The First World War was a period of turbulent and unprecedented political upheaval that witnessed contrasting fortunes for Britain's major political parties. This book demonstrates how the Conservative Party was able to respond effectively in these years by refining a wartime patriotism that ensured its unity as a party, helped define its electoral fortunes and shaped ideological cohesion. Concepts of patriotism determined not only attitudes to the prosecution of the war, to voluntary and forced military enlistment, but also to class politics, Irish Unionism, democratic reform and the relationship between citizen and state. Fundamental conclusions about modern Conservatism emerge: its organic ideological genesis into a property-defending party; its peculiar willingness and capacity to adapt not only to the immense challenges of 'total war', but also to the new political climate awakened by the conflict. Conservatism was therefore at once flexible and ideological. Filling the historiographical gap created by an overemphasis upon its rival Liberal and Labour parties, and using previously unused party sources, this study sheds new light on many aspects of the war, of Conservative Party history and its regeneration following three disastrous general election defeats in succession, and of British politics in the twentieth century.

This book takes a fresh look at the trajectories of Israeli politics since the election of Likud in 1977, examining how right wing parties have adopted populist policies in order to carve out an identity and win support at the polls. As such it demonstrates how populism has become a hugely significant factor in shaping Israeli politics and society.

The original perspective taken by the author allows for an understanding of the central phenomena of the contemporary political system in Israel, such as the Likud's party centrality in Israeli politics, the political force of the religious Shas party and the growing influence of certain political leaders. Through this innovative analysis of the concept of populism, the book contributes to a better understanding of the Israeli political system.

With Israel playing such a central role in the Middle East conflict, this analysis of the ways in which populism contributes to the consolidation of governing political forces in Israel will allow for a better understanding of this conflict. Combining the theoretical elaboration of the concept of populism with its application in the analysis of a specific test-case, this novel approach contributes to the ongoing research on populist politics, and as such will be a useful tool for understanding many issues in the study of populism, comparative politics and the Middle East.

Decentralization is a curious policy for a central government to pursue. If politics is essentially about the struggle for power, why would anyone want to give away the power that one struggled for and won? This book argues that it is precisely party competition in search of power that propels decentralization.

Koichi Nakano develops his core argument through in-depth, qualitative research on the politics of reform in France and Japan. Introducing the concept of oppositional policy, he traces the process through which parties in opposition reinvent their ideologies and policy platforms in an attempt to present themselves as the voice of the governed, broaden popular support through the advocacy of enhanced democratic control of government, and proceed to implement some of these oppositional policies after capturing power. This book, thus, takes the role of political parties in the democratic process seriously - parties take up certain issues and espouse certain solutions actively as weapons in the power struggle both on the electoral front and in the policy process. Party competition is not merely a formal condition of democracy; it is also a mechanism with substantive policy impact on its evolution.

Party Politics and Decentralization in Japan and France will be of interest to students of Japanese and French politics and comparative politics in general.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the largest and one of the most powerful, political organizations in the world today, which has played a crucial role in initiating most of the major reforms of the past three decades in China. China's rapid rise has enabled the CCP to extend its influence throughout the globe, but the West remains uncertain whether the CCP will survive China's ongoing socio-economic transformation and become a democratic country.

With rapid socio-economic transformation, the CCP has itself experienced drastic changes. Zheng Yongnian argues that whilst the concept of political party in China was imported, the CCP is a Chinese cultural product: it is an entirely different breed of political party from those in the West - an organizational emperor, wielding its power in a similar way to Chinese emperors of the past. Using social and political theory, this book examines the CCP's transformation in the reform era, and how it is now struggling to maintain the continuing domination of its imperial power. The author argues that the CCP has managed these changes as a proactive player throughout, and that the nature of the CCP implies that as long as the party is transforming itself in accordance to socio-economic changes, the structure of party dominion over the state and society will not be allowed to change.

