scholarly journals Local-Level Democratic Backsliding? The Consolidation of Aspiring Dominant-Party Regimes in Hungary and Poland

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Conor O'Dwyer ◽  
Matthew Stenberg

Abstract Aspiring dominant-party regimes often institute major institutional and political reforms at the national level to ensure they retain control. However, subnational politics is an important, under-studied, component of regime consolidation. This study uses mayoral races in Hungary and Poland from 2006 to 2018 to examine two factors that may inhibit dominant-party regime consolidation in local politics: the use of two-round, i.e. runoff, electoral systems and strategic coordination among opposition parties. While we find little evidence that strategic coordination can lead to widespread opposition success in single-round systems, we do find that increasing the number of candidates decreases the likelihood of the nationally dominant party winning in the first round while not affecting the second round. As such, two-round mayoral elections may be an important buffer to dominant-party regime consolidation and may provide a training ground for the future opposition.

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 611-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Trounstine

The study of local politics has been relegated to the periphery of political science and many explanations have been offered for the marginalization of the subfield. I offer three related arguments for why scholars should revisit the study of sub-state politics. First, the local level is the source of numerous political outcomes that matter because they represent a large proportion of political events in the United States. Secondly, there are methodological advantages to studying local politics. Finally, analyzing politics at the sub-state level can generate thoroughly different kinds of questions than a purely national-level focus and can offer different answers to questions that apply more generally. Research on local politics can and should contribute to broader debates in political science and ensure that we understand both how and why cities are unique.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 599-600
Author(s):  
J. Eric Oliver

Like most fields of knowledge, political science tends to progress incrementally. Typically, a political scientist develops a model about a prominent institution or common behavior and that model becomes the starting point for understanding all its other permutations. This is especially the case in studies of American state and local government, which tend to follow theories of national politics. Scholars of state legislatures typically begin their analysis by using studies of the U.S. Congress, analysts of local elections start with presidential vote models, and so on. But, as Elaine Sharp reminds us in Does Local Government Matter?, we should not be so quick to assume that models or theories about national-level politics translate easily to the local level. In fact, local politics may operate under logics all their own.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Tomsa

In this article I analyze the extent and causes of party system fragmentation in Indonesia's provincial and district parliaments. Focusing on the results of the first three post-Suharto elections in 1999, 2004, and 2009, I first highlight that local-level fragmentation is not only generally higher than national-level fragmentation but also that it has consistently increased over the three elections and that fragmentation has been particularly high in Eastern Indonesia. I then explain these three trends as a result of three main factors: First, electoral institutions applied between 1999 and 2009 facilitated fragmentation and poor party system institutionalization, mainly due to the introduction of an open list system in 2009 and the absence of a parliamentary threshold at the local level. Second, low levels of party institutionalization progressively individualized local party politics and made it normal for candidates to switch to smaller parties if it suited their interests, thereby exacerbating fragmentation. Third, electoral campaigning for local parliaments has been dominated by traditional methods based on personal relationships and networks rather than lavish public relations campaigns with expensive TV ads, further reinforcing the effects of the first two factors.


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-546
Author(s):  
Viera Žubrova ◽  
Annmarie Gorenc Zoran ◽  
Lucija Mulej Mlakar

In this paper we attempt to set some starting points for the comparative study on the position of independent local politics (candidates) in the relation with different electoral system, including choosing their strategies, alliances, steps, etc. We will compare two republics – Slovak republic and Czech Republic - which have not only common history and states, but transform after the split very differently, not only in the national level, but especially in the regional and local level.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zilin Yang

AbstractIn the name of conservation, many local governments in China have demolished and reconstructed their historic districts using pseudo-antique architecture as part of their commercial developments. While the destructive reconstruction practice involves issues such as who plays the decisive role in defining authenticity in the targeted district considering the creativity and imagination entailed in reconstruction, few studies analyse the factors leading to changes in the interpretation of authenticity throughout the destructive reconstruction process. Through a discourse analysis on project portfolios and semi-structured interviews with government officials, project planners and Shuidong residents, this study investigates the interpretation and implementation of the national-level authenticity principles in the Shuidong Reconstruction Project in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. Narratives of authenticity in local heritage practices are constantly changing because of the shifting local politics and regulatory powers involved. The effectiveness of national-level authenticity principles at the local level relies largely on the establishment of sub-national heritage regulations and the authorisation of heritage, which draws inspections from upper-level administrations. This study reveals certain socio-political factors that affect the relationship between reconstruction practices and the interpretation of authenticity. The political and profit-oriented tendency of local heritage conservation practices in China demonstrates the mismatch between conservation ideologies and bureaucratic realities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-133
Author(s):  
Dávid Sümeghy ◽  

