How to Remain Indispensable in the Twenty-First Century? The Digital Adaptation of PSOE and PSP in a Crisis Context

Abstract

This chapter aims to analyse the digital adaptation process of two specific political parties, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and the Portuguese Socialist Party (PSP). The two parties that are the subject of this chapter, PSOE and PSP, soon became the hegemonic parties of the centre-left and the main government alternatives in their respective political systems. The analysis of both parties’ use of digital platforms is based on two elements. First, we look at the functioning of bottom-up tools, which depend on the initiative of the members—who play an active role in implementing the tool in question—and whose operation depends on the willingness of members to use it (e.g. using some of the party membership forms). Second, we look at the functioning of top-down tools, which depend on party’s initiative, with members playing a passive role, such as when they receive information from the organisation’s central offices. The analysis shows that the PSP offers more bottom-up tools, while PSOE uses more top-down tools.