New collection of essays promising to re-energize the debate on Nazism's occult roots and legacies and thus our understanding of German cultural and intellectual history over the past century. Scholars have debated the role of the occult in Nazism since it first appeared on the German political landscape in the 1920s. After 1945, a consensus held that occultism - an ostensibly anti-modern, irrational blend of pseudo-religious and -scientific practices and ideas - had directly facilitated Nazism's rise. More recently, scholarly debate has denied the occult a role in shaping the Third Reich, emphasizing the Nazis' hostility to esoteric religion and alternative forms of knowledge. Bringing together cutting-edge scholarship on the topic, this volume calls for a fundamental reappraisal of these positions. The book is divided into three chronological sections. The first,on the period 1890 to 1933, looks at the esoteric philosophies and occult movements that influenced both the leaders of the Nazi movement and ordinary Germans who became its adherents. The second, on the Third Reich in power, explores how the occult and alternative religious belief informed Nazism as an ideological, political, and cultural system. The third looks at Nazism's occult legacies. In emphasizing both continuities and disjunctures, this book promises to re-open and re-energize debate on the occult roots and legacies of Nazism, and with it our understanding of German cultural and intellectual history over the past century. Contributors: Monica Black; Jeff Hayton; Oded Heilbronner; Eric Kurlander; Fabian Link and J. Laurence Hare; Anna Lux; Perry Myers; John Ondrovcik; Michael E. O'Sullivan; Jared Poley; Uwe Schellinger, Andreas Anton, and Michael T. Schetsche; Peter Staudenmaier. Monica Black is Associate Professor and Associate Head of the Department of History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Eric Kurlander is J. Ollie Edmunds Chair and Professor of Modern European History at Stetson University.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the largest and one of the most powerful, political organizations in the world today, which has played a crucial role in initiating most of the major reforms of the past three decades in China. China 's rapid rise has enabled the CCP to extend its influence throughout the globe, but the West remains uncertain whether the CCP will survive China 's ongoing socio-economic transformation and become a democratic country.

With rapid socio-economic transformation, the CCP has itself experienced drastic changes. Zheng Yongnian argues that whilst the concept of political party in China was imported, the CCP is a Chinese cultural product: it is an entirely different breed of political party from those in the West - an organizational emperor, wielding its power in a similar way to Chinese emperors of the past. Using social and political theory, this book examines the CCP 's transformation in the reform era, and how it is now struggling to maintain the continuing domination of its imperial power. The author argues that the CCP has managed these changes as a proactive player throughout, and that the nature of the CCP implies that as long as the party is transforming itself in accordance to socio-economic changes, the structure of party dominion over the state and society will not be allowed to change.

This book examines the development of party politics in the region of Western Balkans, describing party politics and analyzing inter-ethnic or inter-party cooperation and competition.

Beginning with a thematic overview of the electoral systems and their link to the party systems, the authors consider the legacy of socialist/communist parties; compare the nationalist parties in the region; and explore opportunities for the national minorities. The book then provides detailed country case studies on Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania that:

• Provide an overview of the development of the respective political system since 1990, presenting key changes over time
• Depict important political issues in each of these countries and explains parties particular policies in relation to these issues
• Discuss the level of democracy as well as ethnic minorities in the given states
• Explore the extent to which nationalism has dominated party organization, the stability of the parties, important changes in the party policies, and their electoral performance and personalisation of the parties

Bringing together a range of specialist experts on the Balkans, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of party politics, comparative European politics, post-communist politics, nationalism, Southern European and Western Balkan politics."

This is the first book to cover the centre-right in post-communist Eastern Europe.

It makes an vital contribution to the broader research agenda on the Central and East European centre-right by focusing on one specific question: why strong and cohesive centre-right formations have developed in some post-communist states, but not others. It also delves into the attempts to develop centre-right parties after 1989 in four nations: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The authors of these fresh case studies use a common analytical framework to analyse and provide fascinating insights into the varying levels of cohesion in centre-right parties across the region.
This volume was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics.