The rise of the radical right parties, with their anti-immigrant rhetoric, may amplify the generally observed negative impact of diversity on generalised trust. The impact of the conservative climate created by these parties is apparent at the national level, but the little research carried out in the field has yet to examine the role of their local political power. In Sweden, the literature suggests that the radical right Sweden Democrats party has a stronger anti-immigration and ethnonationalist rhetoric at the local level, which may reduce the generalised trust of residents by triggering conflict theory. Calculating the conservative climate based on the percentage of party representatives on local councils using multi-level modelling, we observe that the contextual effect of the conservative climate is present and reduces generalised trust. However, the underlying cause of this effect is not fully known. It can be traced back to the party’s local politics, the residents and the local media.


Author(s):  
Priyastiwi Priyastiwi

The purpose of this article is to provide the basic model of Hofstede and Grays’ cultural values that relates the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and Gray‘s accounting value. This article reviews some studies that prove the model and develop the research in the future. There are some evidences that link the Hofstede’s cultural values studies with the auditor’s judgment and decisions by developing a framework that categorizes the auditor’s judgments and decisions are most likely influenced by cross-cultural differences. The categories include risk assessment, risk decisions and ethical judgments. Understanding the impact of cultural factors on the practice of accounting and financial disclosure is important to achieve the harmonization of international accounting. Deep understanding about how the local values may affect the accounting practices and their impacts on the financial disclosure are important to ensure the international comparability of financial reporting. Gray’s framework (1988) expects how the culture may affect accounting practices at the national level. One area of the future studies will examine the impact of cultural dimensions to the values of accounting, auditing and decision making. Key word : Motivation, leadership style, job satisfaction, performance


CCIT Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-115
Author(s):  
Untung Rahardja ◽  
Khanna Tiara ◽  
Ray Indra Taufik Wijaya

Education is an important factor in human life. According to Ki Hajar Dewantara, education is a civilizing process that a business gives high values ??to the new generation in a society that is not only maintenance but also with a view to promote and develop the culture of the nobility toward human life. Education is a human investment that can be used now and in the future. One other important factor in supporting human life in addition to education, which is technology. In this globalization era, technology has touched every joint of human life. The combination of these two factors will be a new innovation in the world of education. The innovation has been implemented by Raharja College, namely the use of the method iLearning (Integrated Learning) in the learning process. Where such learning has been online based. ILearning method consists of TPI (Ten Pillars of IT iLearning). Rinfo is one of the ten pillars, where it became an official email used by the whole community’s in Raharja College to communicate with each other. Rinfo is Gmail, which is adapted from the Google platform with typical raharja.info as its domain. This Rinfo is a medium of communication, as well as a tool to support the learning process in Raharja College. Because in addition to integrated with TPi, this Rinfo was connected also support with other learning tools, such as Docs, Drive, Sites, and other supporting tools.


1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah M. Meltz ◽  
Frank Reid

The Canadian Government has introduced a work-sharing program in which lay offs are avoided by reducing the work week and using unemployment insurance funds to pay workers short-time compensation. Compared to the lay-off alternative, there appear to be economic benefits to work-sharing for both management and employees. Reaction to the scheme has been generally positive at the union local level and the firm level, but it has been negative at the national level of both labour and management. These divergent views can be explained mainly as a result of short-run versus long-run perspectives. Managers at the firm level see the immediate benefit of improved labour relations and the avoidance of the costs of hiring and training replacements for laid-off workers who do not respond when recalled. The national business leaders are more concerned with work incentive and efficiency aspects of work-sharing.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Koehn

At present, progress in mitigating global GHG emissions is impeded by political stalemate at the national level in the United States and the People's Republic of China. Through the conceptual lenses of multilevel governance and framing politics, the article analyzes emerging policy initiatives among subnational governments in both countries. Effective subnational emission-mitigating action requires framing climatic-stabilization policies in terms of local co-benefits associated with environmental protection, health promotion, and economic advantage. In an impressive group of US states and cities, and increasingly at the local level in China, public concerns about air pollution, consumption and waste management, traffic congestion, health threats, the ability to attract tourists, and/or diminishing resources are legitimizing policy developments that carry the co-benefit of controlling GHG emissions. A co-benefits framing strategy that links individual and community concerns for morbidity, mortality, stress reduction, and healthy human development for all with GHG-emission limitation/reduction is especially likely to resonate powerfully at the subnational level throughout China and the United States.


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