Exploring party change: the professionalisation of the UK's three Green parties crossing the representation threshold

• Published in: Environmental politics Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 938 - 957
• Main Authors: Thompson, Louise, Pearson, Mitya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 19.09.2021
• Subjects: Green parties; party change; professionalisation; representation threshold
• ISSN: 0964-4016; 1743-8934
• DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2020.1817650

Studies of political parties have evidenced a clear impetus for organisational change and professionalisation when a party crosses the representation threshold, though the process by which this change occurs remains under-researched. We use a case study of the UK's three Green parties to provide a focused examination of the professionalisation-through-representation process. Our study finds clear evidence that all three parties have professionalised to an extent as a result of securing representation. By evaluating the empirical findings in relation to key debates within the party organisational change literature, we show that professionalisation-through-representation does not necessarily require deliberate decisions by actors across a party, it can be largely uni-directional (though in this case the Greens have maintained a relatively consistent presence in legislatures) and is shaped by institutional rules on the public provision of funding and staff as well as parties' own origins.