Political Parties

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 1061-1062
Author(s):  
Anthony Sayers

Political Parties, William Cross, The Canadian Democratic Audit series; Vancouver, UBC Press, 2004, pp. 218.Political Parties is part of the Canadian Democratic Audit series. The expressed aim of the series is to “examine the way Canadian democracy functions” using three benchmarks, “public participation, inclusiveness and responsiveness,” with the principle output being not so much a report card but the desire to “encourage ongoing discussion of how best to fashion Canada's democratic institutions and practices well into the new century” (http://www.mta.ca/faculty/arts-letters/canadian_studies/cda/pdf/demaudit_overview_15aug.pdf). Cross's short, readable volume achieves these objectives.

Significance Research by Thomas Piketty shows that a form of free-market ideology has been a key driver of rising income inequality since the 1980s. The airing of alternative ideas, the challenge of decarbonising economies and the potential for the COVID-19 crisis to reset politics raise the prospect of a paradigm shift. Impacts In much of the global South, borrowing constraints and obstacles to taxing the wealthy will make redistribution harder. Strengthening democratic institutions may be as important as strengthening pro-equity political parties to advance redistributive agendas. Political parties in OECD nations have focused on ‘identity’ issues since the 1980s; COVID-19 is bringing redistribution back to the fore.


2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 675-684
Author(s):  
Johannes Krause

Despite the 2020 reform of Germany’s national parliament voting law, the debate about a robust voting system has not ended . Träger and Jacobs have convincingly shown that Naun­dorf’s suggestion to introduce a parallel voting system creates more problems than it solves, and thus more far-reaching approaches have to be considered . One way to stop the Bunde­stag from growing is to reject the two vote-system . Comparable to the system of Thuringia’s local elections, with open lists and three votes per voter, both the standard size of the Bun­destag can be safely adhered to and at the same time a personalized proportional represen­tation can be maintained . Among other advantages, the voters would have greater influence on the personalized composition of the Bundestag . In particular, reservations on the part of the political parties could stand in the way of such a sustainable solution to the ongoing problems with the German electoral system .


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-169
Author(s):  
I Gede Wijaya Kusuma ◽  
Ida Ayu Putu Widiati ◽  
Luh Putu Suryani

One of the functions of political parties in legislation is as a means of political education and socialization. Political parties are obliged to disseminate their political discourse to the public. However, in its implementation in the field, there are still political parties that have not maximized their function in providing political education to the public. This study discusses (1) What is the function of political parties in providing public political education and its influence on public participation in general elections? (2) What are the implications of political parties that do not implement public political education? This research was conducted by using normative legal research methods, primary and secondary sources of legal materials, methods of collecting legal materials using statute records and others, and analyzing legal materials using descriptive analysis methods. The results of this study indicate that according to Law No.2 of 2011, one of the functions of political parties is to provide political education as a means of education for the wider community to become Indonesian citizens who are aware of their rights and obligations in public. The importance of political education carried out by political parties to the maximum and in its actual essence will be able to have a very good impact on society, which means that people are able to become people who are aware of their obligations in giving choices to political parties or candidates who are true and sincere in terms of welfare. people. The implication of political parties that do not carry out public political education is to cause a decrease in public participation in general elections and this will also lead to apparently unhealthy political conditions and allow high abstention due to low levels of public participation.


Does political Islam have a specific vision of global politics? How has the foreign policy of Islamist forces developed in order to impose their ideas onto the diplomatic agenda of other countries? How do these actors perceive the world, international affairs, and the way Islamic countries should engage with the international system? Eager to break with the dominant grammar of international relations, and instead to fuse Muslim states in a unique religious and political entity, Muslim actors have had to face up to the realities that they had promised to transform. Drawing on a series of case studies, this collective work sheds light on six national trajectories of Islamism: in Morocco (the Party of Justice and Development), Tunisia (Ennhada), Egypt (the Muslim Brotherhood), Palestine (Hamas), Lebanon (Hizbullah) and Turkey (AKP). It looks at what has been produced by the representatives of political Islam in each case, and the way these representatives have put their words and their ideological aspirations into action within their foreign policies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
James Christmas

<p>In the eighty years between the passage of New Zealand's first unified Electoral Act in 1927, and the passage of the Electoral Finance Act 2007, the New Zealand Parliament passed 66 acts that altered or amended New Zealand's electoral law. One central assumption of theories of electoral change is that those in power only change electoral rules strategically, in order to protect their self-interest.1 This thesis is an investigation into the way New Zealand governments effect and have effected their desired changes to the electoral law through the legislative process, and the roles self-interest and the active search for consensus between political parties have played in that process. It argues that, while self-interest serves as a compelling explanation for a great deal of electoral law change in New Zealand, altruistic motivations and the development of parliamentary processes influenced behaviour to an equal, and perhaps even greater, extent.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 193124312110648
Author(s):  
Philip S. Poe

Matt Taibbi's “Hate, Inc.: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise Each Other” (OR Books 2021) might make you angry, but it will make you think. Taibbi's takedown of commercial media, now updated in a post-election edition, offers a striking critique of the news media's slow but steady slide toward polarization “…skewed by a toxic mix of political and financial considerations” (20). Taibbi convincingly argues, using both historical and modern examples along with personal experience, that the press sells people on a simplified worldview where the two political parties are in a constant and perpetual conflict about everything. While Taibbi does offer some advice for independent-minded journalists seeking to navigate the current media landscape, audiences are left with little in the way of solutions, other than to stop reading (and watching) the news.


