TWO. THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE SOCIAL CLEAVAGES AND THE PARTY SYSTEM

2015 ◽  
pp. 23-59
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
The Social

The Puzzle of Indian Politics: Social Cleavages and the Indian Party System

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradeep K. Chhibber ◽  
John R. Petrocik
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Theory Analysis ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Indian Politics ◽  
Congress Party ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Cleavage

The social cleavage theory of parly systems has provided a major framework for the study of Western party systems. It has been quite unimportant in studying other party systems, especially those of developing countries, where comparative development, and not mass electoral politics, has been the focus of study. This article reports the results of an attempt to bridge these traditions by analysing popular support for the Congress Party of India in terms of the expectations of the social cleavage theory of parties. This analysis illustrates the degree to which Indian partisanship conforms to the expectations of the theory. More importantly, this social cleavage theory analysis offers some new perspectives on (1) the inability of the Indian political system to develop national parties other than the Congress and (2) the ‘disaggregation’ of the Congress party.

The Social Integration of Germany since Unification

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Silver
Keyword(s):  
Social Integration ◽  
Party System ◽  
German Society ◽  
Social Model ◽  
German History ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
The Social ◽  
Twentieth Anniversary ◽  
East West

Germans are inordinately preoccupied with the question of national integration. From the Kulturkampf to the Weimar Republic to the separation of East and West, social fractiousness is deeply ingrained in German history, giving rise to a desire to unify the "incomplete nation." Yet, the impulse to integrate German society has long been ambivalent. Between Bismarck and the Nazi interregnum, top-down efforts to force Germans to integrate threatened to erase valued differences. The twentieth anniversary of German reunification is the occasion to assess the reality of and ambivalence towards social integration in contemporary Germany. A review of economic and social measures of East-West, immigrant, and Muslim integration provides many indications of progress. Nevertheless, social cleavages persist despite political integration. Indeed, in some aspects, including in the party system, fragmentation is greater now than it was two decades ago. Yet successful social integration is a two-way street, requiring newcomers and oldtimers to interact. Integration of the European Union to some extent has followed this German path, with subsidiarity ensuring a decentralized social model and limited cohesion. German ambivalence about social integration is a major reason for the continuing social fragmentation of the society.

Family Political Socialization in Multiparty Systems

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 666-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAPHAEL VENTURA
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Political Socialization ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
The Political ◽  
Socialization Process ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Political Identification ◽  
The Social ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Number Of Parties

This article presents a model linking the structure of the party system with the political identification children develop during the political socialization process. According to this model, children acquire from their parents political labels that serve as voting cues. These cues can relate to a specific party (party identification), a group of parties, or a basic ideological position (usually in “left” and “right” terms). In every society, labels having greater heuristic value are more commonly transmitted from parent to offspring. The type of label with the heuristic advantage in each society is determined by the nature of the party system and, specifically, by three of its characteristics: number of parties, composition of the social cleavages, and degree of competitiveness. Some of the model's assumptions are tested with empirical data from Israel, providing a comprehensive account of the intergenerational transmission of partisanship and ideological orientations in Israel.

Cinematic Search for Identity in the Shade of Turkey’s 1960 Coup: The Social Realism Debate and The Hope

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-168
Author(s):  
Celal Hayir ◽  
Ayman Kole
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Social Realism ◽  
New Era ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
Turkish Cinema ◽  
To Come ◽  
First Time ◽  
Democratic Constitution ◽  
Realism Debate

When the Turkish army seized power on May 27th, 1960, a new democratic constitution was carried into effect. The positive atmosphere created by the 1961 constitution quickly showed its effects on political balances in the parliament and it became difficult for one single party to come into power, which strengthened the multi-party-system. The freedom initiative created by 1961’s constitution had a direct effect on the rise of public opposition. Filmmakers, who generally steered clear from the discussion of social problems and conflicts until 1960, started to produce movies questioning conflicts in political, social and cultural life for the first time and discussions about the “Social Realism” movement in the ensuing films arose in cinematic circles in Turkey. At the same time, the “regional managers” emerged, and movies in line with demands of this system started to be produced. The Hope (Umut), produced by Yılmaz Güney in 1970, rang in a new era in Turkish cinema, because it differed from other movies previously made in its cinematic language, expression, and use of actors and settings. The aim of this study is to mention the reality discussions in Turkish cinema and outline the political facts which initiated this expression leading up to the film Umut (The Hope, directed by Yılmaz Güney), which has been accepted as the most distinctive social realist movie in Turkey. 

Political Competition, Partisanship and Interpersonal Trust in Electoral Democracies

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan E. Carlin ◽  
Gregory J. Love
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Interpersonal Trust ◽  
The United States ◽  
Behavioral Experiments ◽  
Minimal Group ◽  
System A ◽  
The Social ◽  
Osama Bin Laden

How does democratic politics inform the interdisciplinary debate on the evolution of human co-operation and the social preferences (for example, trust, altruism and reciprocity) that support it? This article advances a theory of partisan trust discrimination in electoral democracies based on social identity, cognitive heuristics and interparty competition. Evidence from behavioral experiments in eight democracies show ‘trust gaps’ between co- and rival partisans are ubiquitous, and larger than trust gaps based on the social identities that undergird the party system. A natural experiment found that partisan trust gaps in the United States disappeared immediately following the killing of Osama bin Laden. But observational data indicate that partisan trust gaps track with perceptions of party polarization in all eight cases. Finally, the effects of partisanship on trust outstrip minimal group treatments, yet minimal-group effects are on par with the effects of most treatments for ascriptive characteristics in the literature. In sum, these findings suggest political competition dramatically shapes the salience of partisanship in interpersonal trust, the foundation of co-operation.

