Right-Wing Populist Party Organisation Across Europe: The Survival of the Mass-Party? Introduction to the Thematic Issue

This thematic issue assesses the organisational forms of a broad range of right-wing populist parties (RWPPs) across Europe (12 in total). It interrogates received wisdom about the supposed leader-centeredness of such parties and investigates, in particular, the extent to which the mass party, as an organisational model, remains popular among RWPPs. This introduction presents the aims, research questions, and analytical framework of the issue and justifies its selection of cases. The resilience of the mass party model highlighted in many articles challenges the dominant trend that party organisation literature has identified: a unidirectional shift towards “catch-all,” “electoral-professional,” or “cartel” organisations.

Rootedness, Activism, and Centralization: The Case of the Swiss People’s Party

The Swiss People’s Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei [SVP]) has increased its territorial extensiveness and organisational intensiveness in recent years, and has professionalised its strategies of communication. This article analyses the dynamics characterising the SVP’s organisation. It shows that with its locally rooted presence and its effort to generate ideological coherence, the party has embraced the “mass party” organisational model. It additionally assesses the extent to which the SVP’s centralised power at the federal level is conducive to the party’s further electoral success. Having considered both the party at national level and three of its most important cantonal branches, the article argues that the organisational dominance of the SVP’s central leadership was beneficial for the party’s electoral strength but will lead to tensions with cantonal and local branches, which are largely in charge, to build and maintain an active base.

Organisational Model and Coverage of At-Home COVID-19 Vaccination in an Italian Urban Context

The COVID-19 pandemic called for a reorganisation of the methods for providing health services. The aim of this paper is to describe the organisational model implemented by one of Rome’s Local Health Units (LHU), ASL Roma 1, for the “at-home COVID-19 vaccination campaign” dedicated to a target population and to outline data related to vaccination coverage stratified by health districts. A cross-sectional study was designed to describe the strategies implemented by LHU to deliver at-home vaccination programmes. People eligible for the at-home vaccination programme included patients living in the area of the LHU, being assisted by the district home care centre or not transportable or individuals with social situations that make traveling difficult. Priority for vaccination was given to (I) age > 80 years, (II) ventilated patients with no age limit, (III) very seriously disabled people with no age limit. Patients’ data were acquired from regional and LHU databases. From 5 February until the 16 May, 6127 people got at least one dose of Pfizer-Biontech Comirnaty® vaccine, while 5278 (86.14%) completed the necessary two doses. The highest number of vaccines was administered during the first week of April, reaching 1296 doses overall. The number of vaccines administered were similar across the districts. The average number of people vaccinated at home was 6 per 1000 inhabitants in the LHU. This model proved to be extremely complex but effective, reaching satisfying results in terms of vaccination coverage.

Trusted data spaces as a viable and sustainable solution for networks of population-based patient registries (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Population-based patient registries are entities that collect summary patient data from a well-defined population. Their main function is the monitoring and surveillance of a particular disease within their population catchment area, but they are also an important data source used in epidemiology. Comparing indicators across national boundaries brings considerable extra benefit to registries’ data, especially in regions where supranational initiatives are or could be coordinated to leverage good practices; this is particularly important for the European Union. Stricter data-protection laws however can unintentionally hamper the efforts of data harmonization to ensure the removal of statistical bias in the individual data sets, thereby compromising the integrated value of registries’ data. A new paradigm is required to ensure registries can operate in an environment that is not unnecessarily restrictive and allow accurate comparison of data for better ascertaining measures and practices most conducive to the public health of societies. OBJECTIVE To propose a solution towards a viable and sustainable model for the integration of registry data at supranational level. METHODS The pan-European organisational model of cancer registries, owing to its long and successful establishment, was taken as a good starting point from which to propose a sustainable, generic model for patient registries. Drawbacks to the model, particularly with respect to scalability and resourcing, were addressed in an adapted model. RESULTS An inter-registry organisational model based along the lines of the European Network of Cancer Registries was adapted to tackle the governance and resourcing aspects essential for a generic patient-registry model. The adapted model is a proposal for how patient registries can inter operate to ensure harmonisation and quality of data for accurate comparison at supranational level. CONCLUSIONS In view of the challenges relating to accurate and unbiased inter-comparison of population-based registry data across national boundaries for disease-surveillance purposes, a sustainable, generic patient-registry model is proposed. Integrating registry data is important for understanding progression and trends of the most prevalent diseases as well as for ascertaining effective control measures. The model promises a valuable data resource for epidemiological research, whilst providing a closely regulated environment for the processing of pseudonomised patient summary data on a broader scale than has hitherto been possible.

Organising National Socialism: Nazi Organisation in Sweden and the Netherlands, 1931–1939

This article compares the party apparatuses of the National Socialist Movement of the Netherlands and the National Socialist Workers’ Party of Sweden. These two parties, founded in the 1930s, both to some extent mimicked the organisational model of Hitler's party in Germany. While this has been frequently noted, the deployment of this model in practice has not been analysed in any detail. The article explores the specific characters of the Swedish and Dutch fascist party organisations diachronically vis-à-vis propaganda, member activism and internal cohesion, highlighting their changes, successes and failures. The comparison reveals that the party apparatus was highly dependent on the specifics of national infrastructure, demographic distribution and urbanisation and the physical landscape, with notable consequences for internal party cohesion and morale. In the final analysis the relative appeal and popularity of the parties is shown party be the result of how the Nazi organisational model was deployed in practice within each national context.

Working Hard for the Ones You Love and Care for under Covid-19 Physical Distancing

In 2020, Covid-19 was spreading quickly in nursing homes, leading to numerous challenges for care workers. We tell the story of Marieke, a devoted female care assistant working in a Belgian nursing home that is customer-centred in their organisational model. Her narrative provides poignant insights into the ‘work and life’ struggles and conflicts of a female care assistant facing the challenges of this model during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has left the largely female care workforce widely exposed to the risk of work intensification and over-involvement with residents, especially in a context of liberalisation and privatisation of care. In the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, this model led to Marieke facing the unprecedented fear of endangering her own life and the lives of those she loves. In this article, she reflects on her work and family life under the strain of ensuring physical distancing in a nursing home.

Knowledge Management as a Business Strategy of a Learning Organisation

Today, knowledge management is used as part of a business strategy by which an organisation adapts to rapid changes in society and the business world, by which it not only becomes more competitive but also achieves goals and remains successful. Organisations have become aware of the importance of the lifelong learning concept. It should be noted that knowledge management is in close synergy with human resource management in the organisation. To achieve the scientific value of the paper, the authors have conducted empirical research by using a survey questionnaire in which the elements of a learning organisation were investigated, along with the implementation of knowledge on the selected organisational model. The synthesis of the results and conclusions of this research will be used to formulate specific critical recommendations and valuable guidelines indicating possible areas of improving the level of learning organisation and motivation to learn, which indicates potential ways and approaches to knowledge management.