties on the whole have not gone as far as fully re-gendering their organizations.