In the 19th century politics changed drastically because ‘the people’ learned to organize themselves into voluntary associations to put pressure on the political system. Pioneers developed new modes of organization, including national single-issue organizations and member-based political parties. Their influence on government was at first conceived as ‘pressure from without’ but would eventually be understood as part of the political process: the practice of organizing had extended the conception of politics.

Many of the new voluntary associations can be considered ‘democratic’ because they integrated ordinary men and women into the political process in a disciplined, civilized manner. These organizations fitted in with the respectable politics of representative government which rejected direct democracy, let alone unrestrained popular passions. For their leaders and participants they were an instrument for mobilizing the common people and fighting social and political abuses. Yet the political parties and other political organizations were often criticized as obstacles on the road to effective and balanced politics or to true democracy and as instruments of over-ambitious career politicians. A special case is offered by the hybrid forms of organization positioned between (permanent) association and (ad hoc) meeting in revolutionary situations. In these ‘moments of madness’, experiments in political organizing were the necessary means for those who wanted to influence the outcome of the revolution. To a lesser extent, this holds true for the whole long 19th century, when politics was redefined and many people wanted to create a new political community – and in order to get recognized and accepted, they engaged in a continuous search for effective forms of organization.

The aim of this conference is to reflect on the origins and meaning of the increasing role of political organizations in political life. We are interested in the organizers’ motivation, arguments, concrete activities and experience as well as the contemporary debate about the merits and perils of political organizing. Because of this research agenda, we would like to discuss the emergence of both single-issue organizations and political parties, which are usually studied separately.

We invite historians and social scientists with historical expertise to offer proposals for 20-minute papers on one of the themes introduced in our extended call for papers to be found at our website (http://media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/cfp-getting-organized.pdf). The expenses of economy travel, accommodation and meals in Leiden for all speakers selected will be covered. Papers should be submitted two weeks before the conference and will be made available to all participants beforehand. Applications consist of a paper proposal of c. 400 words and a single page CV and can be submitted until 15 January 2013 by email: organization@hum.leidenuniv.nl. A selection of papers will be published in an edited volume.