Can partisans be pluralist? A comparative study of party member discourse in France and Hungary

2020 ◽  
pp. 136914812093059
Author(s):  
Lise Esther Herman
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Party Member ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Focus Group Methodology ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Central Pillar ◽  
Do So

Pluralist norms, which prescribe certain attitudes of openness and mutual respect for diverging views, have long been considered a central pillar of liberal democracy. While democratic theorists have championed these values, they have been conflicted as to the capacity of political parties to carry them. Partisanship is widely recognized as an essential institution of democratic regimes but it has also been traditionally associated with intransigence rather than tolerance. This paper investigates this theoretical debate from an empirical standpoint, asking whether partisans can be carriers of pluralist values. It relies on focus-group methodology and software-assisted textual analysis to evaluate the extent to which the discourse of 117 party members in two different national contexts, France and Hungary, resonates with the pluralist worldview. The results of this study provide key empirical insights into the nature of partisanship, demonstrating wide variations in the extent to which partisans uphold pluralist principles, but also their capacity to do so at a stringent level.

scholarly journals Hawkish Partisans: How Political Parties Shape Nationalist Conflicts in China and Japan

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Trevor Incerti ◽  
Daniel Mattingly ◽  
Frances Rosenbluth ◽  
Seiki Tanaka ◽  
Jiahua Yue
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Regime Types ◽  
China And Japan ◽  
Ruling Party ◽  
Do So

Abstract It is well known that regime types affect international conflicts. This article explores political parties as a mechanism through which they do so. Political parties operate in fundamentally different ways in democracies vs. non-democracies, which has consequences for foreign policy. Core supporters of a party in a democracy, if they are hawkish, may be more successful at demanding hawkish behavior from their party representatives than would be their counterparts in an autocracy. The study draws on evidence from paired experiments in democratic Japan and non-democratic China to show that supporters of the ruling party in Japan punish their leaders for discouraging nationalist protests, while ruling party insiders in China are less likely to do so. Under some circumstances, then, non-democratic regimes may be better able to rein in peace-threatening displays of nationalism.

Forging the Franchise

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn Langan Teele
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Strategic Alliances ◽  
National Level ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Competitive Environments ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Massive Change ◽  
Political Emancipation ◽  
Women’S Preferences ◽  
Do So

In the 1880s, women were barred from voting in all national-level elections, but by 1920 they were going to the polls in nearly thirty countries. What caused this massive change? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it was not because of progressive ideas about women or suffragists' pluck. In most countries, elected politicians fiercely resisted enfranchising women, preferring to extend such rights only when it seemed electorally prudent and necessary to do so. This book demonstrates that the formation of a broad movement across social divides, and strategic alliances with political parties in competitive electoral conditions, provided the leverage that ultimately transformed women into voters. As the book shows, in competitive environments, politicians had incentives to seek out new sources of electoral influence. A broad-based suffrage movement could reinforce those incentives by providing information about women's preferences, and an infrastructure with which to mobilize future female voters. At the same time that politicians wanted to enfranchise women who were likely to support their party, suffragists also wanted to enfranchise women whose political preferences were similar to theirs. In contexts where political rifts were too deep, suffragists who were in favor of the vote in principle mobilized against their own political emancipation. Exploring tensions between elected leaders and suffragists and the uncertainty surrounding women as an electoral group, the book sheds new light on the strategic reasons behind women's enfranchisement.

The Effects of Manifesto Politics on Programmatic Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Hennl ◽  
Simon Tobias Franzmann
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Core Business ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Decision Mode ◽  
Programmatic Change

The formulation of policies constitutes a core business of political parties in modern democracies. Using the novel data of the Political Party Database (PPDB) Project and the data of the Manifesto Project (MARPOR), the authors of this chapter aim at a systematic test of the causal link between the intra-party decision mode on the electoral manifestos and the extent of programmatic change. What are the effects of the politics of manifesto formulation on the degree of policy change? Theoretically, the authors distinguish the drafting process from the final enactment of the manifesto. Empirically, they show that a higher autonomy of the party elite in formulating the manifesto leads to a higher degree of programmatic change. If party members constrain party elite’s autonomy, they tend to veto major changes.

