Political Institutions in a Comparative Perspective

2020 ◽  
pp. 151-170
Author(s):  
Josep M. Colomer
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Spanish Transition ◽  
Competitive Federalism ◽  
Distinct Features

The Spanish transition to democracy from authoritarian rule in the 1970s was very successful and was taken as a model for other processes of political change by relatively peaceful means. But the expectation that it could give light to an exemplary democracy based on proportional representation and territorial decentralization has not been fulfilled. In comparison with most democracies in Europe, the Spanish parliamentary monarchy’s distinct features include single-party minority governments, partocracy or partisan control of separate institutions, competitive federalism with lack of cooperation among territorial communities and with the central government, neglect of the obligations to and commitments with the European Union, and high barriers to constitutional reform. Many preventive mechanisms that were conceived to favour political stability have turned into factors that have eroded electoral and social support for the results of the political process.

The Bolsheviks and the Family

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Waters
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Capitalist System ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The Family ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
The Masses

The Bolsheviks considered the family to be a minor matter. The ABC of Communism, a popular exposition of Bolshevik Marxism published shortly after the October Revolution, detailed the economic and political institutions of Soviet Russia with only a passing reference to the public services that would emancipate women in the future society.1 Its authors, Nikolai Bukharin and Evgenii Preobrazhenskii, understood the revolutionary process chiefly as the by-product of economic development and expected socialism to come through the manipulation of economic mechanisms by central government, and in this they echoed the views of their party. The Bolshevik scenario did not preclude the ‘participation of the masses’ to use the vocabulary of the times. Individuals, women as well as men, were to enjoy unprecedented access to the political process, and as masters of the nation's resources would decide matters of state, each acting as part of the whole, or more exactly as part of a number of collectivities, first and foremost as members of the proletariat, but also as members of other groups including nationality, youth and women. While families in the past had played a crucial role in the creation and transmission of private property, with the overthrow of the exploitative capitalist system they would cease to function as providers of economic and psychological welfare. Instead the individual's social place and action would be determined by class and, to a lesser extent, by ethnicity, age and gender. Families belonged to the superstructure and were symptom rather than cause; they adapted to the needs of society, changing in response to the transformation of economic relations. Families, in other words, could look after themselves, and appropriate forms of private life would evolve without much outside intervention.

Impact of Political Instability on the Reality of Iraqi Political Parties: A Study According to the Results of the 2018 Elections

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-162
Author(s):  
Hamsa Kahtan Khalaf
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Forces

Abstract The Iraqi political parties had been affected since 2003 by the political pivotal transformations which happened according to the aftermaths of democratic elections , especially under the disruptions of American’s invasion that led in cooperation with its allies in April 2003 .So the social and political situations became ruling according to the new aspects of practicing the new stage of authority as compromise settlements and quota and ethno - sectarian distribution to be as following as compatible with theory of practicing the authority responsibilities(Power sharing ) as what happened now , besides to that all political democracy scene has greatly been distorted because of the instability penetrated within rebuilding the state and its institutions from the beginning as planned by an active powerful political forces . Many functions that are characterized by competitions among the political parties had changed the concepts of exercising democracy in a real way to be done an effective shape ,because of the political and social actors had different role ,which were being a reflection of another reality within the democracy’s process .So that all the situations had been complicated too much owing to the factors of political instability that influenced negatively on the framework of the state , especially the impacts of economic and social factors as of poverty, stagnation , ignorance and disease and another underdevelopment features which predominated over political and social retrogression levels . In addition to that the absence of an efficient administrative elites , which appeared recently under different conditions and circumstances .So it was became very obviously as we know precisely that democracy’s process in Iraq since 2003 was comprehensively undemocratic in practicing because the political forces have not democratic culture that encourage the dialogue to solve all pending problems , and have not abundant tolerance to accept the differences of others parties yet . The phenomenon of the political instability has divided into different varieties by which scattering among the addresses of suspicion and it definitely has a sectarian discourse dimension in case of dealing among each other . So these addresses and dialogues were being away from the political national conformity correctly , because of there was something like definitely as the exclusion and marginalization discourses in order to narrowing any active political party within the political process try to do pro - active role to settle all pending crises . Furthermore , the reality of political life has been under the continuous crises and conflicts over an authority along time not to gain gradually the outcomes of procurement during application the constitution clauses and valid laws , in order to preserving the political stability and to be done more far from the national unity fragmentation and the weakness of political institutions . Finally , we need too much time to reach into condition of stability , especially after opening anew spaces toward active real participation , and because there was a growing need for educated people who could administer the society and the state institutionally by existing strong government, and ultimately peoples will have ability to form new political governing elites later.

