This book examines the populist communication of mainstream parties in Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain. For a long time, populist and radical right parties have been the main subject of investigation in academic research. Yet, how mainstream parties react to the rise of such actors is less known. Scholars assume a "populist Zeitgeist", a populist contagion claiming that the political mainstream actively engages in populist and nativist discourses. The author tests this widespread assumption analyzing whether center-left and center-right mainstream parties adopt populist messages, as well as content related to the leftist and right-wing host ideologies of populist actors. Therefore, this book is a must-read for scholars, students, and researchers of political science and electoral studies, as well as policy-makers and practitioners interested in a better understanding of populism and populist communication.

Race and Partisanship in California Redistricting: From the 1965 Voting Rights Act to Present aims to study redistricting and its evolution in California since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It poses the question: what is the interactive play of race and partisanship in redefining the meaning of political representation through redistricting? Unlike other studies of redistricting, it focuses not on the south but on the west, not on white versus black but on the difficulties of diversity. Race and Partisanship in California Redistricting tells the story of redistricting in California, which has now become one of the bluest states and is considered a harbinger of political trends in the United States. Ultimately, this is a book that looks forward by looking back at the tug-and-pull of redistricting efforts aimed at ensuring greater equality in a racially diverse democracy. What is the role played by race and partisanship in the voting rights revolution? How does that vary far from the traditional flashpoints of American race relations? What does that tell us about the redefinition of political representation in the past half-century? And - most crucially - what does it foretell, for the next half century?

Is the European Union still a viable project? The last few years have been difficult both economically and politically, while its integrative function and legitimacy have been seriously tested. For many social, economic and geo-political reasons, its expansionary moment has stopped abruptly. On the contrary, the Greek economic crisis and the Brexit referendum have raised the spectre of fragmentation and political disintegration. The promise of the EU as a possible model for legitimate governance beyond the nation state lies somewhat in tatters. Even if the EU may indeed survive most of its current crises, is the project of a EU as a normative project beyond rescue? Ever since Maastricht, the democratic legitimacy of the EU has been a key concern of policy makers, citizens and academics alike. This issue is essentially a normative one, and over the same period our work in this area has been at the forefront in exploring what has come to be known (following an early working paper we wrote with this title in 2000) 'the normative turn in EU studies'. The debate on the democratic form and legitimacy of the EU is one that has gone on for some time and to which we, together with other scholars, have tried to contribute in the course of the last twenty years or so. Collecting articles written over the course of this period is not just meant as the testimony of an intellectual journey, but also a way of tracing such a journey in retrospect and mapping the important moments of the intellectual and scholarly debates that have contributed to shaping both our understanding and our expectations of the EU's possible futures.

This book discusses voting procedures in collective decision-making. Drawing on well-established election processes from all over the world, the author presents a voting procedure that allows for the speedy but fair election of a proportional, all-party coalition. The methodology - a matrix vote - is accurate, robust and ethno-color blind. In the vote, the counting procedure encourages all concerned to cross the gender as well as any party and/or sectarian divides. While in the resulting executive each party will be represented fairly and, at best, with the consensus of parliament, every minister will be the one most suited to his/her new portfolio. By using preferential voting and thus achieving consensus, the matrix vote will be fundamental to the resolution of conflicts. The matrix vote can also be used when: * two or more parliamentary parties elect a coalition government * one parliamentary party elects a government or shadow cabinet, or organizations in civil society elect their governing boards or executive committees * any group chooses a fixed number of individuals to form a team in which each member carries out a different function

Direct democracy makes you richer. Research shows that the average citizen earns nearly a $1000 for every referendum held, and that a strong correlation exists between the frequency of referendums and a GDP per capita. Referendums can also improve the quality of democracy. So why don't we see more? Drawing on a three decades of research, Qvortrup presents a definitive statement on the benefits and history referendums, including examples of how this instrument of democracy has been both utilised and abused. The book outlines the history of referendums, explains when politicians have submitted issues to the voters, why these votes have been won or lost - and ultimately why it matters. Uniquely, the book also examines the role of social media in referendum campaigns and make suggestions for improving the process of direct democracy Written in a lucid style by one of the world's leading experts on referendums, Democracy on demand is a timely reminder of the importance of democracy in our politics, offering new insights into how direct democracy can both improve our lives and at the same time strengthen our societies. -- .

