Does Inclusiveness Affect Divisiveness? A Comparative Analysis of Leadership Races in Five Western European Countries

This article assesses whether the recent development of more inclusive mechanisms to select both party chairmen/women and chief executive candidates makes leadership races (LRs) more divisive, that is, characterised by negative campaigns, close final results and intra-party conflicts in the contest's aftermath. The findings are based on a comparative qualitative analysis of 20 LRs held by Western European parties during the past two decades. The article argues that, the 'selectorate' being equal, the 'candidacy' dimension should also be considered to assess the inclusiveness of a LR, taking into account both the formal requirements and the interventions of party elites in the preselection phase to prevent potential candidates from running. The findings do not confirm the existance of a clear relationship between inclusiveness and divisiveness. Therefore this article suggests that highly divisive LRs tend to reflect preexisting internal fractures and that potential conflicts arising before or after the ballot do not depend on the selection system per se.