POWER-SHARING AND NATIONAL COMMUNITY FORMATION: UNDERSTANDING BOSNIA’S EXPERIENCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 127-153
Author(s):  
Irina Kudryashova ◽  
Elena Meleskina
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
National Community ◽  
Post Conflict

The article explores the experience of power-sharing, i.e. consociational democracy, established in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) after the end of the ethnic war a quarter century ago. The authors’ attention is aimed at identifying a balance between the broad autonomy of the three major ethnocultural groups (segments) and the formation of a national community and common civic identity. Knowing this balance makes it possible to determine the prospects for political stability and development. For this purpose, the system of political institutions in BiH is considered, and its specificity is highlighted. Data-based analysis allows to define a number of negative trends in the Bosnian political process, in particular, the weakening of the democratic potential of the political regime, as well as the deterioration of the quality of governance and civil society’s activities. The observed rise in political participation is assessed as ineffective, since it hasn’t been accompanied by an increase in authorities’ responsibility and ability to solve acute political and socioeconomic problems. In particular, despite widespread support for the European perspective, party leaders haven’t been able to agree on the constitutional reform that is required to obtain official EU candidate status. The BiH parties’ analysis reveals their interest in promoting the ethno-nationalist discourse for keeping control over the economic and political resources of their communities. It is also noted that the role of international actors in BiH is of a dual nature: they maintain the required level of stability, but some of their decisions provoke strengthening of the nationalist forces. In the framework of the Bosnian case, the importance of the elites’ consent to joint participation in power and cooperation can be viewed as the most important condition for the successful implementation of power-sharing institutions and practices in post-conflict societies.

scholarly journals Tools for Transparency in Central Government Spending

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Rahal
Keyword(s):  
Government Spending ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Political Process ◽  
First Century ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Future Data ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Future Direction

Trust in government, policy effectiveness and the governance agenda has rarely been more important than in the opening decades of the twenty first century. For that reason, we herein present centgovspend, an open source software library which provides functionality to automatically scrape and parse central government spending at the micro level. While the design ideals are internationally applicable to any future data origination pipelines, we specifically tailor it to the United Kingdom, a country which is unique not only in terms of its transparency in procurement, but also one which was subject to a parliamentary expenses scandal, years of austerity, and then a volatile political process regarding a referendum to leave the European Union. The library optionally reconciles suppliers and subsequently analyzes payments made to private entities. Our implementation results in scraping over 4.9m payments worth over £3.5tn in value. As a way of showcasing what such a dataset makes possible, we outline three prototype applications in the fields of public administration (procurement across Standard Industry Classifier), sociology (stratification across those who supply government) and network science (board interlock across suppliers) before presenting suggestions for the future direction of public procurement data origination and analysis.

Manganyi, Calvin/Liebenberg, Ian/Potgieter, Thean (eds), South Africa and Romania: transition to democracy and changing security paradigms. Durban: Just Done Productions 2013, 376 pp.

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Eckardt
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cold War ◽  
National Security ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Security Strategy ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Military Reform ◽  
Post Cold War

This volume is based on NRF-funded research cooperation between the Institute for Political Studies of Defence and Military History in Bucharest and the Faculty of Military Science at Stellenbosch University, dealing with the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy. It discusses the transition to multi-party democracy, the consequent changes in the security environment and the current role and defensive posture of these countries in their respective regions. All contributions are abstracted separately in the introductory chapter (pp 1-11). The specific chapters discuss the joint experiences and challenges in facing the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy (1. Liebenberg, I: "Transition from Authoritarian Rule to Democracy": 13-36; 2. Sasz, P V: "Transition to Democracy in Romania": 37-57; 4. Mangayani, C: "The Role of Youth in South Africa's Transition": 87-121), the reform of the armies (3. Ionesco, M: "Transition, Alliances and Military Reform in Romania in the post-Cold War Period": 59-86; 5. Ferreira, R: "South Africa: From Apartheid Army to a Post-Apartheid Defence Force": 123-135; 7. Mangayani, C: "Structures for Political Oversight of the Military": 171-204; 8. Otu, P: "Military Reform in Romania": 205-231) as well as the repositioning of Romania's security strategy (6. Cioculescu, S: "Romania's National Security Strategy in the Post-Cold War Period": 137-170). South Africa's change in strategy concerning its interests in the Indian Ocean is the main focus of T Potgieter in chapter 10 (pp 267-305)and Romania's status within the Euro-Atlantic security architecture after the end of the Cold War and its entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union (EU) has been dealt with by Carmen Rijnoveanu in chapter 11 (pp307-340). Worthy of special attention is chapter 9 (Liebenberg, I: "The Arms Industry, Reform and Civil-Military Relations in South Africa": 233-266), bridging the purchase of arms and ammunition during the inter-war years (1919-1939) to the period of World War II (1939-1945) and even further to the establishment of South Africa's own defence industry under apartheid rule (1948-1989), emphasising the  enormous cost of maintaining a military superiority in southern Africa paving the way for South Africa's economic decline by the end of the 1980s and leading to the political demise of apartheid in the 1994 elections. In chapter 12 ("Waves of Change, Military-Political Reorientation, Economic Alliances and Uncertain Futures": 341-357), the editors make a comparison Strategic Review for Southern Africa, Vol 38, No 2 Book Reviews 181 of the different starting positions of both countries and the national security strategies that emerged from it.

