scholarly journals Populist Party Leaders in Belgium: an Analysis of VB AND PVDA-PTB

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Bram Wauters ◽  
Gilles Pittoors

AbstractThis article scrutinizes the position and the role of the party leader in two populist parties in Belgium: Vlaams Belang (VB) and Partij van de Arbeid — Parti du Travail de Belgique (PVDA-PTB). Following Mudde’s definition, populism is understood as a people-centered and anti-elitist ideology. The article argues that, if one accepts the notion that parties will organize themselves in line with their ideological beliefs, then one should expect populist parties to exhibit three main characteristics: leaders are directly elected by the party members, they have extensive powers with only minimal intra-party institutional checks, and they feature strongly in electoral campaigns. Applying this argument to the two Belgian populist parties, the article finds only limited evidence for the argument that populist parties mirror their ideology in the role and position of their party leader.

2020 ◽  
pp. 135406882096203
Author(s):  
Matthew Barnfield ◽  
Tim Bale

What little research exists on why party members quit has tended to find that exit is driven primarily by political and ideological concerns. This research note builds on this, framing this finding theoretically and arguing that such theory should allow for the role of negative triggers – events that cause people to quit. We focus on the example of changes of leadership. Using data from four Party Members Project surveys, we find that British party members seem to leave parties mainly for political and ideological reasons, and because of disillusionment or disagreement with their leaders. This disillusionment, in turn, is often based on perceived ideological differences. We illustrate this with tweets by Labour members cancelling (or considering cancelling) their membership in the immediate wake of the election of Keir Starmer as party leader in April 2020.


1974 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Obler

Leaders and activists in most Western political parties, appreciating Schattschneider's adage1 that parties are controlled by those who control nominations to public offices, jealously guard their right to choose parliamentary candidates. They realize that candidates play a crucial role in shaping voters’ images of the parties as well as in formulating the party policies. Not surprisingly, candidates are usually recruited through rather oligarchical procedures. Extra-parliamentary party leaders normally pick the nominees in closed private meetings and then submit their choices to rank-and-file party members and/or delegates who nearly always grant their approval. Such procedures reduce the role of party members to one of docile acquiescence, and completely exclude party voters.


2018 ◽  
pp. 833-843
Author(s):  
Mikhail V. Bryantsev ◽  

Lenin's illness exacerbated struggles for succession among the ruling elite of Soviet and party leadership. While Trotsky's superiority seemed absolute, Stalin was coming to prominence. Using mechanisms of party influence, Stalin managed to force his opponents to the background and thus by 1926 took the place of the first party leader, to whom the population (mostly party comrades) increasingly turned. However, among the non-party masses there also rose voices of approval for Stalin's policy. It became obvious that he was to be established as Lenin’s sole successor. The task was facilitated by readiness of the population (primarily, peasants) to personify new power. However, analysis of ‘information’ materials, especially those preserved in provincial archives (of Bryansk, Gomel, Kaluga, Orel, and Smolensk) shows an ambiguity in perception of new leader by the population. Left in information vacuum and having little trust in official press, the population put credit in hearsay. Rumors that reached population (party members, before all) were unclear and incomprehensible. Many reprehended demands to harden attitude towards opposition, and even more, methods of combating it. Domestic and foreign policies, which increasingly became associated with Stalin’s name, were also found dissatisfactory. Even 1929 (Stalin’s 50th anniversary) with all praises sung and lip service paid, did not convince the population that Stalin was a worthy heir to Lenin. Any comparison was not in the former’s favor. However, when the collectivization began, Stalin’s figure became odious. The population was repelled by its methods and was not to be reassured by Stalin’s official speeches published in press. Resentment reached such a pitch that rumors sprang up about disagreements among Stalin's comrades-in-arms and even about his death, eagerly awaited by many. Stalin failed to convince even his fellow party members that his claims to the role of party theorist were justified.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-119
Author(s):  
Michal Kubát ◽  
Maciej Hartliński

AbstractThe aim of this article is to analyse the role and importance of leaders in the Czech populist parties and movements, as well as determining significant factors which condition their institutionalisation. The main focus will be placed on the role of leaders in establishing their respective parties, their formal position and intraparty selection processes in VV, ANO, SPD and ÚPD. Examples of actions taken by the leaders of ANO and SPD show that building populist parties on the foundation of the strong, formal and official position of the leader in their party as well as becoming open to more members prove effective when it comes to the discussed issues...


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-60
Author(s):  
Gregor Zons ◽  
Anna Halstenbach

AbstractDespite its right-wing populist character, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) shows no signs of a strong party leadership. We ascribe this state of the party leadership to the AfD’s institutionalization as a new party and show how organizational features interact with the skill set and goals of the party leaders. At the party level, we, firstly, outline the organizational change at the top of the party and the party leader selection rules. Secondly, we depict leadership turnover and competitiveness. At the leader level, we investigate the failure of Bernd Lucke, the key founder and one of the initial party leaders, as a manifestation of the leadership-structure dilemma of new parties. Embedded in a leadership team and faced with a growing extra-parliamentary party structure, Lucke tried to secure his initial autonomy and position of power by an attempt to become the sole party leader. His subsequent exit from the AfD laid bare the fact that he was not able to manage the challenges of the organizational consolidation phase, in which a new party needs a coordinator and consensus-builder. The AfD itself has proven its organizational autonomy from its initial leaders and its distaste for a strong and centralized party leadership. The barriers for the latter remain in place while, at the same time, the party institutionalization is still on-going, especially regarding its place in the German party competition.


