Right to Form Political Parties

Author(s):  
Adam S. Chilton ◽  
Mila Versteeg

This chapter analyzes the right to form political parties. It first describes the doctrinal aspects of this right, and how it is organizational in nature. It also theorizes the extent to which political parties are able to mobilize to protect their rights, and whether and how the constitution can help them do so. The chapter also draws attention to important differences between opposition parties and ruling parties. It then presents results from a global statistical analysis, which reveal that constitutional protections of the right to form political parties are systematically associated with higher levels of respect for party rights and levels of democratization. It attributes this finding to the actions by political parties, which use the constitution to protect their rights. It also presents findings from a case study in Myanmar, which demonstrates how the constitutional protection of political parties facilitated the emergence of dozens of new parties and how the new parties used the Myanmar Constitution to protect their interests.

Author(s):  
Adam S. Chilton ◽  
Mila Versteeg

This chapter analyzes the right to unionize. It first describes the doctrinal aspects of this right, and how it is organizational in nature. It also theorizes why unions are well equipped to protect the right to unionize and other workers’ rights, and why the constitution can help them do so. It then presents results from a global statistical analysis, which reveal that constitutional protections of the right to unionize are systematically associated with higher levels of respect for the right to unionize practice. It attributes this finding to the actions by trade unions, which use the constitution to protect their rights. This chapter also presents findings from a case study on the right to unionize in Tunisia, which illustrates how trade unions strategically used the Tunisian Constitution to protect their rights.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieuwertje Kuijpers ◽  
Gijs Schumacher

Abstract Do political parties change their position when military casualties increase? Several studies demonstrate that once military casualties increase, public support for sometimes even the government itself declines. With this potential backlash, once governing parties are faced with military casualties, do they (1) maintain that intervention was the “right thing” to do and even escalate their commitment by becoming even more pro-military or (2) try to avoid the blame and downplay the issue, i.e., “not mentioning the war”? And do the opposition parties become more negative or more positive about the military? To evaluate this, we measure the position on military issues in parties’ election manifestoes. Our dataset comprises 326 party policy changes in eleven Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and focuses on post-Cold War military interventions. By using pooled time-series cross-sectional analysis, we find that opposition parties and governing parties respond differently. Generally, governing parties become more negative in their manifesto and opposition parties more positive. We also demonstrate important differences between party families and pre/post-9/11. Our analyses show that whether political parties change policy course once confronted with negative outcomes depends on their position in office, and also the direction in which they change policy depends on political ideology.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 434-443
Author(s):  
Myriam Aït-Aoudia

The literature on democratic transitions considers the participation of new parties in the first pluralist election in a post-authoritarian context (founding election) as something to be taken for granted. As such, it is never questioned. Specialists in democratic transitions ignore the research on “new parties,” which is, nonetheless, essential to the understanding of the particular characteristics of a post-authoritarian situation. Using an original qualitative study on Algeria, this article proposes to bring to light the political, organizational, and legal conditions of new political parties’ participation or nonparticipation in a founding election. In particular, this research allows us to grasp the dilemmas and difficulties faced by leaders of new parties and the types of support on which they rely to engage for the first time in an electoral competition. The analytical framework stemming from this “case study” is applicable to other national case studies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 262-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Ziegfeld ◽  
Maya Tudor

When elections are free and fair, why do some political parties rule for prolonged periods of time? Most explanations for single-party dominance focus on the dominant party’s origins, resources, or strategies. In this article, we show how opposition parties can undermine or sustain single-party dominance. Specifically, opposition parties should be central in explaining single-party dominance in countries with highly disproportional electoral systems and a dominant party whose vote share falls short of a popular majority. Employing a quantitative analysis of Indian legislative elections as well as a paired case study, we show that opposition coordination plays a crucial part in undermining single-party dominance.


2010 ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Christopher Sherrin

This article critically evaluates one of the main justifications for affording persons accused of regulatory offences constitutional protections different from those afforded to persons accused of criminal offences. It is only the latter who enjoy robust constitutional protection against self-incrimination and to privacy. This difference has been justified on the basis that there are different purposes behind regulatory and criminal investigations. The former are supposedly intended to ensure compliance with the law whereas the latter are supposedly intended to gather evidence for prosecution. This article challenges the validity of the justification based on purpose. The author suggests that focusing on investigatory purpose has no relevance to the interests protected by the right to privacy, offers no real protection against the admission of unreliable evidence, and undermines the very principle it is said to protect: the principle against self-incrimination. Moreover, the justification based on purpose misunderstands the purposes of both regulatory and criminal investigations and ignores the reality that in many instances they share the same purpose.


