Slovenia

2019 ◽  
pp. 475-521
Author(s):  
Alenka Krašovec ◽  
Tomaž Krpič
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Coalition Formation ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Dropping Out ◽  
The Political ◽  
Coalition Governments ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
The Government

Under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system in Slovenia, after elections, coalition governments have formed. However, the coalition partners have also adopted a ‘dropping out from government’ strategy between elections, which in some cases has led to minority governments. This has occurred despite a frequent use of several conflict-prevention and conflict-resolution mechanisms. One such mechanism, coalition agreements, are mostly understood in terms of policy agreements. After each election in the period 1992–2000, the leading party, the LDS, signed a coalition agreement with each coalition partner. Since 2013, such coalition agreements include a mechanism of explicitly stating in coalition agreements that certain issues are to be avoided. Regardless, governments termination in majority cases happened due to different (policy or personal) conflicts within the government. Early in the period, government coalitions were ideologically mixed. This was characteristic for governments under LDS leadership from 1992 to 2004, while after the 2004 elections, the governmental coalitions were much more ideologically homogenous. Alternation between like-minded ideological coalitions (centre-left or centre-right) took place. Simultaneously, the main lines of conflict changed. In the 1990s, initially a mostly ideological cleavage between ‘transformed’ and ‘newly established’ political parties was present, while after the 2004 elections, the economic cleavage became more salient. All parliamentary parties, except the Slovenian National Party, have at least briefly participated in governments, while the Democratic Party of Retired Persons have been since the mid-1990s the party with the biggest coalition potential. Since 2011, small parties have received pivotal roles in coalition formation. Generally speaking, participation in the government has not been electorally rewarding for the political parties.

The Impact of the Electoral System on Government Formation: The Case of Post-Communist Hungary

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
CSABA NIKOLENYI
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Coalition Formation ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
Government Formation ◽  
Electoral Coalitions ◽  
Coalition Formation Process ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Conventional theories of government formation have assumed that the coalition formation process starts after legislative elections are over and the distribution of parliamentary seats becomes common knowledge. This perspective, however, ignores the important constraints that the formation of electoral coalitions may exert on the formation of the government. This article argues that the electoral system of Hungary provides very strong incentives for political parties to build electoral coalitions, which are also identified as alternative governments before the electorate.

De (on)macht van de Eerste Minister : Een a-wetenschappelijke ervaringsbenadering

Res Publica ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32
Author(s):  
Jean-Luc Dehaene
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Coalition Governments ◽  
Profound Knowledge ◽  
Key Skills ◽  
The Government ◽  
First Time

The position of the Belgian prime minister (PM) is hardly mentioned in the Belgian Constitution. lt was only after almost 140 years, in 1970 he was mentioned for the first time. lts power is rather a matter of common law. Since 1831 through the years, the position and power of the PM changed strongly. This often happened together with changes concerning the power of the King: the weaker the King, the stronger the PM.The existence of coalition governments puts forward bis role as coordinator and even as arbitrator, whereas the federalisation process since the seventies places him as a conciliator between Regions and Communities. The growing importance of the European Council of Head of States have made him the most important decision-maker among the national politicians in the European integration process. The PM's skills concerning timing and agendasetting are very important because it is one of his most important power instruments. Other key skills are bis profound knowledge in certain issues but mostly as a generalist, his insisting on good minister nominations by the party leaders, the way he can motivate his cabinet members, a good team spirit among the government members and the existence of a clear government contract. In order to avoid a strongdependency on or tutelage from the political parties of the majority it is important to have their top politicians in the government.

IDEOLOGY OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN ALBANIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 2033-2040
Author(s):  
Roland Lami
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government

