A Territorial versus a Class Appeal?: the Labour Parties of the British Isles' Periphery

Abstract

Traditional accounts of the mass party have emphasised its role as a coalition of interests. Such parties can experience significant intra‐party tension, particularly concerning policy questions. This article looks at six Labour parties in the periphery of the British Isles with a view to assessing the extent to which they have experienced intra‐party tension between a territorial appeal on the one hand and a class appeal on the other. A framework is suggested which is based on the timing of the emergence of the territorial dimension, the policy response of the parties, the source of pressure on the parties, and their organisational response. It concludes by suggesting that territorial and class appeals are not necessarily overly incompatible, and that socialist parties can develop a territorial appeal relatively easily. A number of explanations are offered for this.