The political contestation of European integration in Southern Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgos Charalambous ◽  
Nicolò Conti ◽  
Andrea Pedrazzani
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Party System ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Public Office ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Exogenous Shocks ◽  
Traditional Elite ◽  
Party Elites ◽  
The Face

The ways in which political actors form positions on European integration in the face of exogenous shocks, such as the financial crisis that spilled over to the Eurozone countries, have become a key question in studies of politics in Europe. In the article, we show that party system polarization over European integration has increased during the crisis, but only with respect to the parties’ public stance. Instead, the crisis does not appear to pose a real threat to the consensus on the European Union among party elites serving in public office, which remains almost as strong as before. Hence, a so far unconsidered consequence of the crisis may concern a mounting tension inside political parties, between a leadership that is more sensitive to popular pressures and to Euroscepticism and public office holders that reiterate the traditional elite consensus on Europe.

Party Politics Triumph over Substantive Scrutiny and Principled Policy: Examining Czech MPs’ Voting Behaviour in Regard to EU Affairs

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-125
Author(s):  
Martin Kuta
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
European Dimension ◽  
The Eu

The paper deals with the European dimension of the competition and contention between Czech political parties and argues that domestic party interests undermine the formal oversight of EU politics by the Czech national parliament. Within the current institutional arrangements, national political parties assume stances – which are expressed through voting – towards the European Union (and European integration as such) as they act in the arena of national parliaments that are supposed to make the EU more accountable in its activities. Based on an analysis of roll-calls, the paper focuses on the ways the political parties assume their stances towards the EU and how the parties check this act by voting on EU affairs. The paper examines factors that should shape parties’ behaviour (programmes, positions in the party system, and public importance of EU/European integration issues). It also focuses on party expertise in EU/European issues and asserts that EU/European integration issues are of greater importance in extra-parliamentary party competition than inside the parliament, suggesting a democratic disconnect between voters and parliamentary behaviour. The study's empirical analysis of the voting behaviour of Czech MPs also shows that the parliamentary scrutiny introduced by the Lisbon Treaty is undermined by party interests within the system.

scholarly journals From convergence to congruence: European integration and citizen–elite congruence

2021 ◽  
pp. 146511652110249
Author(s):  
Daniel Devine ◽  
Raimondas Ibenskas
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The European Union ◽  
State Party ◽  
The Public ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Expert Surveys

Recent research argues that European integration has led to an ideological convergence of member state party systems, which is purported to have significant consequences for democratic representation. We argue that convergence of party positions is less problematic if congruence between governed and governing is maintained. We therefore turn to test whether integration has had an effect on congruence between the public and their governing elites. Using five measures of integration, two sources of public opinion data, and expert surveys on political parties, we find little evidence that integration into the European Union reduces congruence between the public and the national party system, government or legislature either ideologically or across five issue areas. These results should assuage concerns about integration’s effect on domestic political representation.

Activity of modern right-wing radical parties in the Czech Republic

2019 ◽  
pp. 164-173
Author(s):  
Tetiana Fedorchak
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Political Radicalism

The author investigates political radicalism in the Czech Republic, a rather heterogeneous current considering the structure of participants: from political parties to the extremist organizations. The peculiarity of the Czech party system is the existence, along with typical radical parties, of other non-radical parties whose representatives support xenophobic, nationalist and anti-Islamic statements. This is primarily the Civil Democratic Party, known for its critical attitude towards European integration, and the Communist party of the Czech Republic and Moravia, which opposes Czech membership in NATO and the EU. Among the Czech politicians, who are close to radical views, analysts include the well-known for its anti-Islamic position of the Czech President M. Zeman and the leader of the movement ANO, billionaire A. Babich. Voters vote for them not because their economic or social programs are particularly attractive to the electorate, but because of dissatisfaction with the economic situation in the state. Almost all right populist parties oppose European integration, interpreting it as an anti-national project run by an elite distorted by a deficit of democracy and corruption. Keywords: Czech Republic, right-wing radical political parties, European integration, nationalism.

TRENDS AND PROSPECTS FOR THE EVOLUTION OF THE INSTITUTION OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN MODERN RUSSIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 87-95
Author(s):  
D.L. TSYBAKOV ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Party System ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Party Elites ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
State Bureaucracy ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Post Industrial

The purpose of the article is to assess the nature of the evolution of the institution of political parties in post – Soviet Russia. The article substantiates that political parties continue to be one of the leading political institutions in the modern Russian Federation. The premature to recognize the functional incapacity of party institutions in the post-industrial/information society is noted. It is argued that political parties continue to be a link between society and state power, and retain the potential for targeted and regular influence on strategic directions of social development. The research methodology is based on the principles of consistency, which allowed us to analyze various sources of information and empirical data on trends and prospects for the evolution of the party system in the Russian Federation. As a result, the authors come to the conclusion that in Russian conditions the convergence of party elites with state bureaucracy is increasing, and there is a distance between political parties and civil society.

National Political Parties and European Integration: Mapping Functional Loss

Politics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Gijs Berends
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Level ◽  
Functional Loss

This article specifically examines the role of national political parties in the light of European integration. It introduces the functions that are normally associated with parties, which allows for a systematic evaluation of the performance of national parties in the European Union. Probing these functions that parties are reputed to implement, it arrives at the conclusion that national parties are fairly unsuccessful in fulfilling their core tasks at the European level.