Author(s):  
Adam S. Chilton ◽  
Mila Versteeg

This chapter analyzes the freedom of religion. It first describes the doctrinal aspects of religious freedom, and how it is organizational in nature. It also theorizes why religious groups are particularly well equipped to protect religious freedom, and how the constitution can help them to protect their rights. It then presents results from a global statistical analysis, which reveal that constitutional protections of religious freedom are systematically associated with higher levels of respect for religious freedom in practice. It attributes this finding to the organizational character of religious rights. Religious groups have tremendous capacity to protect their own rights in the face of transgressions of power, especially when they can rely on the constitution. This chapter further illustrates how this can play out with a case study on religious rights in Russia, which tells the story of how religious groups have used the Russian Constitution to mitigate the worst consequences of proposed constitutional violations. Finally, this chapter draws attention to the differences between majority and minority religions.


2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoffer Green-Pedersen

Hooghe and Marks recently introduced a new research agenda for the study of European integration focusing on politicisation, that is, the inclusion of mass public attitudes in the politics of European integration. The overall aim of this article is to respond to this new research agenda. Unlike the existing literature, which focuses on Euro-sceptical extreme left or right-wing parties, the article argues that the explanation for politicisation or the lack of it should be found in the incentives the issue offers for mainstream political parties. Denmark serves as a crucial case study to show the limitations of the existing literature and the need to focus on the incentives of mainstream political parties. Empirically, the article argues that expectations about the impending politicisation of European integration are misplaced. The giant is fast asleep because those who could wake it up generally have no incentive to do so and those who have an incentive cannot.


ICL Journal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Portugal Gouvêa

AbstractThe main argument of this work is that the discourse of social and economic rights in Brazil has been appropriated by privileged economic groups with the result that the constitutional protection of those rights is no longer carrying out its function to reduce economic inequality. This article will be divided into three parts. The first is a discussion of the historic context of patrimonialism in Brazil as well as the origins of economic inequality in the country. The second part is devoted to the theoretical debate surrounding the con­stitutional protection of social and economic rights in light of what is often referred to as ‘new constitutionalism’, along with an interpretation of the structure for protecting social and economic rights that is present in the Brazilian constitution. The third part consists of a case study of the current state of the judicialization of the right to health in Brazil, with special attention to free concession of medicine and the new legislation on the subject. In conclusion, the paper argues that judicial decisions on the right to health, in particular, and social and economic rights, in general, have been formalistic, with little regard to their (often negative) distributive impact. The solution is then not to move from individual litiga­tion to collective litigation (eg class actions), but to move from an ‘individual rights’ approach to a ‘distributive’ approach, which takes into account the effects of court decisions not only with respect to the parties involved but also to the rights of the poorest of the poor.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-125
Author(s):  
Michael Gyan Nyarko

Using a human rights-based approach and Ghana as a case study, this article examines the scope and content of the right to property in relation to compulsory land acquisition under international law. It argues that while the exact frontiers of the right to property remain quite uncharted at the global level the vacuum has been filled by the regional human rights systems and soft law. In the context of Ghana, the Constitutional protection of the right to property and quite elaborate rules to be followed during compulsory acquisition have not translated into revision of the compulsory acquisition laws, which remain largely incoherent and inconsistent with the requirements of the Constitution and international human rights law.


2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 901-917
Author(s):  
Gabriela Borz

Abstract How do parties organise for success in engaging with their diaspora? This study investigates the impact Romanian diaspora has had on national political parties. It develops an argument based on diaspora recognition, engagement and policy as implemented by old and new parties. The analysis shows that recognition of diaspora in party statutes is not a guarantee for engagement. The latter increases with the use of new online communication strategies, provided there is a demand for such communication platforms. New parties with a strong anti-corruption stance mobilise diaspora online. The policy strategy emphasises diaspora support rather than diaspora return as incumbent parties take a gradual approach based on rights and identity promotion, which increases the economic utility of the engagement. The results are based on the analysis of party statutes, governmental documents, party online communication strategies and interviews with party members.


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