This book examines the transition within the Japanese party system that has seen the demise of 'the old socialists', the Japan Socialist Party, and in its place, the emergence of the Democratic Party of Japan as the leading opposition party. Sarah Hyde has produced an original book which looks at the intra-left (non-communist) opposition party manoeuvrings during the 1990s through to the new millennium in a highly detailed and focused manner whilst simultaneously looking at the three most significant changes for the left nationally: the change to the electoral system, the change to public opinion regarding defense and the Constitution after the First Gulf War and the changes to the Labour Union movement.

Ending with a chapter on the incredibly important 2007 Upper House election, which brings the development of the opposition full circle, this book will be a valuable source for students and scholars of Japanese politics, electoral systems and opposition politics.

At the national level, political parties play an important role in making representative democracy work. They help to aggregate and communicate policy preferences, link decision-making between different legislative bodies and hold politicians accountable. In the European Union, however, the electoral connection is weak. This casts doubt on the impact of partisan politics at the European level. Are political parties able to fulfil their role as ?transmission belts? ensuring political accountability and consistent decision-making in the European Union? To answer this question we look at the micro foundations of partisan politics in the European Union.

The contributions in this volume all depart from a common theoretical framework but use a wide range of empirical data and research designs, covering qualitative process-tracing, elite interview and large-N quantitative analysis. Moreover, they examine party effects in the electoral and legislative arena. Finally, the volume covers all European institutions: the Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council and the European Parliament. The findings enhance our understanding of the workings of decision-making in Brussels, add to the debate on the EU democratic deficit, and highlight the usefulness of drawing upon insights from the literature on Comparative Politics when studying the European Union.

This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

Social structure may historically have been of primary importance in accounting for the attitudes and behaviour of many citizens, but now changes in social structure have diminished the role played by class and religious affiliation, whilst the significance of personality in political leadership has increased. This volume explores, both theoretically and empirically, the increasingly important role played by the personalisation of leadership. Acknowledging the part played by social cleavages, it focuses on the personal relationships and psychological dimension between citizens and political leaders. It begins by examining the changes which have taken place in the relationship among citizens, the parties which they support and the leaders of these parties in a European context. The authors then assess how far the phenomena of ?personalised leadership? differ from country to country, and the forms which these differences take. The book includes comparative case studies on Britain and Northern Ireland, France, Italy, Poland, Japan and Thailand; it concentrates on eleven prominent leaders epitomising personalised political leadership: Thatcher, Blair, Mitterand, Chirac, Le Pen, Berlusconi, Bossi, Walesa, Lepper, Koizumi and Thaksin. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, comparative politics and political leadership.

The 2011 Arab uprisings re-ignited global interest in the role that Islam and Islamist parties play in democratic transitions, especially with regard to women's lawful rights to share in governance and leadership. This book advances a theory of party religiosity to explain women's leadership across parties and countries, drawing on robust qualitative and quantitative findings from cross-national multiple cases and a case-study of Lebanon. The theory travels across 330 parties in 26 different countries - in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It is powerful and generalizable with explanatory and predictive powers.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) were elected to power in 2002 and since then Turkish politics has undergone considerable change. This book is a comprehensive analysis of the AKP, in terms not just of its ideological agenda, but also of its social basis and performance in office in the main theatres of public policy - political reform, and cultural, economic and foreign policies.

Based on an extensive analysis of official and party documents, interviews, academic sources and media coverage, the book outlines the main features of the current global debate on the relationship between Islam, Islamism and democracy. While most top AKP leaders come from an Islamist background, the party has behaved as a moderate, centre-right, conservative democratic party who are fully committed to democracy, a free market economy and Turkey's EU membership. The book explores and analyses these changes in Turkish politics, and provides coverage of the workings of the contemporary Turkish political systems, policy and ideological issues that go to the heart of Turkish identity.