Party Elites and Leadership in Colombia and Venezuela

1992 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Martz
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Party System ◽  
Recent Trend ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Labour Unions ◽  
Campaigns And Elections ◽  
Party Elites ◽  
Conceptual Progress

‘By studying political parties we imply that the party is a meaningful unit of analysis. Yet we go above the party as a unit, for we also study the party system. By the same token we can go below the party as a unit and study, thereby, the party subunits.’1 This statement by Giovanni Sartori, while published in 1976, might well have been a beacon for budding stasiologists of the early 1960s — certainly for those with a particular interest in Latin America. Following upon such Western European—orientated classics as the works of Maurice Duverger, Sigmund Neumann and Alfred Diamant,2 there seemed genuine intellectual impetus to produce significant scholarship on the parties of what were then customarily termed either the developing or the ‘non—western’ polities. For Latin America, the time appeared ripe for conceptual progress. To be sure, there was justification in remarking that the study of parties in the region was relatively new, while ‘methodo—logical accomplishments have been primitive’.3 Yet this condition was presumably transitory.In the years to follow there were more serious exploratory efforts, and in time a modest number of case—studies began appearing.4 When the cyclical alternation of democratic and dictatorial regimes began to swing toward the latter by the early 1970s, however, scholarly interest dropped off. More generally, stasiological research went into decline.5 For students of Latin America, only the recent trend toward democratisation has stimulated a revival of interest in parties, campaigns and elections.6 Thus Lorenzo Meyer, for instance, described parties as institutions necessary ‘to channel the energies of social movements, labour unions, and other antiauthoritarian forces present at the beginning of the re—emergence of civil society’.7

scholarly journals The Europeanisation of Slovak Political Parties

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dušan Leška
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Stages Of Development ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
Government Relations ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The aim of the study is to analyse the Europeanisation of Slovak political parties in the various stages of the transition and transformation of the political system of Slovakia before and after the entry into the European Union. Methodologically, the paper is based on the concept of Ladrech, who divided five areas of research to suit the study of the impact of the Europeanisation on political parties and their politics. Visible can be changes in political programmes, organisational changes, a formula of party competition, relations between parties and government, relations beyond the national party system (a new look at transnational cooperation between political parties). Our research proved that the Europeanisation has been visible at all stages of development, with varying degrees of intensity and in various forms since the signing of the association agreement with the European Union. Its effect was important already in the stage of the society transition when it helped the return of Slovakia on the path of democratic development. In the two stages of development, Europeanisation created an individual line of cleavage of political parties, affected the rivalry of political parties, and thus a party system model. Unambiguously, it was reflected in political programmes of all parties, and an important role was played by the incorporation of political parties in the European political parties, by their cooperation and coordination of their policies. The election in the European Parliament was an important turning point in completion of programme orientations of political parties.

scholarly journals Have You Ever Seen the Void? Interest Groups Concerns Toward the Weakening Representational Role of Political Parties in European Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Chiara Fiorelli
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Democratic Life

Contemporary democracies face a trend toward the diffusion of the representational void left by under- legitimized political parties (Mair 2013). The essential functions of traditional political parties to organize and articulate political conflict and societal interests have been challenged both from the inside of the party system, by the emergence of populist habits of newcomers, and from the outside, by the progressive erosion of old political culture and corresponding increasing of hostility feeling. Intermediaries organizations of political and economic interests usually push their demands toward political actors in order to shape policy choices. What can happen when the traditional party system suffers from de- legitimation? In this paper, I will try to understand the level of concern of interest organizations toward the progressive detachment of civil society from political actors, in order to define if the risk of a void of representation is perceived as real and contingent. Thanks to a new original European dataset (the Comparative Interest Groups Survey), the analysis shows that different types of interest groups perceive the void to be real and with a possible impact on their activities and their own survival. As expected, in the regression model, differences emerge between countries with a traditional strong interests’ system and countries where groups activities are usually barely regulated. The results support the idea that the distance between civil society and political representatives should be considered a prominent focus of contemporary social and political investigation in order to understand the challenge for democratic life and the possible strategy of reaction.

Regionalist Parties and the European Union

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuele Massetti ◽  
Arjan H. Schakel
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political System ◽  
Maastricht Treaty ◽  
Multilevel Governance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Eu

Regionalist parties are political actors that emphasize distinct ethno-territorial identities and interests vis-à-vis those of the entire state, advocating some forms of territorially based self-government in a view to protect, give voice to, and enhance those identities and interests. The tense relationships that these political actors often have with the central institutions leads them, in the European Union (EU) context, to identify the EU as a potential ally in their struggle against the state. Indeed, the EU system of multilevel governance, in which regional governments have obtained a considerable role, is also the result of a combined effect of regionalist parties’ pressure on member states from below and the process of European integration creating a favorable political framework from above. This putative alliance was celebrated, during the 1980s and 1990s, with the Maastricht Treaty representing a pivotal moment for the launch of the vision of a “Europe of the Regions.” However, the EU constitutional reforms of the 2000s (from the Treaty of Nice to the Treaty of Lisbon) fell rather short vis-à-vis regionalist claims, revealing the “illusionary character” of the “Europe of the Regions” idea. Since then, attempts to achieve “Independence in Europe” (through “internal enlargement”) have intensified in regions governed by strong and radical regionalist parties, such as in Catalonia and Scotland. These secessionist attempts have added further strain to an already under-stress EU political system. Indeed, far from acting as an ally of regionalist forces, the EU appears to have straddled between the role of a neutral observer and a supporter of member states’ territorial integrity.

The French about the Future of the European Union: Confederation or Federation?

2014 ◽  
pp. 35-39
Author(s):  
K. Zueva
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Eu

The article examines positions of the main French political parties, scientific community and public figures regarding the future of the European Union. The facts confirm convergence of different European integration models: confederation and federation. This process is based on understanding that it is necessary to level economic and social situation in the EU member states. The French are discontented with uncontrolled activities of Brussels bureaucracy and lack of democracy. The result of this process is the growth of Euroscepticism in France that was corroborated by recent Euro-Parliament election.

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