Party Formation and Dilemmas of Opportunity Structure: Freie Wähler in the German Political System

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helga A. Welsh
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Level ◽  
State Level ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Status ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Dominant Parties

The Freie Wähler (free voters, FW) offer the rare chance to analyze parties in the making. Their long-time anchoring in local elections, centrist, middle-class political orientation, and bifurcated organizational structure distinguish them from other new political parties that aspire to participate in Land (state), national and European elections. Against the backdrop of FW success in Bavaria, where they received 10.2 percent of the vote in 2008, this article explores the FW expansion to the state level but not their national aspirations. In contrast to most studies that emphasize opportunity structures that work in favor of new political actors, this article highlights their dialectical nature. For example, the FW self-image is based on their difference from political parties, but the rules of the game push them to the status of "almost-party" at the local level and parties at the Land level. Their local roots are a source of legitimacy, but when they reach beyond, divisions among members and voters hold back their electoral fortunes. Independence and issue orientation are appealing to some voters but hamper the establishment of a clear identity and effective campaigning in state elections. Success for FW candidates is linked to the weakness of the dominant parties in the conservative camp. Spatial-temporal conditions are significant in considering the future of the FW at the Land level.

scholarly journals REFORMASI MENUJU LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL YANG BERKUALITAS (REFORM TOWARD QUALITY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL)

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amirul Mustofa
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
New Order ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Performance ◽  
Old Order ◽  
The Status ◽  
Local Government Level

Political reform has occurred in Indonesia, namely when the regime transition of power from the old order to new order, and when the transition toward the new order has yet to reform the order form is of very local government councils. Local government councils according to the opinion of the writer has never showed good political performance, they simply just as political actors who seek personal gain or rent seeking, either the status quo as well as rent-seeking hunters.In connection with these conditions the local government councils is a form of democracy at local government level is very importance role in accommodating the aspirations of the community and promote development at the local level. Referring to this idea the authors approach the study of reform as the basic options that can be found those items essential for local government reform towards a quality council. Variables of important reforms that opinion writer are:  minimize the number of political parties; amendment to the constitution need to be rethinking;political education to be a prerequisite determination of local government councils; and scope of work development of local government council.Key words: local government councils, policy reform, political parties

Monument to Marshal Konev as a victim of Czech contradictions on Russia

2021 ◽  
pp. 197-210
Author(s):  
Vadim V. Trukhachev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Level ◽  
State Level ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Red Army ◽  
Army Soldiers ◽  
Political Disputes

The authorities of the Prague 6 district took down the monument to Marshal Konev, who liberated the Czech capital in May 1945. Russia could not prevent this, because the monument was not subject to an intergovernmental agreement. The laws of the Czech Republic allow municipal authorities to decide the fate of monuments standing on their territory. The actions of Czech politicians on a regional level appeared to demonstrate profound ingratitude in the eyes of many people - some condemned the politicians in the sharpest possible terms, but others supported and praised the decision. Representatives of the majority of political parties represented in the Czech Parliament, as well as the country's President Miloš Zeman, spoke on the topic. The “bronze Marshal” became a victim of Czech internal political disputes over relations with Russia. There is no state-level “war” against monuments to Red Army soldiers in the Czech Republic. However, decisions to remove them have been taken several times at local level.

Not All ‘Second-Order’ Contests are the Same: Turnout and Party Choice at the Concurrent 2004 Local and European Parliament Elections in England

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 584-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Rallings ◽  
Michael Thrasher
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Party Choice ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Sizeable Number ◽  
Level Analysis

The European Parliament elections in June 2004 coincided with local elections in many parts of England. In four regions of the country these elections were conducted entirely by postal ballots; in four other regions traditional methods of polling were used. Overall turnout was higher where all-postal voting was in place, but having local in addition to European elections made an independent and significant contribution to the level of electoral participation in all postal and non-postal regions alike. The pattern of party choice at the two types of contest also varied considerably. The three major political parties together took a much larger share of the overall vote at the local than at the European elections, and each independently ‘lost’ a sizeable number of its local votes to smaller parties. Aggregate level analysis suggests that voters assess the importance of electoral contests along a continuum and, in Britain in 2004 at least, treated local elections as less ‘second-order’ than pan-European ones.

