Macedonia’s colourful revolution and the elections of 2016. A chance for democracy, or all for nothing?

Südosteuropa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Reef
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Political Turmoil

AbstractThis article analyses Macedonia’s Colourful Revolution and elections of 2016 against the background of the criticism and protests directed against the Skopje 2014 Project. It also provides a photographic reportage of Skopje 2014 during the political turmoil from July 2016. It examines the main grounds for resistance and opposition to Nikola Gruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE government by further investigating the controversies surrounding Skopje 2014. Those controversies are manifold but stem mainly from the project’s tremendous cost and corruption, its controversial rewriting of history and its exclusion of Albanians and other minorities. Finally, the article argues that the Colourful Revolution has until now failed to overturn or decisively upset Macedonia’s politics or political system, as is evident from election results there. However, it has borne fruit in one respect in that two Albanian MPs have been included in the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), a tentative step towards overcoming the ethnic deadlock of Macedonian politics.

Social Democrats look set to win Romanian elections

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social

Significance Romania has one of the highest levels of any EU state of dissatisfaction with the performance of its democracy. Yet in the upcoming elections, voters look likely to give a strong mandate to the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the chief architect of the political system that has prevailed since 1989. Impacts A PSD government may move cautiously for fear of provoking a popular reaction. The independence of the justice system will depend on the vigilance shown by Brussels. A long-delayed shake-up leading to a more coherent pro-reform party now appears likely. The extent of political renewal will depend on the extent to which the large diaspora engages in national affairs.

Ein Ende mit Schrecken – Frankreich nach den Wahlen

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (188) ◽  
pp. 495-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Syrovatka
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
Crisis Of Representation ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Deep Crisis

The presidential and parliamentary elections were a political earthquake for the French political system. While the two big parties experienced massive losses of political support, the rise of new political formations took place. Emmanuel Macron is not only the youngest president of the V. Republic so far, he is also the first president not to be supported by either one of the two biggest parties. This article argues that the election results are an expression of a deep crisis of representation in France that is rooted in the economic transformations of the 1970s. The article analyses the political situation after the elections and tries to give an outlook on further political developments in France.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aled Davies
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Financial Centre ◽  
Conservative Government ◽  
The Social ◽  
Post War ◽  
City Of London ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This book is a study of the political economy of Britain’s chief financial centre, the City of London, in the two decades prior to the election of Margaret Thatcher’s first Conservative government in 1979. The primary purpose of the book is to evaluate the relationship between the financial sector based in the City, and the economic strategy of social democracy in post-war Britain. In particular, it focuses on how the financial system related to the social democratic pursuit of national industrial development and modernization, and on how the norms of social democratic economic policy were challenged by a variety of fundamental changes to the City that took place during the period....

The Politics of Banking and Social Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aled Davies
Keyword(s):  
Banking System ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Industrial Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Political Demand

This chapter concerns the politics of managing the domestic banking system in post-war Britain. It examines the pressures brought to bear on the post-war settlement in banking during the 1960s and 1970s—in particular, the growth of new credit creating institutions and the political demand for more competition between banks. This undermined the social democratic model for managing credit established since the war. The chapter focuses in particular on how the Labour Party attempted in the 1970s to produce a banking system that was competitive, efficient, and able to channel credit to the struggling industrial economy.

Ein zunehmend bunter Freistaat: Die Analyse der bayerischen Kommunalwahlen im März 2020 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der kreisfreien Städte

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-94
Author(s):  
Jan Pollex ◽  
Sebastian Block ◽  
Martin Gross ◽  
Dominic Nyhuis ◽  
Jan A. Velimsky
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Green Party ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
The Social ◽  
Election Results

Despite their crucial role for democratic decision-making, local elections receive little atten­tion from political science research . To overcome this shortcoming, the article analyses the Bavarian local elections of 2020 . Although the CSU remains the strongest party in the Free State, the Green Party was able to make considerable gains, especially in larger cities . How­ever, the Greens could not gain any grounds in mayoral elections, whereas CSU and SPD competed for the win . In most of the cases, the Social Democrats won the posts in city halls . In addition to detailing election results, this article addresses the ballot lists, the com­position of local councils, and coalition building at the local level . Overall, this contribu­tion provides a comprehensive account of the elections, which are characterized by their unique ballot system and, thus, have a special role in the political system of Germany .

Majorities without Mandates: Issues and Elections in the Spring of 1924

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles S. Maier
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Policy Alternatives ◽  
The Social

This chapter examines issues arising from the elections that were held in France, Germany, and Italy in the spring of 1924, asking in particular whether the elections could resolve the political ambiguities persisting in the three countries. It suggests that the presence of important political alternatives could not guarantee that the voting would yield clear decisions. Even where significant majorities or shifts of opinion occurred, the results were not unequivocal in terms of the issues at stake. Choices on the ballot did not parallel real policy alternatives. Superficially decisive victories led merely to coalitions built around opportunity rather than policy. The chapter considers the limits of Benito Mussolini's majority, the setback suffered by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) at the polls, and the coalition between the Radical Socialist Party and the SPD to form the Cartel des Gauches.

Habermas and the New Populisms

2020 ◽  
pp. 54-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik P. Bang
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Collective Identification ◽  
Political Conception ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Cooperation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ground System ◽  
Mutual Relations ◽  
Relations Of Power

Habermas is widely criticized for adumbrating an essentialist, deliberative, and consensual approach to democracy that neglects the significance and importance of contingency, conflict, and emotions in the struggle for hegemony and collective identification. However, his conception of system and lifeworld raise the claim that no society could exist without providing for a minimal degree of political cooperation between professional actors in the political system and spontaneously acting laypeople in the social lifeworld. Contingency, conflict, and emotions are obviously at play in this political conception of how to ground system and lifeworld in mutual relations of power, knowledge, trust, and respect. The goal is not to reach a stable consensus or succumb to conflict and chaos but to avoid that system becomes uncoupled from lifeworld, thus undermining the reciprocal connection between political authorities and laypeople required to make and implement authoritative decisions which are ‘for', ‘of', ‘with', and ‘by' ‘the people'.

scholarly journals Germany After the Social Democratic Century: The Political Economy of Imbalance

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney A. Rothstein ◽  
Tobias Schulze-Cleven
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social

The Politics of Consultation

1973 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Léon Dion
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social System ◽  
Political System ◽  
Economic Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Forces

THE DIVERSIFICATION IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION AND the growth of the political system have increased the number of instances of decision-making and intensified the relations between social and political forces. Parties and pressure groups are not enough in themselves to channel the interests, ideologies, and stresses, originating in the social system, into the political system. Nevertheless, during the last forty years, other, less familiar channels have broadened considerably and of these it is what we call the consultative councils which have made the greatest impact. So much has their importance grown in recent years that they must be considered as a mechanism of systemic interaction, comparable in weight to those of the pressure groups or parties. The consultative councils have, in fact, become a major cog in the political system and any attempt to exclude them is doomed to failure.

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