Ciencia España , Valladolid, Miércoles, 14 de noviembre de 2018 a las 08:38

A guide to open political parties

The guide, available in web format to be more accessible, offers indications for political parties to open to the citizens. It implies taking a step further in the democratization of its internal and external processes

MDG/DICYT The crisis of trust in Spanish political parties has transformed the political scene. 19.2% of Spaniards surveyed for the poll made by the Center for Sociological Research assure that political parties and politics in general represent one of the main problems that exist in Spain. In this context of distrust, transparency and promotion of citizen participation can transform political parties into more open institutions.


The Guide to good practice for open political parties promotes initiatives for political parties to be considered open. It tries to adapt the concepts of Open Government (transparency, participation and collaboration) to the field of the political parties. This guide has been devised by the researchers of the University of Valladolid (Spain) María Díez Garrido and Eva Campos Domínguez.


The guide, available in web format to be more accessible, offers indications for political parties to open to the citizens. It implies taking a step further in the democratization of its internal and external processes. The open political parties have transparency, deliberation, decision-making and citizen collaboration as their main pillars.


According to the researchers, open political parties "promote transparency to be accountable for an informed citizenry, are subjected to the scrutiny of the population, encourage the deliberation of the electorate, allow the participation of citizens in decision making and establish collaborative measures with citizens and groups. All of this not only opens them up and brings them closer to citizens, but also makes them more effective and legitimizes their decisions because they are based on accountability, participation and collaboration".


To develop the guide, which is in the development phase, twenty experts have contributed with different points of view. The panel of experts was composed of professionals and academics from the disciplines of Law, Political Science and Communication. The set of ideas they offered served to build this guide.
The objective is to guide political formations in order to be open. In addition, in the future it will be used as a method to evaluate their opening.