The Emergence of India’s Patronage-Based Party System

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Kenny
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Party System ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Centralized Control ◽  
Party Organization ◽  
System P ◽  
Crisis Conditions

This chapter deals with the origins of India’s contemporary political institutions. The crisis conditions of the 1970s and the turn to populism had their roots in the late colonial period but these conditions remained latent until the mid-1960s. This chapter shows how India’s infamous patronage-based “Congress system” was first established and how political organization along horizontal socioeconomic lines was choked off in the process. It shows how the party system was brought under centralized control in the early 1950s and how this in turn brought a measure of political stability. India’s hybrid federal structure meant that state brokers had significant potential autonomy from the center; this autonomy remained latent as long as Nehru controlled both the party organization of the Congress and the fiscal powers of the central government. Case studies of a number of states support the analysis.

The Tribal Impact on Political Stability in Sudan

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 167-188
Author(s):  
Abdu Mukhtar Musa
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Third World ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
The Political ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Conflict Escalation ◽  
Islamic Movement ◽  
Patterns Of Behavior ◽  
Cultural Structure

As in most Arab and Third World countries, the tribal structure is an anthropological reality and a sociological particularity in Sudan. Despite development and modernity aspects in many major cities and urban areas in Sudan, the tribe and the tribal structure still maintain their status as a psychological and cultural structure that frames patterns of behavior, including the political behavior, and influence the political process. This situation has largely increased in the last three decades under the rule of the Islamic Movement in Sudan, because of the tribe politicization and the ethnicization of politics, as this research reveals. This research is based on an essential hypothesis that the politicization of tribalism is one of the main reasons for the tribal conflict escalation in Sudan. It discusses a central question: Who is responsible for the tribal conflicts in Sudan?

Republic of Macedonia – Theoretical and Practical Approach to the European Integration

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 293
Author(s):  
Suzana Mehmedi Ph.D ◽  
Ilir Mehmedi Ph.D
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Functional Adaptation ◽  
Practical Approach ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Integration ◽  
Basic Premise ◽  
Republic Of Macedonia

The problem of research is very current for several reasons. Namely, the dominant approach on the basis of which are based all have developed and established theories of European integration, developing modern theories of international relations is a realistic basis. Neo-functionalism, inter-guvernmentalism, neo-liberalism, institutionalism (in most of its variants) as the most developed branches of the theory of European integration, despite differences in their settings to keep the basic premise that states are rational, unitary actors, whose interest stems from the assessment of their position in the system of states. For our study caused a special interest model of constructivism using Habermas theory of communicative action according to which entities in mutual interaction is open to other arguments and their validity appreciate having regard to the outgoing reasons and norms on which they are based, thereby seeking consensus as a common goal. Apply to the European Union, this approach allows European institutions were perceived as a place of discussion to reach consensus on solving common problems, rather than just the arena for bargaining. Functional adaptation to the numerous petitions which sets the European Union, requires thorough and integrated activities in the economic, institutional, administrative and legislative spheres. This process should be understood as a continuous, painstaking and long process, not a single radical surgery. Republic of Macedonia, as countries aspiring for membership in the European family must meet the political and economic criteria and to adapt political institutions in the country with those of the European Union and their needs and requirements. The aim of this paper is to perceive the key features and trends in the politics of enlargement and to make a comparison between the policy of expansion applied in the process of accession Central and Eastern Europe and the policy of expansion in the process of stabilization and association, with special emphasis on the Republic of Macedonia. Of course, previously been necessary to develop theoretical and practical approach to the concept of policy integration, development and its major elements and modalities.

POWER TECHNOLOGIES OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL OF FRENCH REGIONAL POLICY

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.L. LEBEDEVA
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Regional Policy ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
The Political ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Comprehensive Study

The purpose of writing this article is to highlight the features of organization of the regional policy in France on the basis of the theoretical understanding of the concepts of regional policy, model of regional policy and policy analogy. The research topic is the content of the French policy of organizing a regional political space. The object of the research is the power technologies of regional policy. The systemstructural method, which considers political relations as an integral system of interconnections of phenomena and events of the political process, makes it possible to determine the main essential content of this research topic. Institutional approach involves the study of political institutions and their content. An analysis of Russian and foreign sources suggests that the main issue posed in the article is relevant at the present stage of development. The study is made possible on the basis of existing research. A comprehensive study of the conceptual theoretical characteristics of the regional policy as such allowed the author to identify the model and features of the political toolkit for the organization of thecenterregions relations in modern French Republic.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document