Mexico's June elections face serious crime risk

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Physical Attack ◽  
Serious Crime ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Crime Risk

Subject The weakness of state and local level institutions is encouraging more intervention from Mexico City. Significance With twelve Mexican states set to go to the polls on June 5, and a thirteenth holding elections on July 3, longstanding concerns regarding the risk of criminal infiltration in local governments have returned to the fore. Beyond the political manipulation of alleged political-criminal links, political actors appear increasingly aware of their vulnerability to threats, intimidation and physical attack. Impacts How federal and local authorities manage criminal threats will be central to the outcome of the forthcoming elections. Candidate screening will be ineffective as long as federal authorities and political parties are both reluctant to lead the process. Politically motivated intervention will worsen, with all parties using criminal accusations to smear or disqualify other candidates.

scholarly journals Legal Basis of Organization and Functioning of Political Parties in Ukraine

2019 ◽  
pp. 43-53
Author(s):  
Yuliia BEVZ
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
The State ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Additional Time ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Law ◽  
State Registration ◽  
Legal Entities

The article is devoted to the research of the state of the legal basis of organization and functioning of political parties in Ukraine. Attention is drawn to the fact that the legal basis for the organization and functioning of political parties in Ukraine is mainly the general provisions of normative legal acts, namely: the Constitution of Ukraine, the Tax Code of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine «On Political Parties in Ukraine», «On the Election of the President of Ukraine» , «On the Election of the People’s Deputies of Ukraine», «On the Local Elections», «On the State Registration of Legal Entities and Individuals — Entrepreneurs and Public Entities», etc. It is established that, although certain norms determine the peculiarities of creation, registration, activity and termination of political parties, their structural formations, a number of provisions of legislation regarding the organization and functioning of political parties require further elaboration. According to the results of the analysis, the main directions of improvement of the legal basis for the organization and functioning of political parties in Ukraine were proposed, in particular: clarification of the definition of the term «political party» contained in Art. 2 of the Law of Ukraine «On Political Parties in Ukraine» basing on the legal essence of this concept; defining the principles of political party activity; clarification of the list of documents submitted by the applicant for state registration of political parties; defining an exhaustive list of grounds for refusal to register a political party in order to prevent free interpretation by the bodies of registration of the provisions of legislation; specifying the procedure for state registration of political parties and providing additional time for eliminating deficiencies in the documents submitted for registration (suspension of consideration of documents submitted for state registration); determining the procedure for adopting, registering amendments and additions to the statute of a political party; the procedure for convening and holding the constituent congress (conferences, meetings), the procedure for forming and powers of governing party bodies; the need to determine the status of property after the cessation of political party activity. It is proposed to amend certain articles of the Law of Ukraine «On Political Parties in Ukraine» and the Law of Ukraine «On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individuals — Entrepreneurs and Public Formations».

scholarly journals Why Political Parties don’t and do Matter in Local Government Elections in Indonesia: A Manado Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (77) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanus Sampe
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Computer Application ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Structured Interviews

ABSTRACT Introduction: Despite decentralization devolving increasing decision-making powers to subnational governments across Asia, the subject of local-level elections has not received anywhere near the academic attention afforded to national elections. This article aims to make a contribution to filling this gap in the literature on the dynamics of local election by examining the political parties’ activities in the 2010 local executive election in Indonesia through the detailed case study of Manado City. Materials and Methods: This article used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies for a case study of the Manado local government election in 2010. These methods include direct observation which had been done during the election in 2010, review of relevant media articles and books, collection of statistics from relevant government organizations and interviews. The latter comprised the most important and novel aspect of the research. The interviews were of two types: First, there was a quantitative survey of 100 selected voter respondents using questionnaire with 22 closed-ended questions. Second, there were semi-structured interviews with the local leaders of political parties, the heads of campaign teams, the candidates, the members of the local electoral organization, the representatives of NGOs, mass media personnel and the survey organisations who monitored the election. The quantitative data was explored with the aid of a computer application program (SPSS) while the qualitative data was analysed through a thematic approach. Although the qualitative data collection and analysis was dominant, the quantitative methodology was still important in this article. Results: This article found a paradoxical situation in that political parties did not and did matter. They did not matter case was supported by evidence showing that voters chose candidates based on their personalities, behaviours and programs rather than on party loyalty. On the contrary, they did matter case derived from the superior organisational abilities of parties in running successful election campaigns and in aligning themselves with the candidates most likely to win. Discussion: This article had made a valuable addition to explaining the activities of political parties at local level in the context of decentralization. The implication of this research is that although voters did not choose political parties, the latter were nonetheless highly significant in determining the outcome of the local government election in Manado City. So, it is useful for future research to consider more closely the role of parties in local elections.

scholarly journals Political Affiliation of Canadian Professors

2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 873-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Nakhaie ◽  
Barry Adam
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Political Affiliation ◽  
Liberal Party ◽  
University Professors ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status

