New parties’ linkages with external groups and civil society in Spain: A preliminary assessment

The aim of this article is to assess the linkages between the Spanish new parties with groups and civil society. After outlining a short framework on the new linkages between parties and external groups in times of social and political unrest and discussing the case selection, it briefly introduces the classic patterns of interaction between Spain’s mainstream parties, the PP and the PSOE and the main interest groups since the late 1970s. Then, the paper analyses the emerging links of two new parties, Ciudadanos and Podemos, in order to provide a general assessment of the main differences between their linkages and the ones of the traditional parties, and to discuss its possible implications in times of economic hardship. The results do not show strong evidence supporting the idea of a transformation in Spanish party-group linkages: new parties tend to have weaker formal links with external groups, and prioritize their collaboration with new external groups such as identity or youth groups rather than with classic interest groups.