Wednesday, 15 May 2019

Führerprinzip


Political parties in the UK have members who pay subscriptions, which allows them to have a say in the formulation of the party's policies. It may surprise you to know that this is not the case with Farage's new Brexit Party; one signs up as a 'registered supporter'.


Many column inches have been made of people signing up to the Brexit Party in their droves, but the actual membership remains only a handful - literally. It is the wholly owned property of Nigel Farage; it’s a limited company and he is in control. He can change the party's policy - not that it currently has any, and (perplexingly) won't till after the EU elections - at a whim.

The Führerprinzip (German for "leader principle") prescribes the fundamental basis of political authority. In political usage, it refers mainly to the practice of dictatorship within the ranks of a political party itself, and as such, it has become an earmark of political fascism.

This is an interesting analysis by political scientist, Professor Colin Talbot.


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