scholarly journals Freedom of speech within political parties

Author(s):  
Udit Bhatia ◽  
Fabio Wolkenstein

Abstract The expulsion of party members for the expression of dissent is a common practice in democratic states around the world, which can have momentous consequences for individual parties and the political system at large. In this article, we address the question of whether limitations on party members’ free speech can be defended on normative grounds. Drawing on a conception of parties that sees them as broader membership organisations that allow citizens to exercise political agency in a unique fashion, as well as on insights from the broader normative-theoretical literature on organisations, we build a strong presumptive case that interference with party members’ political freedoms is normatively problematic. Exploring numerous weighty arguments in favour of limiting freedom of speech within parties, we find that none of them provides a knock-down argument against our case. The argument we advance has important implications for contemporary theoretical debates about parties and partisanship, and for the regulation of parties’ internal affairs more generally.

Sociologija ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-101
Author(s):  
Ana Nesic ◽  
Zolt Lazar

The political culture of a society is an important indicator of the situation and relations in that society, whether it manifests itself as a diffuse support for the political system, or as a way of establishing and maintaining the rules of political behavior. This paper analyzes the results of the study of political culture in six towns in Vojvodina, as specific multicultural environment. The aim of the research is to examine the political culture and its differences between cities, different standards of living, different occupations and relationships to religion. Political culture is examined through two indicators: trust in the system and trust in politics, on a sample of 406 party members, elected according to the numbers in city councils. The results showed that the political culture is servile, with elements of participatory, and that there are differences in the measured dimensions.


Author(s):  
Annika Hennl ◽  
Simon Tobias Franzmann

The formulation of policies constitutes a core business of political parties in modern democracies. Using the novel data of the Political Party Database (PPDB) Project and the data of the Manifesto Project (MARPOR), the authors of this chapter aim at a systematic test of the causal link between the intra-party decision mode on the electoral manifestos and the extent of programmatic change. What are the effects of the politics of manifesto formulation on the degree of policy change? Theoretically, the authors distinguish the drafting process from the final enactment of the manifesto. Empirically, they show that a higher autonomy of the party elite in formulating the manifesto leads to a higher degree of programmatic change. If party members constrain party elite’s autonomy, they tend to veto major changes.


Author(s):  
I. Semenenko ◽  
G. Irishin

The economic crisis of 2008–2009 highlighted new problems in the development of the German social market economy model and brought to the forefront the factors of its resilience that have ensured Germany’s leadership positions in the EU. Changes in economic policy have affected in the first place the energy and the financial sectors. Shifts in the political landscape have led to the appearance of new political parties. These changes have affected the results of the 2013 elections, the liberal democrats failure to enter the Bundestag has made the winner – CDU – seek new coalition partners.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Prof. Dr. Razia Musarrat ◽  
Muhammad Salman Azhar

The focus of this research is the Pakistan’s bureaucratic structure and its workings during the Ayub Khan’s regime in Pakistan. Authors explore the political system during the Ayub Khan regime and point out that this system was not really political but that was bureaucratic in its nature where people have least freedom of speech.


1928 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 698-705
Author(s):  
James K. Pollock

The elections which were held throughout Germany on May 20, 1928, are of considerable interest and importance not only to Germany but also to the rest of the world. These elections, to be sure, did not have the dramatic interest which attended the Reichstag elections of December, 1924. But they deserve attention for a number of reasons: first, because they are the first elections to be held in the Reich under what may be called normal conditions; second, because elections for five Landtags and several city councils were held at the same time; and third, because the elections gave a further test, and supplied additional evidence of the operation, of the German system of proportional representation.Despite the intensive work of the political parties, the people were not aroused to much enthusiasm during the campaign. The old Reichstag was dissolved before Easter, but not until the last week of the campaign could one detect any excitement. Never before had the electors been bombarded with so much printed matter, posters, and, last but not least, loud-speakers and films. All the modern methods of appealing to the voters were tried by the numerous political parties. There were lacking, however, the overpowering issues and the battlecries which were so effective in 1924. Parades, demonstrations, meetings, and all the rest were carried through successfully on the whole, but they were quite dull and uninteresting. Only the two extreme parties, the National Socialists or Hitlerites on the right, and the Communists on the left, could appear enthusiastic. Nevertheless, the lack of what the Germans call a “grosse Parole” and the lack of excitement are not to be deplored; their absence probably indicates progress toward social and political consolidation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 254-268
Author(s):  
Nikolai N. Morozov

