Intra-party Balance of Power: Cartelisation versus Communist Organisational Tradition in the Cypriot Radical Left AKEL

The article analyses the effects of cartelisation on the intra-party balance of power among the three ‘party faces’ of the Cypriot AKEL. Aiming to provide a testable hypothesis for other radical left parties with government experience, we investigate the claim of cartel party theory – that the party in central office and the party on the ground have lost their powers to the party in public office – in the light of AKEL’s communist organisational tradition. We ask whether this genetic heritage might have conditioned its adaptation and transformation and allowed it to resist cartelisation. Using a variety of material, including a rich set of unpublished party data, we investigate indices including the decline of the party on the ground, the composition and hierarchy of party organs, the relationship of public office holders to the party executives, and who controls the party’s finances and communication strategy. We find mixed evidence, rather pointing to the endurance of the mass party model, indicative of the strong influence that party history exercises upon AKEL’s present organisational configuration.