In this paper, ideological confusion is explained based on the structural-functionalist perspective. Analysis of the phenomenon in question focuses mainly on the interdependence created between the “deeply-social” factors of and political discourse. This analysis is undertaken to better understand the circumstances that condition political parties on representing social categories in different social contexts and on showing the implications of political identity building based on the type of discourse used by the political actors. For this reason, while Almond (1968), Easton (1865), Luhmann (1981) analyze the ideology, they pay attention directly to the way of society structuring, and not as much to the political discourse. According to them, no partial aspect of social life and no isolated phenomenon can be understood unless it is linked with historical integrity and social structure conceived as a general unit. In this study, macro analysis focuses on the identification and treatment of several important indicators in terms of influences in structuring the political identity as important elements even for the empirical testing to the solutions this paper proposes. In this article the political discourse of Democratic Party and Socialist Party is analyzed in three different time periods, 1992 - 1996, 1997 - 2001 and 2002 - 2012. In the first period, on the one hand, the government of the right wing undertook many structural reforms, while on the other hand it does not neglect social assistance for certain groups affected by these reforms. During this period, the Socialist Party is focused more on dealing with itself in terms in order to break with the past than to create a particular profile in an ideological sense - in relation to the opponent. This approach makes political parties differ little from one another. The only difference between them in this period is the discourse: “anticommunism” and “antiberishism”. Democratic Party refers to the origin of Socialist Party to attack it for its relation with the past, while Socialist Party denounces the whole Democratic Party for its leadership qualities. More specifically, each attitude of SP in opposition was labeled as a reminiscence of the former Labour Party, while for the SP every each attitude of the government manifested authoritarian, provincial and tribal tendencies of Berisha.

2018 Fiji Election Results: Patterns of Voting by Provinces, Rural-Urban Localities, and by Candidates

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruo Nakagawa
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
The Political ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Election Results

Akin to the previous, 2014 event, with no data on voter ethnicity, no exit polls, and few post-election analyses, the 2018 Fiji election results remain something of a mystery despite the fact that there had been a significant swing in voting in favour of Opposition political parties. There have been several studies about the election results, but most of them have been done without much quantitative analyses. This study examines voting patterns of Fiji’s 2018 election by provinces, and rural-urban localities, as well as by candidates, and also compares the 2018 and 2014 elections by spending a substantial time classifying officially released data by polling stations and individual candidates. Some of the data are then further aggregated according to the political parties to which those candidates belonged. The current electoral system in Fiji is a version of a proportional system, but its use is rare and this study will provide an interesting case study of the Open List Proportional System. At the end of the analyses, this study considers possible reasons for the swing in favour of the Opposition.

Minimalinvasiv oder wirksam? Debattenbeitrag zur Novellierung des Bundeswahlrechts vom Oktober 2020

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 675-684
Author(s):  
Johannes Krause
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Vote System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Standard Size ◽  
National Parliament ◽  
System P ◽  
Voting System ◽  
The Way

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 .

The Final Stage of the Minority Revolution in the United States. Upward Mobility of Minorities to the Corridors of Power

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2-1) ◽  
pp. 62-91
Author(s):  
Irina Zhezhko-Braun ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Protest Movements ◽  
Electoral Laws ◽  
The Government

This article is the third and final in a series dealing with the birth of a new political elite in the United States, the minority elite. In previous articles, the mechanism of its appearance was analyzed, as well as its ideology, goals, program and values. The black movement, as the most co-organized of all protest movements, is entering the final phase of its development, being engaged in the placement of its representatives in state and federal governments, political parties and other social institutions. The women’s movement has recently been taken over by ethnic movements, primarily blacks, and has become their vanguard. This article describes new social elevators for the promotion of minority representatives into the corridors of power. The logic of promoting people of their own race, gender and nationality to the highest branches of power began to prevail over other criteria for recruiting personnel. During the 2020 election campaign, a new mechanism for promoting minorities in all branches of government was formed. It is based on numerous violations of local and federal electoral legislation. The mechanism of pressure on the US electoral system is analyzed using the example of the state of Georgia and the activities of politician Stacey Abrams. The article describes Abrams’ strategy to create a network of NGOs that are focused on one mission - to arrange for the political shift of the state in the elections. These organizations circumvented existing laws, making the state of Georgia the record holder for electoral irregularities and lawsuits. The article shows that Abrams’ struggle with the electoral laws of her state is based on the political myth of the voter suppression of minorities. The author identifies a number of common characteristics of the new elite. The minority elite does not show any interest in social reconciliation and overcoming racial conflict, but rather makes efforts to incite the latter, to attract the government to its side and increase its role in establishing “social justice” through racial quotas and infringement of the rights of those social strata that it has appointed bearers of systematic racism in society. As the colored elite increases and the government’s role in resolving racial conflicts grows, the minority movement is gradually condemned, it ceases to be a true grassroots movement and turns into astroturfing.