The social role of universities has been subject to a lengthy debate as to whether those who teach in the academy are system legitimizing conservatives or radicals helping to generate critical thinking and challenge to the status quo. Despite this controversy, neoconservatives in the U.S. have used the evidence of professors’ strong support for the Democratic candidates as an indication of universities being dominated by left-leaning radicals. The aim of this paper is to evaluate political affiliations of Canadian university professors, based on a national survey conducted in 2000. The study shows that Canadian professors’ political affiliation can be identified as left and/or right depending on how we conceptualize the political orientation of political parties. Although, university professors tended to vote to the Liberal Party more than other parties, they themselves are more likely to view this party as a centrist party. Moreover, the study highlights a complex and non-monolithic picture of the Canadian academy. University professors are not politically homogenous but that their party vote depends on the prestige of their university, their discipline, gender, ethnicity, marital status, generation and extent of their own liberalism. Résumé. Le rôle social des universités fait depuis longtemps l’objet d’un débat sur l’orientation politique des professeurs : sont-ils des conservateurs qui légitiment le statu quo, ou des radicaux qui aident à créer une pensée critique qui le conteste? Le but du présent article est d’évaluer les affiliations politiques des professeurs canadiens telles qu’elles se dégagent d’un sondage national effectué en 2000. L’étude montre que leur affiliation politique peut être décrite comme de gauche ou de droite, selon la conception qu’on a de l’orientation des partis politiques. Ils votent plus souvent pour les Libéraux que pour d’autres partis, les voyant comme un parti du centre. D’ailleurs, l’étude donne des universités canadiennes un tableau complexe et nullement monolithique. Les professeurs n’ont pas de vues homogènes, ils votent en partie selon le prestige de leur université, leur discipline, leur sexe, leurs antécédents ethniques, leur situation de famille, leur âge et leur attitude envers le libéralisme.

scholarly journals Le elezioni comunali del 2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-48
Author(s):  
Terenzio Fava
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Minor Parties ◽  
Internal Conflicts ◽  
Northern League ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Limited Coverage

Local elections held on June 2016 in Italy asked voters to appoint more than 1,300 among mayors and municipal councilors, some of them in big cities like Rome, Milan, Turin. This article aims at assessing who is the real winner of this election. At first sight, the Five Stars Movement won this election. Nevertheless, some doubts arise because of its limited coverage of the territories, internal conflicts and the lack of homogeneity of its electoral results at the local level. Among the losers, Forza Italia and minor parties like NCD and extreme-left parties are to be counted, while the Northern League secured its previous elections' percentage. The Democratic Party reported huge losses but remained the leading party in half of the voting municipalities. A more in-depth analysis shows however that local lists (civic lists) strongly improved their results and voters' support. From this perspective it is the territory that won 2016 local election. The article claims that this may negatively affect the national political system and political establishment. Civic lists bring in fact together different political actors (such as notabilities, patrons and relevant clienteles) with populist local movements, and often show weak political capabilities in local government.l

scholarly journals Political Rise or Standstill: Chinese-Indonesian Oligarchs in the 2014 National Legislative Election

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Yuhao Wen
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
State Level ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Minor Parties ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Political Clout ◽  
The Status ◽  
Legislative Election

Stereotype and suspicion toward certain ethnic minorities of the country has never left Indonesia’s story of social diversity. Growing participation and greater representation of Chinese-Indonesians in national and local election have demonstrated an inspiring progress of the country’s ongoing democratization which encourages the recognition of minority’s ethnic identity in wider society. Based on this context, this paper aims to introduce the general performance of Chinese-Indonesian candidates in the legislative election at the state level since 1999, with a focus on analysing media tycoon Hary Tanoesoedibjo’s (or Hary Tano) experience in the 2014 election, in which he has been credited by political scientists and Chinese-Indonesian scholars for a certain degree of break-through in the Indonesian political landscape. Such story of success, however, does not necessarily indicate any trend that Chinese-Indonesian politicians in general have obtained the same degree of equality in politics as their indigenous counterparts. The tactic that Hary Tano has adopted is to expand his political clout through buying-off minor parties. Yet, in practice the underlying social norms of the status quo means that there is a long road ahead until Chinese-Indonesian oligarchs are taken seriously as political actors rather than used for short-term political gain.

scholarly journals 2010 Local Elections- A Serious Warning to Parliamentary Political Parties

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjan Brezovšek ◽  
Lea Smerkolj
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Elected Representatives

The fundamental principle of the modern local self-government system is the transfer of decision-making on public matters to the lowest possible level, enabling citizens to identify themselves with the local political environment as much as possible. Local government is considered democratic if its performance is decisively and directly or indirectly influenced (through elected representatives that are entrusted with local-level tasks) by the citizens themselves. Local elections are frequently compared to national elections, even though data show that local elections have their own peculiarities that cannot be applied to the national level. This is especially true regarding the dominant role of non-partisan candidates, and the ever decreasing support for political parties. Without the latter, one cannot even imagine the national level of government because they represent the key actors in national democratic political systems. Regarding the degree of trust in political parties at the local level, one can identify a trend indicating that citizens have gained a greater awareness that local-level politics is not related to party adherence, and that individuals’ personalities and their alleged apolitical character is coming increasingly to the fore, which is reflected by a high number of eligible non-partisan candidates. Therefore, one can see in Slovenia that people have become frustrated over the politicisation of local-level politics by expressing an ever-greater desire to support non-partisan candidates for the leaders of their local communities. Thus, they seek the candidates whose performance is not politically marked so that they can more easily identify themselves with them. Keywords: • local democracy • local elections • parliamentary elections • political parties • non-partisan candidates • Slovenia

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