ABSTRACT
Party democracy is in a clear crisis (Mair, 2013). Political parties, once considered the core of representative democracy, are not only the least trusted among political institutions (Casal Bértoa and Rama, 2021), but they are also perceived as the most corrupt ones (Global Corruption Barometer, 2013). Not surprisingly, anti-establishment and populist parties have benefited from a political discourse that highlights the cartelistic strategies and corrupt practices of mainstream political parties (Hanley and Sikk, 2016; Katz and Mair, 2018).