Author(s):  
IÑAKI LASAGABASTER HERRARTE

El trabajo analiza el concepto de sanción establecido jurisprudencialmente concluyendo que la prohibición de partidos, regulada en la Ley Orgánica 6/2002 de Partidos Políticos, no puede ser entendida nada más que como sanción. Frente a la argumentación del Tribunal Constitucional, que niega el carácter sancionador, aduce su carácter meramente represivo y la contradicción existente entre la Sentencia del Tribunal Constitucional 48/2003 y sus pronunciamientos anteriores. Al analizar la forma en que el Tribunal Constitucional analiza el bis in idem, se vuelve a constatar la modificación injustificada que el Tribunal Constitucional hace de los componentes del bis in idem, hasta ese momento parecía que consolidados jurisprudencialmente. Lan honetan jurisprudentzian ezarritako zigor-kontzeptua aztertzen da, eta zera ondorioztatzen: zalantzarik gabe, zigor hutsa da Alderdi Politikoen 6/2002 Lege Organikoak ezartzen duen alderdien debekua. Konstituzio Auzitegiak arau horren izaera zigortzailea ukatzen duen arren, lan honetan argudiatzen da, ordea, errepresiozkoa baino ez dela, eta agerian uzten dira Konstituzio Auzitegiaren 48/2003 Epaiaren eta auzitegi beraren aurreko zenbait epairen arteko kontraesanak. Konstituzio Auzitegiak bis in idem nola aztertzen duen ikertzean, berriz ere egiaztatzen da auzitegi horrek aldatu egiten dituela, justifikaziorik gabe, bis in idem horren osagarriak, ordura arte jurisprudentzian irmoak omen zirenak. This work analyzes the concept of penalty established by the caselaw by deducing that the ban to political parties as regulated by Organic Act 6/2002 on Political Parties, cannot only be understood as a mere penalty. Against the Constitutional Court's line of argument, which denies its punishing character, it provides us with its merely repressive character and the existing contradiction between the Constitutional Court's judgment 78/2003 and its previous rulings. On analyzing the way the Constitutional Court analyzes the concept of non bis in idem, it shows again the unjustified modification done by the Constitutional Court on the components of the bis in idem, which so far seemed to be consolidated by the caselaw.


2019 ◽  
pp. 283-286
Author(s):  
James Lindley Wilson

Democracy and equality are intimately linked. We cannot understand or properly respond to one ideal without the other. Democracy’s value stems in significant part from the way it manifests and sustains citizens’ equal status. Social equality requires democratic institutions and practices, because part of what it is for people to relate as equals is to share authority over what they do together. The design of democratic institutions—and our conduct of democratic practices—should be guided by this egalitarian ideal of sharing authority as civic friends. We ought to orient our efforts to establish and maintain equal relations with the democratic constituents of equality in view. We treat people as equals in part by sharing with them authority over how we treat one another. There is risk in granting authority to others. But a society of equals is a great reward....


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
J. Paulo Serra

This paper discusses how political parties and candidates try to enhance the public visibility of their websites during electoral campaigns, through a process that the author proposes calling the “meta-campaign.” This process significantly depends on the actions of journalists and the way in which they cover electoral campaigns. The discussion is based on an exploratory and qualitative study of the Portuguese campaign for the 2009 European Parliament election. The main reason the authors chose this election was that European themes, being less familiar to Portuguese citizens than national ones, would highlight the need for information about the salient issues as well as the tools for attaining this information, with the websites of political parties and candidates clearly being one of the latter.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-144
Author(s):  
Mphonyane Rakhare ◽  
Tania Coetzee

The article acknowledges that Lesotho governance has been characterised by unstable democracy since its attainment of independence in 1966, which makes civil society and other democratic institutions unable to pursue their roles as expected. The proposed solution to overcome predicaments that Lesotho faces was to have active and vibrant democratic institutions such as civil societies, ombudsman, political parties, independent media, independent electoral commissions and the legislative, executive and judiciary. The article aims to bridge the gap by examining published literature and documentary review, which clearly elucidate how good governance can be achieved in a democratic country with the help of active democratic institutions. The article highlights the importance of active and vibrant civil society in governance and public policy. The article concludes by justifying that in deed the government of Lesotho should accept and allow participation of civil society so as to be able to realise its contribution and the important role played by it. Also, civil society in Lesotho must distance themselves from suspicions that they are political parties in disguise.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document