Malawi

2021 ◽  
pp. 553-571
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Frantzeskakis ◽  
Michael Wahman ◽  
T. Murat Yildirim
Keyword(s):  
Role Orientation ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Legislative Agenda ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
The Government ◽  
Parliamentary Politics

This chapter represents one of the very first quantitative analyses of parliamentary speechmaking in an African democracy. Looking at Malawi in the parliamentary term 2009–2014, we find that MPs in ministerial positions and party leadership speak significantly more than other MPs. We also find that those representing the major opposition party speak significantly more than other MPs. Given the candidate-centric nature of Malawian parliamentary politics and high levels of formal parliamentary openness, these findings run counter to the theory presented in this volume. We suggest that in order to understand speechmaking in the Malawi parliament, one has to take into account both the generally weak position of the legislature vis-à-vis the executive and the role-orientation of Malawian MPs. In a system with high MP turnover rates and significant local developmental needs, MPs tend to prioritize constituency development over contributions to the national legislative agenda. With resources highly centered on the executive, backbench MPs are unlikely to see significant benefits in pursuing an active legislative agenda. Consequently, MPs representing the government or those higher in opposition party hierarchies can dominate parliamentary speechmaking.

scholarly journals Hungary: Orban’s atypical programme of solving the crisis

2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-319
Author(s):  
Misa Djurkovic
Keyword(s):  
Economic Reform ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Socialist Government ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right

The article deals with the political and economic situation in Hungary in the last several years. The author firstly points to the causes of decline of influence of the previous socialist government and the heavy defeat of the socialists in the 2010 elections and the success of the right party Fidesz. After winning the elections, the Viktor Orban government started, at an accelerated rate, to implement the pre-election programme of Fidesz that had been prepared for a long time while it was an opposition party. The author is of the opinion that this programme is atypical, very radical and unique by many characteristics in the Europe of today. He points out that only a year after Fidesz victory the government and the parliament adopted quite a number of laws, a new Constitution and a set of risky measures of recovery that should lead to a substantial economic reform. The author particularly underlines the fact that the government decided to break of negotiation with IMF, reject its recommendations and try to overcome over-indebtedness by carrying out its own ideas.

Minderheitsregierung im Bund? Lehren zum Oppositionsverhalten aus Schweden

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-158
Author(s):  
Melanie Müller ◽  
Marcus Höreth
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Minority Government ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
Alternative Function ◽  
The Government ◽  
German Bundestag ◽  
Western Democracies ◽  
Opposition Parties

Government stability in the German Bundestag is traditionally tied to a parliamentary majority and an opposition minority . Nonetheless, minority governments in other Western democracies show that, despite the lack of a parliamentary majority, they govern stable and effectively together with the opposition . In this article, on the Swedish case, we examine how opposition parties in parliament are involved in the legislative process in a minority government and what patterns they follow in order to maintain governmental stability without neglecting their alternative function . The paper combines theoretical and concep­tual considerations on the adequate understanding of the opposition in the Federal Repub­lic of Germany with empirical findings on cooperation and conflicts between opposition party groups and minority governments . The results show that opposition parties strategi­cally switch between confrontational (Westminster-style) and consensual patterns of behav­ior (republican) . Through this flexible majority finding, opposition parties in parliament can alternately present themselves as policymakers or as an alternative counterpart to the government . This opposition behavior is functionally adequate under the conditions of a pluralized and fragmented party system and the resulting difficulties in forming a stable government majority .

Electing a Leader

2020 ◽  
pp. 89-112
Author(s):  
Rodney Brazier
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Formal System ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Leadership Elections ◽  
The Government ◽  
Jeremy Corbyn ◽  
Theresa May

A person normally becomes Prime Minister either after winning a General Election, or after the Government party has elected a new leader to succeed a Prime Minister. Leadership of one of the main political parties is therefore a prerequisite for entering Number 10 Downing Street. This chapter examines exactly how the main parties have elected their leaders since 1902, setting the processes in their historical contexts, and explaining why the systems have been changed down the years. The Conservative Party did not have a formal system until after a major crisis in 1963; Labour has always elected its leader; but the systems which have been used have been altered for political reasons. Recent leadership elections, e.g. of Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Jeremy Corbyn, are examined. The chapter also explains the ways in which an opposition party can get rid of a leader who doesn’t want to quit.

II. Irish Parliamentary Elections and the Influence of the Catholic Vote, 1801–20

1967 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Jupp
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Politics ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
George Iii ◽  
Parliamentary Politics ◽  
Fair Degree

One generalization which can be made about politics in the reign of George III with a fair degree of certainty is that the vast majority of M.P.s did not consider their conduct in the House of Commons as predetermined by the wishes of their electors; they preferred to see themselves as elected as members of Parliament rather than as delegates to Parliament. Moreover, despite the recent concentration of some historians upon the history of Parliament, the discipline of psephology rarely engaged the attention of politicians after a general election. These two attitudes of mind, which together indicated a clear division between electoral and Parliamentary politics, were nowhere more prevalent than in constituencies where landed interests were predominant. These, which comprised the majority in Scotland and Wales, were, after 1801, also thought to predominate in Ireland. This, in fact, was part of the reason why the Whigs at Westminster so firmly opposed the Union during the debates in 1799 and 1800. They argued in effect that in Ireland, as in Scotland, there was little dependence upon electors and a great dependence upon patronage; that the union with Scotland had added a substantial proportion of the forty-five M.P.s to the ranks of the government of the day; and that the union with Ireland would add near a 100 more. In fact the traditional picture of Irish electoral politics between 1801–26 is that, notwithstanding the fact that in Ireland the economic and social position and above all the religious sentiments of the majority of the electors were nowhere more clearly opposed to those of their M.P.s, the constituencies remained firmly controlled by the leading landed, and therefore Protestant, interests, the majority of whom supported every administration. The purpose of this article, however, is to argue that the Catholic vote in Irish constituencies was an integral and important factor in elections before 1820; that it not only played its part at elections but that it also affected in some degree the conduct of Irish M.P.s in the House of Commons towards the question of Catholic emancipation.

