Greece

2021 ◽  
pp. 420-442
Author(s):  
Yanis Kartalis ◽  
Marina Costa Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Eurozone Crisis ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Speech Time ◽  
Previous Decade

This chapter examines the politics of legislative debate in Greece. The Greek parliament, a relatively under-researched institution, is an interesting case in this volume’s context for at least two reasons. First, because of how the country’s institutional and party system intricacies do not allow for a straightforward classification along the Proksch and Slapin scheme, placing it somewhere between the two extremes. Second, because of the severe restructuring of the party system during the previous decade as a result of the Eurozone crisis and how it could have potentially strengthened the parliament. We make use of an original dataset on parliamentary speechmaking in the Greek parliament spanning twenty years of plenary debates to try to identify the determinants of floor access. Our analysis shows that women speak less than men. Cabinet members dominate the debate while we find some evidence that party leaders guard floor access and refrain from delegating speech time to backbenchers.

The Evolutionary Dynamics of Decision Rule Selection

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Laver ◽  
Ernest Sergenti
Keyword(s):  
Decision Rule ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Party System ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Past Performance ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Survival Of The Fittest

This chapter extends the survival-of-the-fittest evolutionary environment to consider the possibility that new political parties, when they first come into existence, do not pick decision rules at random but instead choose rules that have a track record of past success. This is done by adding replicator-mutator dynamics to the model, according to which the probability that each rule is selected by a new party is an evolving but noisy function of that rule's past performance. Estimating characteristic outputs when this type of positive feedback enters the dynamic model creates new methodological challenges. The simulation results show that it is very rare for one decision rule to drive out all others over the long run. While the diversity of decision rules used by party leaders is drastically reduced with such positive feedback in the party system, and while some particular decision rule is typically prominent over a certain period of time, party systems in which party leaders use different decision rules are sustained over substantial periods.

The Party System

2021 ◽  
pp. 520-538
Author(s):  
Conor Little ◽  
David M. Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
System Change ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Incremental Change ◽  
System P ◽  
Electoral Change ◽  
Irish Case ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Future Path ◽  
Opening Up

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.

Conservative Revival and the Rise of ‘Others’

2021 ◽  
pp. 147-188
Author(s):  
David Denver ◽  
Mark Garnett
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Party System ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Tony Blair ◽  
Liberal Democrats ◽  
Scottish National Party ◽  
Previous Decade ◽  
The Status ◽  
Scottish Independence ◽  
The Right

This chapter examines the closely fought elections of 2010 and 2015, the first of which produced the first British coalition government since 1945 in a period which saw the continued fragmentation of the party system and the rise of United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and the Scottish National Party (SNP).Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister in 2007, and initially impressions were favourable. However, almost as soon as Brown had decided against a ‘snap’ election to exploit his popularity, events turned against him and his party. The worldwide global financial crisis, which began in 2007, hit Britain particularly hard, and like Major’s Conservatives in the previous decade New Labour lost its reputation for economic competence. The Conservatives, under David Cameron who proclaimed himself ‘the heir to Blair’, won the largest number of seats in the 2010 election, which was particularly noteworthy for the introduction of televised leader debates. However, the 2010 contest resulted in a ‘hung parliament’ and a coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. The key events of the ensuing five years are examined, including the introduction of a Fixed-Term Parliaments Act which purportedly deprived Prime Ministers of the right to call elections at times of their own choosing. There were also referendums of Electoral Reform (2011) and Scottish independence (2014), in which the status quo was upheld without seeming to put an end to either question. In particular, the SNP continued to prosper despite the 2014 result, and in the 2015 general election it won almost all of the Scottish parliamentary seats. In England, UKIP had become a very serious threat both to Labour and the Conservatives, who had imposed unpopular cuts in public expenditure (‘austerity’) in response to the financial crisis. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats had lost much of their electoral appeal during their ill-fated alliance with Cameron’s Conservatives. The overall result of the 2015 election was an overall victory for the Conservatives, but by a margin which left Cameron vulnerable to Eurosceptics within his party.

The Reform of Presidential Selection and Democratic Theory

1983 ◽  
Vol 16 (04) ◽  
pp. 695-698
Author(s):  
Nelson W. Polsby
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Party System ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
State Party ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Presidential Selection ◽  
American Elections ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right

The political science profession is very far indeed from having pronounced its last word on the subject of the reforms of the presidential nomination process which have so dramatically transformed American elections and the party system. The current wave of reform began over a decade ago, and, more or less on schedule, political scientists have now begun regularly to report findings that suggest that they have been incorporating questions about the consequences of these reforms into their research.Many observers quite rightly have noted that central to debate about party reform among politicians and commentators have been questions of legitimacy that reflect varying conceptions of democratic theory. In this brief essay, I will consider a few of these questions further and speculate about the respects in which the work of political scientists might assist in resolving them.Perhaps the earliest questions arose over the changes that reform seemed to induce in the sorts of people taking part in the national party conventions. Questions arose as to their “representativeness”—and especially in light of two successive Democratic national conventions— 1968 and 1972—at which there were many challenges to the right of delegates to be present. In 1968 the complaints centered on the propriety of seating delegates selected earlier than the election year and selected through processes dominated by state party leaders rather than by the insurgent forces of protest over the war in Vietnam. These complaints were largely ineffective in influencing the outcome of the 1968 nomination, but their impact on subsequent events was substantial. They formed the basis upon which the Democratic party undertook to examine the delegate selection process in its McGovern-Fraser Commission of 1969, and people associated with these complaints staffed the Commission.