This book is the second of two studies which systematically explore territoriality of the vote in Europe. They investigate when and where voters treat regional elections differently from national contests and aim to increase our understanding of the dynamics of electoral competition, which have become increasingly multifarious and complex in many countries due to the establishment and strengthening of regional government. This volume brings together leading experts on elections who analyze differences between regional and national electoral outcomes in ten East European countries since 1990. Based on a common analytical framework, each chapter investigates congruence between regional and national elections and traces and explains second-order and regional election effects. The editors applied a similar analytical framework in Regional and National Elections in Western Europe (Palgrave, 2013) which focused on 13 West European countries, enabling the authors to compare regional electoral dynamics between Eastern and Western Europe and observe to what extent explanations for territorial heterogeneity in the vote in the West also apply to the East. This book will be of particular interest to advanced students and scholars in the fields of comparative politics, regional studies, Eastern-European politics, and democratization.

This book analyzes the threshold candidates of immigrant background need to overcome to run for legislative office. Understanding whether political parties are able to adapt their selection criteria helps to assess their ability to respond to the underrepresentation of citizens of immigrant origin in parliament. Although Germany's ethnic diversity is on a steady rise, citizens of immigrant origin remain descriptively underrepresented. Despite the pivotal role the intra-party candidate selection plays in shaping who runs for election, the question of how candidates of immigrant background fare in political parties' candidate selection in comparison to native-born candidates remained a blind spot of research. Therefore, the author presents in-depth empirical evidence on the selection of candidates of immigrant background in German political parties. The book addresses scholars of political science interested in electoral studies as well as policy-makers and party officials interested in a balanced representation of their political representatives.

This study proposes and assesses an alternative explanation of the changes in the relationship between presidential and House of Representatives election results during the last century. Jeffrey M. Stonecash argues that the separation of presidential and House election results that occurred from the 1960s to 1980 was a party-driven process, with both parties seeking to change their electoral base. Republicans sought a more conservative electoral base to counter what they saw as disturbing liberal trends in the nation. Democrats sought to reduce their reliance on the South and its conservativism. Presidential and House election results changed at different rates, creating an appearance that they were unconnected, but they eventually came together. Although many saw these changes in election results as evidence of parties' decline, this study reaffirms their position as central actors in bringing about change.

This study proposes and assesses an alternative explanation of the changes in the relationship between presidential and House of Representatives election results during the last century. Jeffrey M. Stonecash argues that the separation of presidential and House election results that occurred from the 1960s to 1980 was a party-driven process, with both parties seeking to change their electoral base. Republicans sought a more conservative electoral base to counter what they saw as disturbing liberal trends in the nation. Democrats sought to reduce their reliance on the South and its conservativism. Presidential and House election results changed at different rates, creating an appearance that they were unconnected, but they eventually came together. Although many saw these changes in election results as evidence of parties' decline, this study reaffirms their position as central actors in bringing about change.

In competitive and contested democratic elections, insuring integrity is critical. Evaluating Elections shows why systematic analysis and reporting of election performance is important and how data-driven performance management can be used by election officials to improve elections. The authors outline how performance management systems can function in elections and their benefits for voters, candidates and political parties. Journalists, election administrators and even candidates often ask whether recent elections were run well, whether there were problems in the administration of a particular state's elections and how well elections were run across the country. The authors explain that such questions are difficult to answer because of the complexity of election administration and because there is currently no standard or accepted framework to assess the general quality of an election.

This major new work from the well-known team of Heath, Jowell and Curtice explores the emergence of New Labour from the ruins of old Labour's four successive defeats at the hands of the Conservatives. Based on the authoritative British Election Surveys the book explores some of the key questions about contemporary British elections and the social and political factors that decide their outcomes.

This book assembles six chapters by respected and emerging scholars in political science and communication to produce a first sustained look at Twitter's role in the 2016 US Presidential Election. While much attention has already been paid to Trump's use of Twitter as a phenomenon-how it helps drive news cycles, distracts attention from other matters, or levies attacks against rivals, the news media, and other critics-there has been little scholarly analysis of the impact Twitter played in the actual election. These chapters apply an impressive diversity of theoretical explanations and methodological approaches to explore how this new technology shaped an American election, and what impact it could have in the future.

In politics, there are no prizes for second place. Luckily, seasoned campaign professionals Mark Pack and Edward Maxfield have distilled successful electoral tactics from around the globe into 101 bite-sized lessons to help steer you on the course to power. Learn how to pass the three-seconds test, why you should actually embrace online trolls, and why you must never, ever, forget the law of the left nostril. Packed with advice and practical tips, this new, fully updated third edition of the classic political guide reveals the insider secrets and skills you need to make sure you're in pole position on election day.