This chapter combines an analysis of the party-political system of post-communist Romania with the impressions of a direct witness to the most important historical events in the country, tracing the political evolution of Romania over the 30 years after the December revolution of 1989, which led to the overthrow of the totalitarian regime of Ceauşescu. A review of political parties and alliances is presented, which may be of practical benefit to researchers working on this period in Romanian history. On the basis of numerous sources and direct interviews with Romanian politicians, some specific characteristics of the political process in the country are identified. An attempt has been made to show the mechanisms of political power that have emerged since the collapse of the former totalitarian system.


2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 314-336
Author(s):  
ADEEBA AZIZ KHAN

AbstractIn this article, by studying the candidate-nomination process of the two major political parties, I show how power is distributed within the political party in Bangladesh. I show that the general acceptance by scholars that political power lies in the hands of the innermost circle of the political-party leadership in Bangladesh is too simplistic. A more nuanced observation of power and influence within the party structure shows that, in the context of Bangladesh's clientelistic political system, which is based on reciprocity between patrons and clients and relies on the ability of middlemen to organize and mobilize (in order to disrupt through hartals and strikes), power is often in the hands of those mid-level leaders who are in charge of mobilizing because their demands cannot be ignored by the topmost leadership. Through studying the candidate-nomination process of the major political parties and using the Narayanganj mayoral election of 2011 as a case study, I answer questions such as whose interests political parties are representing, what channels of influence are being used, and why these channels exist.


Author(s):  
Bilge Yesil

This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, namely to provide a systematic analysis of Turkey's media system, its reconfiguration under domestic and international dynamics, the political and cultural tensions it harbors, and the trajectories it shares with other media systems around the world. The book highlights the push-pull forces of a centralized state authority and its democratization demands, the interpenetration of state and capital, and the overlapping of patronage structures with market imperatives. The remainder of the chapter discusses Turkey's media industry, its political system, and its authoritarian neoliberal order. These are followed by descriptions of the scope of the present study, the theoretical framework and methods, and an overview of the subsequent chapters.


1967 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard F. Rutan

Almost thirty years ago Nicholas Mansergh concluded that the political parties in Northern Ireland did not fulfill the needs of the political system: that (to put his statement in more contemporary terms) the input functions, particularly that of political socialization, were enfeebled to the extent that one party constituted a permanent government while the other became an equally permanent opposition. What is more, underlying the party system and within the political society itself there existed no consensus on fundamentals: “There is no residue of political beliefs—as in Great Britain and the Free State—acceptable to both parties.”


1965 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotte Glow

It has been said that the Civil War was won by committees. Recent writers on this subject have begun to show how parliamentary policy and its execution was forged in the committee chambers rather than on the crowded floor of the House of Commons. This article is concerned with the personnel of these committees, in particular with those men who were not famous for their political activities and attitudes. Obviously, a core of leaders was needed in order to direct the business of the committees, to give continuity to their proceedings and to ensure that their work was in accord with the policy of the Commons. But the political ‘parties’ were relatively small, and with all the enthusiasm in the world their members could not attend personally to all aspects of government, civil and military. This study is concerned with the men who had no known political views but who contributed a great deal of time and effort to the running of parliamentary affairs. Because of their relative obscurity in the House it will be useful to ask why they were chosen to serve on certain committees, how their background and activity compared with that of their more ‘political’ colleagues, and how they reacted to situations where they were required to take a political stand. Above all, it will be possible to judge whether these men formed a coherent group rather than a random collection of individuals. These men owed their positions to their administrative skill rather than to their political affiliations. As administrators they were responsible to the legislature, and during a time of intensified state intervention, they became analogous to a non-political civil service, ready to execute the policy decisions of the party leaders.


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