PACO, ISSN: 2035-6609 - Copyright © 2015 - University of Salento, SIBA: http://siba-ese.unisalento.it PArtecipazione e COnflitto * The Open Journal of Sociopolitical Studies http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco ISSN: 1972-7623 (print version) ISSN: 2035-6609 (electronic version) PACO, Issue 8(1) 2015: 190-214 DOI: 10.1285/i20356609v8i1p190 Published in March 15, 2015 Work licensed under a Creative Commons At- tribution-Non commercial-Share alike 3.0 Italian License RESEARCH ARTICLE PARTY MEMBERSHIP AND INTRA-PARTY DEMOCRACY How do members react to organizational change within political parties? The case of Belgium Giulia Sandri Université Catholique de Lille Anissa Amjahad Université libre de Bruxelles ABSTRACT: Facing a crucial legitimacy crisis, many Western European political parties have recently undergone various forms of organizational changes by adopting procedures for increasing intra-democracy: internal ballots, internal referenda, primary elections and so on. Direct democracy is now used in a wide range of decision- making procedures such as candidate and leadership selection (Cross and Katz, 2013). These reforms have pro- vided new opportunities for participation to party members. What happens to more traditional elements of par- ty internal structures when such instruments of intra-party democracy are adopted? And more specifically, how are such changes perceived by the party base? This paper explores the attitudes and behaviors of members with regard to intra-party democracy procedures. On the basis of a case study (Belgium) and of an original dataset, the paper explores the political consequences of intra-party democracy. We show that ŵeŵďeƌs satisfaction with the party and their degree of previous internal activism affect the level of involvement in intra-party de- mocracy activities. However, the dissatisfaction of the party base vis-à-vis of the membership role is growing. Intra-party democratization seems to limit the organizational function of the grass-roots membership to a ĐheerleadiŶg ƌole. KEYWORDS: Intra-party Democracy, Leadership Selection, Party Membership, Party Politics, , Primary Elec- tions CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Giulia Sandri, email: giulia.sandri@univ-catholille.fr; Anissa Amjahad, email: aamjahad@ulb.ac.be