Voting, violence and violations: peasant voices on the flawed elections in Hadiya, Southern Ethiopia

2001 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kjetil Tronvoll
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Southern Ethiopia ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Political Campaigning ◽  
The People ◽  
The Government ◽  
Run Up ◽  
And Control ◽  
First Time ◽  
Hadiya Zone

This article presents peasant grievances on the flawed 2000 elections in Hadiya zone, southern Ethiopia. For the first time in Ethiopia's electoral history, an opposition party managed to win the majority of the votes in one administrative zone. In the run-up to the elections, government cadres and officials intimidated and harassed candidates and members from the opposition Hadiya National Democratic Organisation (HNDO). Several candidates and members were arrested and political campaigning was restricted. On election day, widespread attempts at rigging the election took place, and violence was exerted in several places by government cadres and the police. Despite the government's attempt to curtail and control the elections in Hadiya, the opposition party mobilised the people in a popular protest to challenge the government party's political hegemony – and won. If this is an indication of a permanent shift of power relations in Hadiya, it is however, too early to say.

Regional allies may help to counter Congress in Peru

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Competition ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Legislative Agenda ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
The Government

Subject Legislative implementation efforts. Significance By requesting special powers from Congress, the new administration hopes to speed up implementation of its legislative agenda. However, Congress -- in which the opposition Fuerza Popular (FP) is by far the largest party -- appears reluctant to offer the new administration a legislative carte blanche. It has the numbers to block all legislation. Impacts The left-wing FA is likely to become a more vociferous opposition to the government's pro-investment agenda than FP. Support for the government will ebb as its initial honeymoon period recedes. Political competition will become more bitter as the 2021 presidential contest approaches.

UK Labour’s anti-Semitism row will not abate soon

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Labour Party ◽  
Target Audience ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political News ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
The Government

Significance Corbyn's video appeal, directed at Jewish members of the Labour Party, followed a similar approach to Jewish groups the previous day. However, his attempts to address the anti-Semitism dispute that has engulfed his party are failing to convince either the target audience or his internal critics, with deputy leader Tom Watson warning the same day that the opposition party was failing to present itself as fit to lead the nation. Since parliament went into summer recess on July 24, political news has been dominated not by the Conservative Party’s evident difficulties with Brexit but by the Labour Party’s self-inflicted wounds over anti-Semitism. Impacts The anti-Semitism row limits Labour’s ability to provide effective opposition to the government, including on Brexit. The dispute is likely to alienate Jewish voters. Unaddressed, the issue makes it more likely that Labour MPs will break away from the party in 2019-20 once the Brexit terms are settled.

British Parliamentary Politics, 1784–1786

1974 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 733-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political History ◽  
General Election ◽  
Parliamentary Reform ◽  
The Government ◽  
Parliamentary Politics

The triumph of Pitt's ministry in 1784 over the Fox-North Coalition is a familiar event in British political history. But the consolidation of the ministry after 1784 has yet to be analyzed in detail. Though the general election of 1784, accompanied by spectacular demonstrations of public opinion in support of the government, clinched Pitt's victory, there was no immediate return to tranquillity. Within two years, Pitt was defeated on four major issues: the Westminster scrutiny, the Irish Resolutions, parliamentary reform, and the duke of Richmond's scheme for the fortification of the dockyards.

scholarly journals Policy Representation by Party Leaders and Followers: What Drives UK Prime Minister’s Questions?

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Bevan ◽  
Peter John
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Agenda Building ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Policy Representation ◽  
Leaders And Followers ◽  
The Government

This article demonstrates how party leaders (frontbenchers) and backbenchers use their access to UK Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) to represent the policy agenda. Building on comparative research on parliamentary questions and agenda-setting as well as taking account of the particular context of PMQs, we argue that party leaders and followers draw attention to different kinds of policy topics with the express purpose of influencing the government. Based on a content analysis of over 9,000 questions between 1997 and 2008, we demonstrate how the posing of questions affects subsequent agenda, varying according to whether questions come from the front or backbench, from government and opposition and from different parties. The findings demonstrate that PMQs helps both the opposition and backbenchers draw attention to issues that the government and opposition party leadership does not always wish to attend to.

scholarly journals Memorandum di Masa Pemerintahan Abdurrahman Wahid dalam Perspektif Hukum Tata Negara Islam

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-115
Author(s):  
Misbahuddin Misbahuddin
Keyword(s):  
Important Change ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
New Order ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Parliamentary System ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Presidential System ◽  
The Government ◽  
Parliamentary Politics

The tide of democratization in Indonesia has radically changed the structure of Indonesian politics since the overthrown of New Order government by the reform movement in 1998. One important change is the essential vitality of parliamentary politics in Indonesia. In the era of Abdurrahman Wahid's government, the DPR's role was more independent and had a loud voice constraining the executive's running. As a result, the Indonesian constitution which is based on the Presidential system seems to have deviated to being a Parliamentary System. An example of tension is the birth of a memorandum. This paper seeks to examine the "Memorandum during the Government of Abdurrahman Wahid" from the perspective of Islamic State Administration Law. This paper concludes based on the Islamic State Administration Law that the Abdurrahman Wahid's Government Memorandum is invalid because the warning or redressal requirements for a president must be preceded by evidence of deviation from religion.

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