Statism, Recognition, and Party System Change in India

Author(s):  
Pradeep K. Chhibber ◽  
Rahul Verma

Data drawn from the National Election Studies going back to 1967 and two surveys of political elites conducted in 1971 and the 1993 show that the ideological divide is quite stable. Activists, members, and supporters of the main political parties hold clearly distinct views on the two ideological dimensions that define the party system in India. The changes in the Indian party system since independence have occurred with movement of political parties within the ideological space defined by statism and recognition. This led to the end of the Congress led one party dominant system, its replacement by the rise of regional parties in many states and finally to a BJP led fourth party system.

Author(s):  
Conor Little ◽  
David M. Farrell

This chapter focuses on the attributes and development of the Irish party system, describing its structure and where it sits in comparative perspective. As well as examining party size and ideology, the chapter applies Peter Mair’s conceptualization of the party system as the structure of competition for control of the executive to the Irish case. In doing so, it explores the relationship between electoral change and party system change, arguing that the systemic changes that have been emerging since the 2011 election are an extension of a longer-term trend in the opening up of the Irish party system. This incremental change was accelerated by the economic crisis that began in 2008 and its aftermath. The chapter suggests that the Irish party system is potentially at a critical juncture: a moment of uncertainty that provides opportunities for agency (by voters, party leaders, and others) to shape a durable future path.


UK Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 121-143
Author(s):  
Andrew Blick

This chapter switches the focus to political parties. It looks at their individual roles and how they operate. The chapter discusses the parties that constitute the ‘party system’. It considers the two main parties operating at the UK level: the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. It also looks at the smaller parties, such as the Liberal Democrats. The chapter considers the political approach of the various parties and the type of support they attract. It also looks at how parties are funded. The chapter provides a number of theoretical perspectives to help with an analysis of political parties. These are: the extent to which parties pursue values or power; the respective roles of their members and leaders; groupings within parties; how far the UK has a two-party system or whether our definition of the party system should be revised; and the relationships between the various parities. The chapter then gives examples of how these ideas play out with specific focus on recent events involving the Conversative and Labour parties. The chapter asks: do members have too much influence over their parties? The chapter ends by asking: where are we now?


Author(s):  
Rafael Piñeiro Rodríguez ◽  
Fabrizio Scrollini Mendez

Uruguay is considered one of the most democratic, transparent, and stable countries in the world, an outlier in the Latin American context. The institutionalized nature of Uruguay’s party system contributed significantly to democracy, but was not sufficient to prevent a military dictatorship period in the context of the Cold War (1973–1984). Eventually, the political party system adapted to accommodate the emergence of the Broad Front (left), which gained the most votes of any political party in 1999 and won the election in 2005. The recent wave of progressive reforms in Uruguay, such as the introduction of universal healthcare, abortion laws, same-sex marriage laws, and cannabis legalization can be explained by the strong links political parties (particularly on the left) maintain with social movements. Further, this link also helps to explain the legitimacy that political parties still retain in Uruguay. Nevertheless, Uruguayan democracy faces challenges in terms of transparency, equality, and the risk of democratic “deconsolidation.”


Author(s):  
Agustí Bosch

This chapter examines the Spanish electoral system, meaning—first and foremost—the one used to elect the lower house (Congreso de los Diputados). After a brief description of its components, the chapter assesses how its scarce proportionality has traditionally led Spanish politics towards a two-party system. The chapter also assesses some other of its alleged outcomes (such as the malapportionment, the weight of the regional parties, or the robustness of democracy) and its prospects for the future. Finally, the chapter also examines the ‘other’ Spanish electoral systems—that is, the ones used to elect the Senate, the local councils, the regional parliaments, and the Spanish seats in the European Parliament.


