Anne Heyer wrote blog for Association for Political History

Dr. Anne Heyer was invited to write a blog for the Association for Political History about her doctoral thesis. In her fascinating contribution about “The Making of the Democratic Party”, Anne presents the/some results of her research on the emergence of the first political party organizations in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands. Based on the case studies of the German Social Democratic Workers´ Party, the British National Liberal Federation and the Dutch Anti-Revolutionary Party, she traces back the transnational ideational origins of today´s parties. The blog finishes with two lessons that can be learned from early party founders for current discussions about party decline. First, crisis does not necessarily mean catastrophe. However, it can mean a shift in the understanding of democracy, which can, in turn, inspire democratic innovation.