The idea of situational leadership in political parties

Abstract

The results from the Polish parliamentary elections in 2015 showed a significant change in the behaviour of the electorate. Two completely new political groups have entered the Sejm. For the very first time in the history of the Third Polish Republic, a new balance of power emerged, which excluded the left-wing parties from political discourse without assigning them a parliamentary mandate [Dudek 2016: 687]. In the face of this turn of events, it is difficult to maintain the thesis concerning the "freezing" of the circulation of political elites in the current political system. The Modern political party was established on 31 May 2015 [Kim jesteśmy?] while the Kukiz'15 political movement formed only three months before the parliamentary elections [O stowarzyszeniu – władze krajowe i okręgowe]. These two political organisations were able to overcome the electoral threshold and achieve unexpected success in such a short period of time and without an extensive party structure or significant financial base. The mobilisation of the electorate took place outside the parliamentary structures. In view of this, is the phenomenon of 'over-parlamentisation' [Żukiewicz 2011: 343] involved in the creation of political leaders still valid? Is it to be believed, that in the face of ever more frequent grassroots social initiatives, the real political struggle still only takes place within the parties and political leaders who are not traditional participants of political party games but who appear as activists associated with other areas of public life?

On the other hand, the changes that take place in the electorate do not directly translate into the reorganisation of party structures. The tendency to block political advancement by the already established political elite still persists. Traditional political parties are afraid of this new situation, which can significantly harm their interests. Impeding these changes may seem to be an obvious reaction, inscribed in the rules of political struggle [Żukiewicz 2011: 345]. However, the constant increase in tension between the demands and expectations of the electorate and the offer of these parties may indicate that the current balance of power will not last for long. Upcoming transformations cannot be avoided however attempts should be made to control them. For this reason, leaders of traditional political parties should decide on utilising such a mechanism for selecting leaders as it would not exclude them from the political space while at the same time be a guarantor of power.

Being part of the 21st century, we have all witnessed and participated in the intensification of globalisation processes as well as the generational change and the popularisation of ideas related to the information society. The significant increase in the importance of the phenomenon of mediatisation of politics causes a reversal of the hierarchy of attributes and predispositions which are desired by society [Schulz 2004: 87-101]. The image of political leaders on social media begins to outweigh their actual leadership skills. There is a danger that the new mechanism responsible for creating party structures will indeed facilitate the circulation of the elite, but unfortunately at the expense of the quality of potential leaders. That is why it is so important that the transformation process of the political power system proceeds as designed, and not in a chaotic manner, succumbing to bottom-up trends.

In addition, external factors of an international nature make it difficult to conduct research on the latest political phenomena. The changes currently occurring in society require new research perspectives and approaches. Traditional theories concerning the political system and the understanding of party structure may turn out to be insufficient.