2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 633-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Klüver ◽  
Jae-Jae Spoon

Do parties listen to their voters? This article addresses this important question by moving beyond position congruence to explore whether parties respond to voters’ issue priorities. It argues that political parties respond to voters in their election manifestos, but that their responsiveness varies across different party types: namely, that large parties are more responsive to voters’ policy priorities, while government parties listen less to voters’ issue demands. The study also posits that niche parties are not generally more responsive to voter demands, but that they are more responsive to the concerns of their supporters in their owned issue areas. To test these theoretical expectations, the study combines data from the Comparative Manifestos Project with data on voters’ policy priorities from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and various national election studies across eighteen European democracies in sixty-three elections from 1972–2011. Our findings have important implications for understanding political representation and democratic linkage.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslav Mihálik ◽  
Matúš Jankoľa

Abstract This paper studies the different positions and the polarization among Slovak political elites due to the European migration crisis and the Union´s migration policy. The inability of collective action at the supranational level is first grounded at the national level. From this basis, the authors differentiate the various standpoints of the selected political leaders and parties towards the current migration wave. Based on this cleavage, we seek to demonstrate the patterns of modern day political party leadership in Slovakia and, secondly, to compare the political response and agendas across the Slovak party system.


Author(s):  
Manuel Maroto Calatayud

Resumen: En este artículo vamos a realizar un pequeño recorrido por la financiación ilegal de partidos políticos en España desde la transición política. Aunque nos vamos a centrar en la primera de ellas, se trata en realidad de dos historias, entremezcladas: la primera es la de la “financiación” de los partidos españoles desde la democracia, lo que sus prácticas y dinámicas financieras cuentan acerca de estas formaciones y, en general, acerca del sistema español de partidos. La segunda, la historia de lo “ilegal” en materia de financiación de partidos: cómo las élites políticas han reaccionado a los escándalos, y dónde han ido poniendo la línea divisoria entre lo legítimo y lo ilegítimo. Ambas retratan una democracia nada perfecta: una que, de hecho, a menudo aparenta no tener aspiraciones de perfeccionarse, sino más bien de perseverar en una cultura organizativa y partidista con fuertes anclajes en las deficiencias del sistema de partidos surgido de la transición política.Palabras clave: Financiación ilegal de partidos políticos, corrupción, transición política, cultura política, modelos de partido, democracia interna.Abstract: This paper analyzes the practices of illegal funding of political parties in Spain since the transition to democracy. It involves two different interrelated narrations: the first one has to do with the “funding” of Spanish parties, with how their financial practices and dynamics tells us about some particularities of these political organizations and the Spanish party system. The second narration addresses the history of what is “illegal” regarding political party funding: how political elites have reacted to scandals, and how the line separating legitimate and illegitimate funding practices has evolved. Both approaches describe a far from perfect party democracy: one that, in fact, often seems not to aspire to improvement, but rather to perseverate in organizational party cultures that are strongly rooted in the deficiencies of the party system emerged from the Spanish political transition to democracy.Keywords: Illegal funding of political parties, corruption, Spanish political transition, political culture, political party models, internal democracy.


Author(s):  
Nicholas Aylott

A party system refers to the political parties that operate in a given polity and to their patterns of interaction. The Swedish system was long associated with several features: it had five parties; they were aligned in two informal blocs; and one party, the Social Democrats, has provided much the biggest, dominating governments. These patterns, summarized as “moderate pluralism,” were also stable. Since the 1980s, much has changed. There are now more parties in Parliament. By 2010 the bloc structure looked remarkably institutionalized. But a more “polarized pluralism,” seen briefly in the 1970s and 1990s, might now be in prospect.


1975 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Jenson

In a recent article in this Journal, Paul M. Sniderman, H. D. Forbes, and Ian Melzer challenge the proponents of what they characterize as the “textbook theory” of Canadian parties. They claim that their examination of the 1965 and 1968 Canadian national election studies contradicts the conclusions of almost every analyst of parties and voting in Canada. While a little debunking of long-held interpretations is always valuable in any discipline, one should exercise caution. Conventional wisdom does not usually acquire that status without containing at least some small measure of validity. In this case I must conclude that more confusion has been created than has been cleared away and previous analysts should not be considered to have erred quite as much as the authors of this article would like us to believe. Sniderman et al. argue that, because of “an obsession with national unity” on the part of political parties and a fear of fragmentation which produces undifferentiated politics of accommodation, “Canadian voters tend to lack strong loyalties to the older parties, at least when compared to the Americans and the British. As a consequence, electoral support for the older parties in Canada tends to be unstable.”The first part of this proposition asserts that concern with national unity necessarily produces such similar policy positions that parties are interchangeable, being distinguished only by their leadership. Although this is an interesting proposition, it will not be dealt with here.


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