Farsi beffe delle elettrici: la satira nel biennio 1945-1946

2009 ◽  
pp. 151-173
Author(s):  
Giulia Galeotti
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Women And Politics ◽  
Political Satire ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Main Target ◽  
Italian Women

- The satire that in the years 1945 and 1946 commented the enfranchising of the Italian women replicated most of the themes emerged since the reunification of the country, in the year 1861: their lack of interest in politics, their political naiveté and therefore their asserted easy manipulability. The study of articles, short stories, riddles and cartoons of the time seems to confirm that the Italian society was not ready for women's entry into politics, beyond political and cultural differences. The author underlines however the surprising absence of a theme which had played a big role in the debate of the pre-Fascist years: the old concern that women's new political rights would have broken up the traditional balance inside family life. The author suggests that the main target of the time (in a kind of political maturation) were not women voters as such, but other subjects, along the same line followed by Aristophanes: when he presented Athens governed by women, his target were not female malice and luxury, but instead men's incapacity to govern a city in decline. The same happened at beginning of the foundation of the Italian Republic: the political satire invested the two main political parties that strongly supported the universal suffrage and were expected to gain most from it, the Christian Democratic Party and the Communist Party. Key words: political satire, women enfranchising, Bonomi Act January 1945, Italian elections 2 June 1946, the crises of politics, women and politics.

Stemmen in Vlaanderen op 13 december 1987 : Een statistische analyse

Res Publica ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-50
Author(s):  
Marc Swyngedouw ◽  
Jaak Billiet
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Occupational Status ◽  
The Political ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Statistische Analyse ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Linear Modelling ◽  
Log Linear

Taking into account the limits of such data, this study analyses the shifts in voting behaviour from the national elections in 1985 to those in 1987 in Flanders, using log-linear modelling. The use of data from poll surveys for estimating shifts between subsequent elections poses some methodological problems.The second part presents the results of the analysis. About 13,51 % of -the 1985-voters switched. Although there are significant shifts between all the political parties, the Christian Democratic Party (CVP) loses on all fronts. A log-linear analysis of party-reference by sex, age and occupational status shows the strength and weakness of each party in different societal categories. In conclusion, an interpretation of the shifts is proposed. The following factors can account for the major shifts : the desintegration of the catholic pillar, the emergence of a dual society, the affinity between neo-liberalism and yuppie-culture and the conflict between the language communities.

13. Small Parties and Law-making

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Arnott ◽  
Richard Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Parliamentary Procedure ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Law Making

This chapter discusses the role of smaller parties in the law-making process. General elections in the UK are conducted with an electoral system which militates against the representation of smaller political parties, particularly those having no strong support at the regional level. However, events at Westminster over the last decade have increased the prominence of smaller parties in the operation of parliamentary business. The chapter first considers the role of small parties in the UK Parliament, committees and legislation, as well as their participation in backbench debates before examining how the political and electoral context of Parliament, especially in the twenty-first century, has affected the representation of smaller parties and the ways in which reforms to parliamentary procedure since the 1980s have enhanced the role of the second opposition party. It suggests that Parliament today offers more opportunities for smaller political parties to influence debate and policy, but this remains quite limited.

scholarly journals Electoral incentives, policy compromise, and coalition durability: Japan's LDP–Komeito Government in a mixed electoral system

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam P. Liff ◽  
Ko Maeda
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Japanese Politics ◽  
Electoral Incentives ◽  
Coalition Politics ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Mixed Electoral System

AbstractPolitical parties’ behavior in coalition formation is commonly explained by their policy-, vote-, and office-seeking incentives. From these perspectives, the 20-year partnership of Japan's ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its pacifistic Komeito junior coalition partner is an anomalous case. The longevity, closeness, and nature of their unlikely partnership challenges core assumptions in existing theories of coalition politics. LDP–Komeito cooperation has sustained for two decades despite vastly different support bases and ideological differences on fundamental policy issues. LDP leaders also show no signs of abandoning the much smaller Komeito despite enjoying a single-party majority. We argue that the remarkable durability of this puzzling partnership results primarily from the two parties’ electoral incentives and what has effectively become codependence under Japan's mixed electoral system. Our analysis also demonstrates that being in a coalition can induce significant policy compromises, even from a much larger senior partner. Beyond theoretical implications, these phenomena yield important real-world consequences for Japanese politics: especially, a far less dominant LDP than the party's Diet seat total suggests, and Komeito's remarkable ability to punch significantly above its weight and constrain its far larger senior partner, even on the latter's major national security policy priorities.

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