This path-breaking book uncovers the important, under-appreciated role of armed opposition groups turned political parties in shaping long-term patterns of politics after war. Based on an empirically grounded and theoretically informed retrospective on nearly thirty years of post-conflict democratic state-building efforts, it examines whether this practice has contributed to peace and finds that engaging post-rebel parties in electoral politics has proven to be a viable long-term strategy for bringing political stability, that disparate post-rebel parties from different political contexts invest heavily in electoral politics and that few post-rebel parties actively seek return to civil conflict as a solution after becoming a political party. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners in democracy, governance, elections, political parties, post-conflict peacebuilding, and more broadly to international relations, comparative politics, and regional politics.

Zimmerman examines in detail the use of the recall by United States voters to remove elected state and local officials from office. The arguments of recall proponents and opponents are analyzed, and model constitutional and statutory provisions are developed to guide governments considering adoption of the recall or revision of current recall provisions.

This book is the first since 1912 devoted to a national evaluation of the recall. The recall currently is authorized by a constitutional or statutory provision in 26 states and by home rule charters in a number of additional states. Zimmerman examines in detail the use of the recall by United States voters to remove elected state and local officials from office. The arguments of recall proponents and opponents are analyzed, and model constitutional and statutory provisions are developed to guide governments considering adoption of the recall or revision of current recall provisions.

Recall attempts throughout the United States are reviewed to obtain evidence to evaluate the arguments of recall proponents and opponents. The evidence, Zimmerman suggests, generally supports the proponents. The recall has not produced a new era of public official responsibility, yet the device has not caused extensive disruption of state and local governments as feared by early opponents. In his conclusion, Zimmerman analyzes current constitutional and statutory recall provisions to develop model provisions to guide those considering adoption of the recall or revision of existing provisions. This analysis will be of particular interest to scholars and researchers of state and local government, American constitutional law, and public policy.

This is a comprehensive study of the 2015 general election in Britain designed not only for students and scholars of British politics, but also for the interested reader. It looks at the record of the Coalition government both in terms of its plans and performance, particularly in relation to the economy, as the starting point for understanding what happened. The authors go on to examine the campaign during the run-up to polling day and to explain why people voted the way they did. They also take a close look at the various constituency battlegrounds across the country showing how and why voting patterns varied across Britain. Finally, they discuss the implications of the election outcome for the future of the party system and British politics more generally. This book provides important insights into an election which has permanently changed the political geography of Britain.

This book addresses the changing electoral and political circumstances in which American political parties found themselves during the 2016 election, and the strategic adaptations this new pressure may require. The respective establishments of both major political parties have found themselves facing serious challenges. Some observers wondered if realignment was in progress, and whether the parties could survive. Both grounded in research and accessible to more than just academics, this book provides important insights into how political parties can move forward from 2016.

How do Democratic and Republican party leaders react after their party has lost a presidential election? Is there a pattern of response to defeat that reflects the distinctive cultures of the two parties? This book answers these questions by examining how the two national party organizations have responded to presidential election defeats between 1956 and 1993. Drawing on party documents, interviews with party officials, and contemporary accounts, Philip Klinkner provides detailed case studies of opposition party politics. He shows that Republican national committees have reacted to losses by making organizational changes to improve campaign technology and fundraising and that losing Democrats have sought to refine or make more democratic their internal procedures for selecting delegates to the national convention or for choosing presidential candidates. Klinkner suggests that the reasons for these reactions stem from the historical development of the parties. The organizational response of the Republican party is the result of its long-term relationship with business, its homogeneity and hierarchical structure, and its minority party experience. The Democrats' emphasis on participation and representation for its constituent elements is based on its characteristic composition of social and economic out-groups, its heterogeneity and decentralization, and its tradition as the majority party.

This book brings together the established field of political communication and the emerging field of critical event studies to develop new questions and approaches. Using this combined framework, it reflects upon how we should understand the expression of democratic participation in mainstream mass media during the 2015 UK General Election and the 2016 referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. Are we now living in an era where democratic participation is much more concerned with spectacle rather than substantive debate? The book addresses this conceptual journey and reflects on differing models of democratic participation, before applying that framework to the two identified case studies. Finally, the authors consider what it means to be living in a period of democratic spectacle, where political events have become evental politics. The book will be of use to students and scholars across the fields of political science and culture and media studies, as well as wide readers interested in the current issues facing British politics.