The functions and positions of political parties in consociational democracies: theoretical and empirical contexts

2020 ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
O. Morhuniuk
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Past ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Further Development

An article is devoted to the analysis of the functions and formats of political parties in consociational democracies. In particular, it is defined that parties that represent the interests of certain subcultures in society and that reach a consensus among themselves at the level of political agreements are called segmental. At the same time, parties that encapsulate different subgroups of the society that cooperate inside the party within main features of the consociational theory (grand coalition, mutual veto, proportionality in representations, and independence of segments or society subcultures) are called consociational. The theory of consociationalism has received a wide range of theoretical additions and criticism from political scientists over the past fifty years. And while political parties should have been, by definition, one of the key aspects of research within such democratic regimes (parties are part of large coalitions and agents of representation of certain subcultures), there is very scarce number of literature that focuses on this aspect. Therefore, the presented article provides a description of the functions of political parties that could be observed as inside their subcultures as well as in interaction with other segmental parties. Based on the experience of two European countries in the period of “classical” consociationalism (Belgium and the Netherlands), we explain the functions of the parties we have defined in such societies with examples of relevant consociational practices in them. Simultaneously with the analysis of segmental parties, the article also offers the characteristics of consociational parties. The emergence of such parties has its own institutional and historical features. The way of further development of the party system and the level of preservation of consociational practices makes it possible to understand the nature of changes in the societies. Similarly, the analysis of the forms of party competition and interaction between segmental parties makes it possible to outline the forms of those consociational changes that are taking place in the research countries.

Wpływ populizmu na demokrację liberalną: na przykładzie prawicy (PiS i Kukiz’15) w wyborach parlamentarnych w Polsce w 2015 roku

1970 ◽  
Vol 20 (274) ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
Marek Tyrała
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Research Hypothesis ◽  
Interdisciplinary Character

The main research hypothesis put in the article is: Populist parties have a negative impact on the functioning of liberal democracy in Poland. The article attempts to characterize and define the main criterion distinguishing populist parties and anti-system movements against the background of standard political parties. The article also attempts to characterize the process of functioning of liberal democracy in Poland. The text has an interdisciplinary character, the research problem has been analyzed from a political, sociological and philosophical perspective. While verifying the hypothesis put in the work, it was noticed that there is a high probability that the election success of populist parties and movements had a negative impact on the process of functioning of liberal democracy in Poland after the parliamentary elections. An attempt to verify the research hypothesis can make a significant contribution to further studying the functioning of the party and anti-system movements in the process of electoral rivalry in Poland.

Gender Differences in Young Adults’ Beliefs About Sunscreen Use

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorien Abroms ◽  
Cynthia M. Jorgensen ◽  
Brian G. Southwell ◽  
Alan C. Geller ◽  
Karen M. Emmons
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Reasoned Action ◽  
Normative Beliefs ◽  
Behavioral Beliefs ◽  
Sunscreen Use ◽  
Salient Beliefs ◽  
Focus Group Methodology ◽  
Males And Females

This study employs focus group methodology to explore gender differences in sunscreen use. Guided by the theory of reasoned action, males and females were found to differ on each of the following constructs: behavior, behavioral beliefs, and normative beliefs. Males and females differed in their sunscreen use, with females adopting a more preventive style of sunscreen use and males a more reactive style. Males and females differed in their salient beliefs that motivated their sunscreen use, many of which were related to traditional American gender roles. In addition, although males and females were aware of both positive and negative sources of normative beliefs regarding sunscreen use, females received more encouragement from their mothers and peers than males. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the design of future interventions.

scholarly journals DANA BANTUAN KEUANGAN PARTAI POLITIK DI SURAKARTA, SUDAHKAH TRANSPARAN DAN AKUNTABEL?

Wahana ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-168
Author(s):  
Titik Setyaningsih ◽  
Andi Asrihapsari ◽  
Doddy Setiawan
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Focus Group Discussion ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Financial Assistance ◽  
Financial Report ◽  
External Auditor ◽  
Transparency And Accountability

This study aims to explore transparency and accountability of political parties in Surakarta. This study uses a qualitative method. Data were gathered through focus group discussion. The findings show that political parties do not understand financial report of this entity’s financial assistance under PSAK 45 and they use simple bookkeeping. Political parties’s financial assistance is not audited by external auditor and there are some audit findings. The transparency principle is not achieved because financial report only for internal parties. This study raises one interesting result that political parties need the role of accountant to make their reports more accountable.

scholarly journals Refractory Frontier: Intra-party Democracy in the Zambian Polity

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
John Bwalya ◽  
Owen B. Sichone
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
National Development ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Leadership Transitions ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Selection Of

Despite the important role that intra-party democracy plays in democratic consolidation, particularly in third-wave democracies, it has not received as much attention as inter-party democracy. Based on the Zambian polity, this article uses the concept of selectocracy to explain why, to a large extent, intra-party democracy has remained a refractory frontier. Two traits of intra-party democracy are examined: leadership transitions at party president-level and the selection of political party members for key leadership positions. The present study of four political parties: United National Independence Party (UNIP), Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), United Party for National Development (UPND) and Patriotic Front (PF) demonstrates that the iron law of oligarchy predominates leadership transitions and selection. Within this milieu, intertwined but fluid factors, inimical to democratic consolidation but underpinning selectocracy, are explained.

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