POLITICAL PERSONALIZATION AND PERSONALIZED POLITICS. THE CASE OF ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY BETWEEN 2015 AND 2019

Abstract:

Democratic systems are linked to political parties’ existence and functionality. In the recent decades, scholars agreed that general societal changes modified the role of political parties. Nowadays, these structures have less control over the political communication within a society and voting has become less predictable (Hjarvard, 2008). Also, researchers reconsidered the importance of individual representatives (Karvonen, 2010) compared to parties as unitary actors.Personalization of politics (Rahat & Sheafer, 2007) represents an important factor in a political party`s evolution. It can be an indicator of party decline or of a party adaptation. This research aims to identify and analyze how political personalization and personalized politics worked in the case of Romanian SocialDemocratic Party (PSD) between 2015 and 2019. To do so, the analysis is focused on Liviu Dragnea and the governments endorsed by PSD in the above mentioned period and the final goal is to explain how PSD was affected by its leadership: was it a party decline or a party adaptation?

Keywords:

Political personalization, personalized politics, Social Democratic Party, party change, leadership.