scholarly journals Populism and the American Party System: Opportunities and Constraints

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 370-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances E. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The Us ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Constitutional System ◽  
American Party ◽  
Democratic Norms

Does populism threaten American democracy, and if so, what is the nature of that threat? In dialogue with the comparative literature on populism, this article considers the opportunity structure available to populist parties and candidates in the American political system. I argue that compared to most other democracies, the US system offers much less opportunity for organized populist parties but more opportunity for populist candidacies. Today’s major parties may also be more vulnerable to populist insurgency than at other points in US history because of (1) changes in communications technology, (2) the unpopularity of mainstream parties and party leaders, and (3) representation gaps created by an increasingly racialized party system. Although no democratic system is immune to deterioration, the US constitutional system impedes authoritarian populism, just as it obstructs party power generally. But the vulnerability of the major parties to populist insurgency poses a threat to liberal democratic norms in the United States, just as it does elsewhere.

scholarly journals Where Do Distrusting Voters Turn if There is No Viable Exit or Voice Option? The Impact of Political Trust on Electoral Behaviour in the Belgian Regional Elections of June 2009

2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Hooghe ◽  
Sofie Marien ◽  
Teun Pauwels
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
Political Distrust ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Electoral Behaviour ◽  
Regional Elections ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIt has been suggested that political distrust is associated with lower levels of voter turnout and increased votes for challenger or populist parties. We investigate the relationship between political (dis)trust and electoral behaviour using the 2009 Belgian Election Study. Belgium presents an interesting case because compulsory voting (with an accompanying turnout rate of 90.4 per cent) compels distrusting voters to participate in elections. Nevertheless, distrusting voters are significantly more inclined to cast a blank or invalid vote. Second, distrust is positively associated with a preference for extreme right (Vlaams Belang) and populist (Lijst Dedecker) parties. Third, in party systems where there is no supply of viable challengers (i.e. the French-speaking region of Belgium), the effect of political trust on party preference is limited. We conclude that electoral effects of political distrust are determined by the electoral and party system and the supply of electoral protest.

Option Grün: Alliance 90/The Greens at the Dawn of New Opportunities?

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingolfur Blühdorn
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Party System ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Green Party ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Consumer Movement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Government Coalition

Following the end of their government coalition with the Social Democratic Party, German Green Party leaders spoke of "a dawn of new opportunities" for Alliance 90/The Greens. They wanted to capitalize on the strategic opportunities afforded by Germany's new five-party system and on the unexpected rise of climate change in public debate. Shortly before the 2009 federal election, however, the party's "new opportunities" seem rather limited. Selectively focusing on one particular explanatory factor, this article contrasts the Green's neo-radical eco-political position as it has emerged since 2005 with the ways in which environmental issues are addressed by the currently popular LOHAS (Life of Health and Sustainability) consumer movement. It suggests that the German Greens may have paid too little attention to the ongoing reframing of the environmental issue in public discourse and that this has impaired their prospects for a swift return to government office.

The Swing of the Pendulum: The Israeli Labor Alignment, 1988

1993 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Mendilow
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Electoral Campaign

Any exploration of the wider implications of the 1988 electoral campaign for the Israeli Knesset invites two questions: first, were the surprising conduct and results aberrations? Or were they the effects of underlying forces slowly changing the patterns of Israeli politics? If the latter, then, second, to what extent are such forces controllable by party leaders and at what cost? My contention is that what happened in 1988 did, in fact, herald changes that were not ephemeral but indi cated the beginnings of a shift in the entire Israeli party system.

Governance and the Transition to Democracy: Political Parties and the Party System in Mali

1993 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 541-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Vengroff
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party System ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The Past ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Ruling Party

Although many African countries have had to address pressures for democratisation and are undergoing some form of transition, Mali is an especially interesting case which could provide useful insights into the durability of democracy on the continent and elsewhere. Mali has experienced extraordinary changes in the past two years leading to the almost total transformation of the political system from a highly authoritarian régime to one which has all the trappings of a liberal democracy. Unlike most other nations, Mali was fortunate in being able to write a new constitution and hold elections without the burden of continued participation in the process by a ruling party and head of state. Therefore, the more open procedures offer a better indication of the degree to which, given the opportunity, a modern democratic system can take root in the African milieu.

Ghana

2021 ◽  
pp. 399-419
Author(s):  
Edalina Rodrigues Sanches ◽  
António Luís Dias
Keyword(s):  
Electoral System ◽  
Typical Case ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Marked Influence ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Parliamentary Debates ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Complex Scenario

This chapter investigates the politics of parliamentary debates in Ghana, a country that combines a hybrid presidential regime with a candidate-centered electoral system. Although these features place Ghana as a typical case in which parliamentary rules grant more leeway to individual MPs, our analysis reveals a more complex scenario that defies conventional wisdom. The partial linkage between the legislative and parliamentary branches gives the executive strong agenda-setting powers; moreover, party leadership’s marked influence in the way business in the House unfolds means that there is a skewed playing field, which curtails individual MPs’ access to the floor. The empirical section draws on an original dataset of legislative debates from 2005 through 2019 to examine the determinants of floor access in the Ghanaian parliament. Three findings merit highlighting. First, female MPs are less likely to be selected to speak, and their speeches are significantly shorter when compared to those of male MPs. Second, seniority and exposure to parliament increase the chances of participating in a debate. Third, party leaders have most access to the floor, followed by committee chairs and ministers. However, female MPs who are members of the party leadership speak significantly less than their male counterparts.

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