Political Parties, Values, and Democratic Consolidation

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Democratic Consolidation

POLITICS-LAW CONVERGENCE OR DIVERGENCE? 'SMALL' POLITICAL PARTIES, REALPOLITIKAND SOUTH AFRICA'S 20 YEARS OF DEMOCRACY

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kealeboga J Maphunye
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Secondary Research ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
African Charter

This article examines South Africa's 20-year democracy by contextualising the roles of the 'small' political parties that contested South Africa's 2014 elections. Through the  prism  of South  Africa's  Constitution,  electoral legislation  and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, it examines these parties' roles in South Africa's democratisation; their influence,  if any, in parliament, and whether they play any role in South Africa's continental or international engagements. Based on a review of the extant literature, official documents,  legislation, media, secondary research, reports and the results of South Africa's elections, the article relies on game theory, rational choice theory and theories of democracy and democratic consolidation to examine 'small' political parties' roles in the country's political and legal systems. It concludes that the roles of 'small' parties in governance and democracy deserve greater recognition than is currently the case, but acknowledges the extreme difficulty experienced by the 'small'  parties in playing a significant role in democratic consolidation, given their formidable opponent in a one-party dominant system.

scholarly journals Refractory Frontier: Intra-party Democracy in the Zambian Polity

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
John Bwalya ◽  
Owen B. Sichone
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
National Development ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Leadership Transitions ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Selection Of

Despite the important role that intra-party democracy plays in democratic consolidation, particularly in third-wave democracies, it has not received as much attention as inter-party democracy. Based on the Zambian polity, this article uses the concept of selectocracy to explain why, to a large extent, intra-party democracy has remained a refractory frontier. Two traits of intra-party democracy are examined: leadership transitions at party president-level and the selection of political party members for key leadership positions. The present study of four political parties: United National Independence Party (UNIP), Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), United Party for National Development (UPND) and Patriotic Front (PF) demonstrates that the iron law of oligarchy predominates leadership transitions and selection. Within this milieu, intertwined but fluid factors, inimical to democratic consolidation but underpinning selectocracy, are explained.

The Paradox of Modernity in Turkey

2012 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siret Hürsoy
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Religious Orientation ◽  
Ethnic Origin ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Strong State ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
The Military

The central argument of this article is that the strong state-centred tradition of Turkey has recently gone out of fashion. The breakdown of authoritarianism and state-centred approach and moving into a successful democratic consolidation and society-centred approach in Turkey requires choices to be made and alliances to be formed among intellectual-bureaucratic elite, the military, political parties, trade unions, other interest groups and various types of societal organisations. One of the most important difficulties for consolidating democracy in Turkey has been the complexity of creating stable, viable, accountable, responsive, predictable, representative, transparent, efficient and problem-solving oriented legitimate institutions where all citizens, regardless of ethnic origin or religious orientation, have a voice and enabling representation in such bureaucratic organs that altogether make-up the institution of state. This article will assert that the forces of democratic transition from a state-centred approach to a society-centred approach in Turkey are based on resolving the two main potentially difficult problems that are related with constant questioning of the legitimacy and democratic consolidation of the state apparatus: ethnic and religious paradoxes.

Opposition in Asian Constitutional Systems: Characteristics and Potential for Democratic Consolidation

1996 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Cotton
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The Government ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Continuum

The Analysis of Opposition in Asian Political Systems raises acute problems of definition. At one end of a continuum lie those polities in which an ‘opposition’ is either inconceivable (North Korea is perhaps the best example) or inevitably in a state of war or confrontation with the regime (as is the case in Burma/Myanmar). In cases at this end of the continuum opposition cannot be democratic in the systemic sense, unless the opposition realizes its programme and becomes a democratic government. At the other end of the continuum, however, the character, standing and potential of ‘opposition’ is very much a matter of debate. In these systems a multiplicity of non-governing political parties exist, and these parties contest elections and send members to legislatures, though they often operate under rules (informal as well as formal) and conditions which tend to prevent them from gaining power. The focus of this article will be upon these systems, which are here labelled – whether parliamentary or presidential – ‘constitutional’. ‘Constitutional’ is understood as entailing the existence of an embedded and more or less regularly operating set of electoral mechanisms which plays an essential part in the selection of the government.

Political Parties and Democratization

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ishiyama
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Conflict Management ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Ethnic Parties ◽  
Research Agendas ◽  
The Relationship

Parties are indispensable to the building and maintenance of democracy. This is because parties are purported to promote representation, conflict management, integration, and accountability in new democracies. Second, the failures of parties in helping to build democracy in systems in transition are because they have not performed these functions very well. Third, there are three emerging research agendas to be explored that address the relationship between parties and democratic consolidation: (a) the promotion of institutional innovations that help build institutionalized party systems; (b) the role of ethnic parties in democratization and democratic consolidation; and (c) the role of rebel parties in building peace and democracy after civil wars. Although not entirely exhaustive, these three agendas represent promising avenues of research into the role political parties play in democratization.

The Role of Political Parties in Supporting the Process of Democratic Consolidation

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 20-39
Author(s):  
Sultan Naser Fares Alquraan ◽  
Haytham Adouse
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Univariate Analysis ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
P Value ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Reliability Score ◽  
Cross Sectional Design ◽  
Democratic Transformation

This study identifies the role of Jordanian political parties in supporting the process of democratic consolidation and in solving the problems and challenges that block the process of democratic transformation. It used a cross-sectional design depending on statistics and analytics, whereby 497 male and female students were selected from three departments of the recruited colleges. Data were collected through a questionnaire, with a reliability score of 0.92 (Cronbach’s alpha). Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, univariate analysis, and multiple contrast tests were used to analyze the data. Findings from the study indicated that the role of Jordanian political parties in entrenching the process of democratic transformation and in solving problems and challenging procedures was partially performed. The obtained p-value of 0.00 indicates that political parties play a significant role in dealing with democratic challenges at behavioral, attitudinal, and constitutional levels.

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