The Free Republican Party in the political cartoons of the 1930s

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 93-136
Author(s):  
Gökçen Başaran İnce
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Political Cartoons ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Messages ◽  
People's Party ◽  
The Social ◽  
Kemal Ataturk

AbstractThe Free Republican Party (FRP; Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası), founded and dissolved in 1930, represented the second attempt to transition to a multi-party system in Turkey, following the formation of the Progressive Republican Party (Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkası) in 1924. In contrast to the oppositional establishment of the latter, the FRP seemed to be a state-originated project whose establishment was decided upon by the elites of the day, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Its representation in contemporary cartoons is deemed important today given the political cartoon’s ability to simplify complex political messages into understandable symbols and metaphors and to address or reach those who may not be literate. Taking into account the social structure of society during this period, this aspect of the reach of cartoons becomes particularly important. Political cartoons’ ability to both support the text in a newspaper and penetrate historical memory through stereotypes is also significant in terms of the representation of personalities and events. This article will attempt to analyze the formation of the FRP and the depiction of its elites through newspaper cartoons. Three prominent and pro-Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) newspapers of this period—namely Cumhuriyet, Milliyet, and Vakit—will provide the material for the content and thematic analysis of the study.

scholarly journals The social origins and political uses of popular narratives on Serbian disunity

2005 ◽  
pp. 65-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Slobodan Naumovic
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Party System ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
The Social ◽  
Identity Based

The text offers an examination of socio-political bases, modes of functioning, and of the consequences of political instrumentalisation of popular narratives on Serbian disunity. The first section of the paper deals with what is being expressed and what is being done socially when narratives on Serbian disunity are invoked in everyday discourses. The next section investigates what political actor sty, by publicly replicating them, or by basing their speeches on key words of those narratives. The narratives on Serbian disunity are then related to their historical and social contexts, and to various forms of identity politics with which they share common traits. The nineteenth century wars over political and cultural identity, intensified by the struggle between contesting claims to political authority, further channeled by the development of party politics in Serbia and radicalized by conflicts of interest and ideology together provided the initial reasons for the apparition of modern discourses on Serbian disunity and disaccord. Next, addressed are the uninnally solidifying or misinterpreting really existing social problems (in the case of some popular narratives on disunity), or because of intentionally exploiting popular perceptions of such problems (in the case of most political meta-narratives), the constructive potential related to existing social conflicts and splits can be completely wasted. What results is a deep feeling of frustration, and the diminishing of popular trust in the political elites and the political process in general. The contemporary hyperproduction of narratives on disunity and disaccord in Serbia seems to be directly related to the incapacity of the party system, and of the political system in general, to responsibly address, and eventually resolve historical and contemporary clashes of interest and identity-splits. If this vicious circle in which the consequences of social realities are turned into their causes is to be prevented, conflicts of interest must be discursively disassociated from ideological conflicts, as well as from identity-based conflicts, and all of them have to be disentangled from popular narratives on splits and disunity. Most important of all, the practice of political instrumentalisation of popular narratives on disunity and disaccord has to be gradually abandoned.

Austria: Phasing-Out Grand Coalition Government

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-80
Author(s):  
Wolfgang C. Müller
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Grand Coalition ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
People's Party ◽  
Coalition Politics ◽  
Underlying Principle ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War

Grand coalition government of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP and the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) had been the hallmark of post-war Austria but the historic ‘grand coalition’ formula seems exhausted. The rationale for maintaining this cooperation vanished, electoral changes undermined the former duopoly of these parties, and party system changes brought new players into the game. Yet at the government level alternatives involving the Freedom Party (FPÖ) have proved unstable as in each case an FPÖ event brought down the government or prevented its renewal. The chapter shows how routine formateur-led processes of coalition formation resulting in anticipated outcomes contrast with a few instances which significantly deviate. Coalition governance is characterized by the use of an elaborated set of rules and instruments and great continuity over time and different types of coalition. Accordingly, the underlying principle of coalition politics has been the ‘coalition compromise’ model, with government policies to be largely agreed between the coalition partners. In practice, ministerial discretion tends to shift government policy output towards the model of ‘constrained ministerial government’. Most coalitions terminated early because of inter-party conflict.

The Two-Party system in Britain

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-101
Author(s):  
Ross McKibbin
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Economic Basis ◽  
The Social

In 1951 97 per cent of British voters voted either Conservative or Labour and that figure remained more or less constant until the late 1960s. Thereafter, however, it began to decline while third or fourth parties won an increasing share of the popular vote. In this essay I suggest why this might have been so, as the social and economic basis of the two-party system began to decay. In the elections of 2017, however, at least in England, the two major parties won 87 per cent of the vote—the highest since 1970. I argue that this was a result of an almost accidental and unexpected confluence of events which produced a different kind of two-party politics—more fluid and unpredictable.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document