‘The Nir Coalition’ in 1959 and the Opposition Struggle against Mapai

The article deals with the opposition’s success in electing a new Speaker of the Knesset who was not member of ruling party – Mapai. The Mapai Speaker of the Knesset, Yosef Sprinzak, had died in January 1959, and the natural candidate to replace him was Moshe Sharett, an honorable member of Mapai. Sharrett however, turned down the nomination, and the party leaders chose a pale political figure, MK Berl Locker, to run in his stead. As a result of this choice, Yochanan Bader of the Heruth Movement proposed a new candidate – MK Nachum Nir who was not a member of the Mapai party but of Ahdut Ha-Avodah. The vote took place in March 1959, and Nir won, marking the first time a non-Mapai figure was elected to a state position, a highly significant event in Israel’s political history.

Political and Civic Identity of Libertarians in Contemporary Russia: Problems and Perspectives

Libertarianism is a new ideological trend, popular among young people. We try to find out whether libertarianism rises as independent political movement or it is the reaction on the fall of popularity of traditional political parties. For that purpose, the author made the comparative analysis of the program documents of the Libertarian Party of Russia with the classical works of the American libertarians and analyzed the published interview both of the party leaders/activists and of the experts. The author used the interview which he took from some activists in order to clarify the political identification of the Russian libertarians. The political identity of libertarians is characterized by the broadest possible interpretation of personal and economic freedom. Libertarians believe that such freedom is compatible with law and legality and is opposite to anarchy. At the same time, they avoid definitions and norms that could constrain freedom by both the state and the adherents of certain, including liberal, values and slogans. This broad approach makes it difficult to politically identify libertarians, but contributes to their attractiveness among young people.

Weighted Scoring Committees

Weighted committees allow shareholders, party leaders, etc. to wield different numbers of votes or voting weights as they decide between multiple candidates by a given social choice method. We consider committees that apply scoring methods such as plurality, Borda, or antiplurality rule. Many different weights induce the same mapping from committee members’ preferences to winning candidates. The numbers of respective weight equivalence classes and hence of structurally distinct plurality committees, Borda commitees, etc. differ widely. There are 6, 51, and 5 plurality, Borda, and antiplurality committees, respectively, if three players choose between three candidates and up to 163 (229) committees for scoring rules in between plurality and Borda (Borda and antiplurality). A key implication is that plurality, Borda, and antiplurality rule are much less sensitive to weight changes than other scoring rules. We illustrate the geometry of weight equivalence classes, with a map of all Borda classes, and identify minimal integer representations.

“Les gens qui vous ressemblent”: Discursive Negotiation of Identity and Construction of Affiliation in the 2019 Canadian Federal Election Party Leader Debates

In the weeks leading up to the Canadian federal election, federal party leaders seek to appeal to a crucial part of the electorate - Québec voters, most of whom are of French-Canadian background - through a series of televised debates. As party leaders engage in discourse aimed at creating proximity with and enacting an affiliative stance toward these voters, the debates become a platform for discursive negotiation of Québec identity, in which identity stances and narratives are reflected, reproduced, and challenged. This study examines a corpus of party leaders’ discourse as these political actors interactively negotiate Québec identity during three party leader debates in the 2019 federal election. Following the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, the inquiry discusses the following aspects of the party leaders’ discourse: discursive representation of Quebecers’ group identity and self-positioning with respect to that identity, use of symbolic lexis and references that signal attachment to the French-Canadian majority’s collective memory, and self-positioning with respect to the French language. In addition, the discussion addresses implications of the bilingual nature of political discourse in the Canadian context, focusing on party leaders’ use of code-switching and metapragmatic commentary. Crucially, the study’s conclusions suggest that a shared vision of Québec identity has not yet been widely ratified. While the party leaders’ discourse appears largely felicitous with the inclusive, civic vision of Québec identity, the study’s findings point to continued primacy of the French-Canadian fact in its current conceptualization.

Populist parties shifting the political discourse? A case study of the Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa

ABSTRACTThis article examines the use of populist discourse in South African politics. We investigate speeches of leaders from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). We find that the EFF consistently employs populist appeals, while both the incumbent ANC and official opposition DA largely refrain. Our longitudinal analysis allows an examination of fluctuation across party leaders and electoral cycles, and illustrates that neither the ANC nor the DA have modified their political discourses in light of a rising populist challenger. However, there is some evidence that the two most dominant parties have reformed their programmatic offerings and behaviour in an attempt to compete with the EFF's popular appeal. The South African case offers important insights into the study of oppositional populism on the African continent, and a window into how major political parties may respond to emerging populist contenders.

VOX Spain: The Organisational Challenges of a New Radical Right Party

This article examines the organisation of VOX, a new radical right party in Spain. It shows that the party has taken early and uneven steps to build a mass organisation and initially opted for open membership recruitment with participatory organisational elements. Also, the party’s rapid growth and quick entrance into political institutions at different state levels led the party leadership to establish more centralised control and limit members’ prerogatives, though recruitment continued. Centralisation in part responds to organisational needs given the party’s quickly acquired political relevance, but also to the desire of the central party leadership to forestall the articulation of territorial interests, or prevent them from escaping their control. Today, VOX exhibits elements of mass party organisation and highly centralised decision-making in the hands of national party leaders.

The Effectiveness of Grassroots Lobbying at the Regional Level in Poland: The Cases of Opole and Subcarpathian Region

This article examines the effectiveness of grassroots lobbying at the regional level in Poland. For the purpose of the article, “loyalty to the citizens versus party theory” was formulated. It distinguishes two stages of the policy-making process within which the councilors react differently to grassroots lobbying. The first stage refers to the preparation of the law by the region’s board. The theory assumes that the more people pressure the legislator to persuade the board to their initiative, the more inclined he is to endorse it. This way he proves loyalty to the citizens and secures his reelection. The second stage concerns the legislators’ voting behavior. In this case, grassroots lobbying has a neutral impact on them. The councilors remain loyal to the party leaders and vote accordingly so that their position on the party list is guaranteed in the next election. In order to verify the theory, a study consisting of anonymous interviews with sixty legislators from the Opole and Subcarpathian Assembly was conducted. The outcome of the research indicates that (1) a considerable majority of legislators were positively influenced by grassroots lobbying to pressure the region’s board; (2) the voting behavior of the majority of legislators was not impacted by grassroots lobbying; (3) grassroots lobbying is the most effective at the first stage of the policy-making process; (4) the structure of government does not determine the legislators’ reaction to grassroots lobbying; (5) the party’s status (in power or in opposition) impacts the legislator’s voting behavior.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit to Sri Lanka and its impacts on Indo-Sri Lankan relations

In Globe, no nation is not an isolate it depends upon one another to fulfill their needs as a result of these multilateral relations build-up. Such a strong relationship we need to maintain means we need strong leadership. Such strong leaders are there before and after independence also. The several party leaders and their alliances are formed and implement the policies for the development of India at the Internal level as well as external level. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government’s was formed under two prominent leaders known as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi. After Vajpayee, the NDA Government under the leadership of Narendra Modi realized the importance of foreign policy and maintaining a good relationship. Sri Lanka is also one of the closest neighboring country; Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019 he officially visited Sri Lanka at three times within these three visits he used to make several new initiatives in many fields.