This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the alterations and problems caused by new technologies in all fields of politics. It further examines the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the nexus between politics, economics, and law. The book raises and answers several important questions: What is the role of AI in politics? Are people prepared for the challenges presented by technical developments? How will Al affect future politics and human society? How can politics and law deal with Al's disruptive technologies? What impact will AI and technology have on law? How can efficient cooperation between human beings and AI be shaped? Can artificial intelligence automate public decision-making? Topics discussed in the book include, but are not limited to digital governance, public administration, digital economy, corruption, democracy and voting, legal singularity, separation of power, constitutional rights, GDPR in politics, AI personhood, digital politics, cyberspace sovereignty, cyberspace transactions, and human rights. This book is a must-read for scholars and students of political science, law, and economics, as well as policy-makers and practitioners, interested in a better understanding of political, legal, and economic aspects and issues of AI.

Splitsville USA argues that it’s time for us to break up to save representative democracy, proposing a mutually negotiated, peaceful dissolution of the current United States of America into several new nations. Zurn begins by examining the United States’ democratic predicament, a road most likely headed for electoral authoritarianism, with distinct possibilities of ungovernability and violent civil strife. Unlike others who share this diagnosis, Zurn presents a realistic picture of how we can get to reform and what it would involve. It is argued that "Splitsville" represents the most plausible way for American citizens to continue living under a republican form of government. Despite recent talk of secession and civil war, this book offers the most extensive treatment yet of the issues we need to think through to enable a peacefully negotiated political divorce. Splitsville USA is a provocative conversation opener about the problems that have gotten us into our current political pickle and how to get out of it by seizing the reins of our own constitutional destiny. The book will appeal to readers of political science, American politics, history, political philosophy, and law, along with all general readers interested in the future of democracy in the United States.

This book explores contemporary populist politics through the lens of ontological security theory. It shows that the 'divisionary politics of populism' is fostered by narratives of crisis and insecurity surrounding the imagined Self that gives shape to 'the people' that populism claims to represent. The loss of faith in mainstream political parties and moderate electoral candidates seems characteristic of the Zeitgeist in much of the Western world and beyond. Politicians and agendas propped up by a discourse that antagonizes established political elites on behalf of a reified, and homogenized people has become a trend in the politics of several countries. This book has brought together a team of worldwide renowned specialists on ontological security to grapple with the contemporary populist challenge through the conceptual lens of ontological security theory. From crises of democracy in the West, to backlashes against democratization in the Global South, this collection not only unveils fundamental structures underpinning these significant and current phenomena. It also provides us with the analytical tools to understand other occurrences of populist politics that are gaining traction across the globe. This book will be of great interest to upper-level students, researchers, and academics in Politics, International Relations and Security. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Cambridge Review of International Affairs.

As the last decade has shown, ideological polarization in Congress has reached historic levels. Yet, spatial theory has become increasingly important for how scholars understand Congress and legislative elections. In spatial models, candidates select positions along an ideological spectrum, and voters choose candidates based on those locations. However, the central tendency of these models is for the candidates to converge to the location of the median voter, so polarization has become increasingly problematic for spatial theory, even as scholars have come to rely increasingly on these models. In Incremental Polarization, Justin Buchler provides a unified spatial model of legislative elections, parties, and roll call voting to explain the development of polarization in Congress. His model moves beyond elections and factors in legislators' roll call voting, where a different but related spatial process operates. By linking these models, Incremental Polarization fills a critical gap in our understanding of the strategic, electoral, and procedural roots of polarization-and the role that parties play in the process.

Splitsville USA argues that it’s time for us to break up to save representative democracy, proposing a mutually negotiated, peaceful dissolution of the current United States of America into several new nations. Zurn begins by examining the United States’ democratic predicament, a road most likely headed for electoral authoritarianism, with distinct possibilities of ungovernability and violent civil strife. Unlike others who share this diagnosis, Zurn presents a realistic picture of how we can get to reform and what it would involve. It is argued that "Splitsville" represents the most plausible way for American citizens to continue living under a republican form of government. Despite recent talk of secession and civil war, this book offers the most extensive treatment yet of the issues we need to think through to enable a peacefully negotiated political divorce. Splitsville USA is a provocative conversation opener about the problems that have gotten us into our current political pickle and how to get out of it by seizing the reins of our own constitutional destiny. The book will appeal to readers of political science, American politics, history, political philosophy, and law, along with all general readers interested in the future of democracy in the United States.