Author(s):  
Justin Buchler

This chapter presents a unified model of legislative elections, parties, and roll call voting, built around a party leadership election. First, a legislative caucus selects a party leader who campaigns based on a platform of a disciplinary system. Once elected, that leader runs the legislative session, in which roll call votes occur. Then elections occur, and incumbents face re-election with the positions they incrementally adopted. When the caucus is ideologically homogeneous, electorally diverse, and policy motivated, members will elect a leader who solves the collective action problem of sincere voting with “preference-preserving influence.” That leader will threaten to punish legislators who bow to electoral pressure to vote as centrists. Consequently, legislators vote sincerely as extremists and get slightly lower vote shares, but they offset that lost utility with policy gains that they couldn’t have gotten without party influence. Party leaders will rarely pressure legislators to vote insincerely.


Author(s):  
Joanie Bouchard

Abstract Research into the impact of a politician's sociodemographic profile on vote choice in Westminster-style systems has been hindered by the relative sociodemographic homogeneity of party leaders. Past research has focused mainly on the evaluation of local candidates in the American context, but given that elections in plurality systems are far less candidate-oriented , the evaluation of local candidates tells us little about the prevalence of affinity or discrimination in other contexts. This article investigates the effect of political leaders' ethnicity on political behavior by looking at the case of Jagmeet Singh in Canada, the first federal party leader of color in the country's history. While the literature has shown that the gender of leaders in Canada can matter, little is known about the attitudes of Canadians toward party leaders of color specifically. We are interested in the evaluations of Singh and his party, as well as the shifts in voting intentions between elections in 2015 and 2019. We uncover affinity-based behaviors from individuals who identify as Sikh, as well as a negative reception of Singh's candidacy in Quebec.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 2898
Author(s):  
Milica Vujovic ◽  
Ishari Amarasinghe ◽  
Davinia Hernández-Leo

The role of the learning space is especially relevant in the application of active pedagogies, for example those involving collaborative activities. However, there is limited evidence informing learning design on the potential effects of collaborative learning spaces. In particular, there is a lack of studies generating evidence derived from temporal analyses of the influence of learning spaces on the collaborative learning process. The temporal analysis perspective has been shown to be essential in the analysis of collaboration processes, as it reveals the relationships between students’ actions. The aim of this study is to explore the potential of a temporal perspective to broaden understanding of the effects of table shape on collaboration when different group sizes and genders are considered. On-task actions such as explanation, discussion, non-verbal interaction, and interaction with physical artefacts were observed while students were engaged in engineering design tasks. Results suggest that table shape influences student behaviour when taking into account different group sizes and different genders.


2021 ◽  
Vol 776 ◽  
pp. 145967
Author(s):  
Jianyun Lu ◽  
Zhicong Yang ◽  
Anjana C. Karawita ◽  
Myrna Bunte ◽  
Keng Yih Chew ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. sextrans-2021-054992
Author(s):  
Jan E A M van Bergen ◽  
Bernice Maria Hoenderboom ◽  
Silke David ◽  
Febe Deug ◽  
Janneke C M Heijne ◽  
...  

ObjectivesThe clinical and public health relevance of widespread case finding by testing for asymptomatic chlamydia infections is under debate. We wanted to explore future directions for chlamydia control and generate insights that might guide for evidence-based strategies. In particular, we wanted to know the extent to which we should pursue testing for asymptomatic infections at both genital and extragenital sites.MethodsWe synthesised findings from published literature and from discussions among national and international chlamydia experts during an invitational workshop. We described changing perceptions in chlamydia control to inform the development of recommendations for future avenues for chlamydia control in the Netherlands.ResultsDespite implementing a range of interventions to control chlamydia, there is no practice-based evidence that population prevalence can be reduced by screening programmes or widespread opportunistic testing. There is limited evidence about the beneficial effect of testing on pelvic inflammatory disease prevention. The risk of tubal factor infertility resulting from chlamydia infection is low and evidence on the preventable fraction remains uncertain. Overdiagnosis and overtreatment with antibiotics for self-limiting and non-viable infections have contributed to antimicrobial resistance in other pathogens and may affect oral, anal and genital microbiota. These changing insights could affect the outcome of previous cost–effectiveness analysis.ConclusionThe balance between benefits and harms of widespread testing to detect asymptomatic chlamydia infections is changing. The opinion of our expert group deviates from the existing paradigm of ‘test and treat’ and suggests that future strategies should reduce, rather than expand, the role of widespread testing for asymptomatic chlamydia infections.


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