Filling a gap in the existing Turkish and English literature on the subject, this book will be an important contribution to Political Science, particularly the areas of Turkish politics, Middle Eastern studies, Islamic studies and comparative politics.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been in power since 2002. This book is the first book-length analysis to chart the rise and development of the party from its Islamist roots through to government, analysing in particular its internal organisation and dynamics. Since its foundation in 2001, the AKP seems to have been more successful than any other party with an Islamic background in the history of the Turkish Republic. Drawing on interviews and analyses of quantitative data from primary and secondary sources, the author examines the party's character as an organisation, its internal power structure, its electoral roots, strategy and leadership in the context of its organisational environment - including its constitution, major veto players as well as international actors. Going beyond a mere analysis of Turkish politics and parties, this book applies classical theories and models on political parties to the Turkish case. Focusing on the notion of ?institutionalisation? and its two main dimensions, autonomy and ?systemness?, it makes an original contribution to both the empirical study of the AKP, contemporary Turkish Politics and the general discussion on theories of party organisation.

The national committees of the major political parties in the United States are symbols of party government. They carry forward a national heritage of peaceful change in national politics and administration. National committees are substitutes for party ideologies, yet they are pretty much headless, drifting organizations. Cotter and Hennessy explain why this is the case, arguing that the vagueness of the committees' responsibilities between presidential elections is one of the main sources of their limitations.

"Politics without Power" explains what the national committees are, who belongs to them, where they are located in relation to other politically oriented organizations, what they do, and what steps might be taken to make better use of them. Although the authors' descriptions in this classic volume are straightforward, their recommendations are sweepingly bold. A few have been instituted in part, but most have yet to be adopted. If they were, it would completely change the makeup of the two committees and the political processes.

Among their proposals are that the offi ces of national committeeman and committeewoman should be abolished, that the national chairman of the in-party continue to be chosen by the president or candidate, and the national chairman of the out-party be the titular head of that committee. The out-party should have a party council to interpret the platform and to recommend a platform to the national convention. There should be a tax credit for small contributions to the national committee or state committees, and each national committee would have its own building shared with the Congressional Campaign Committees. This book will interest political scientists, politicians, and other students of American politics and elections.

"Cornelius P. Cotter" was professor of political science and chairman of the Department of Political Science at the Wichita State University. He has been a Republican National Committee Faculty Fellow and served as assistant to the chairman of the Republican National Committee.

"Bernard C. Hennessy" was the director of the National Center for Education in Politics and professor of politics at the New York University School of Law. He has been a Democratic National Committee Faculty Fellow.

Recent electoral success of the Freedom Party in Austria, List Pim Fortuyn in The Netherlands, the People's Party in Denmark and the National Front in France have demonstrated the appeal of parties that challenge the political establishment. This book seeks to explain why these parties have achieved a political breakthrough, but unlike other studies in the area does not concentrate on only one type of party. Instead it attempts to determine preconditions for the success of anti-political establishment parties in general, avoiding any time specific or ideology specific explanations.

Contrary to the expectations of many people, China's recent economic growth has not led to the collapse of the Chinese Communist Party. In fact, the Party has recently carried out a peaceful and orderly transition to the so-called fourth generation of leadership, has revitalised itself, and created a new, younger and better trained cadre corps. Despite this successful transformation, there continue to be many problems that the Party will need to overcome if it is to remain in power, including pressures for democratization in both urban and rural areas, widespread corruption, the emergence of new social groups, and increasing dissatisfaction among workers who seem to be losing out in the present transition process.
The Chinese Communist Party in Reform explores the current state of the Chinese Communist Party and the many challenges that it faces. It considers the dynamics of development in China, the Party organization, recruitment and management, and the Party's role in society more widely. It concludes by examining the prospects for the future of the Party, including whether it will continue to be able to accommodate socio-economic changes within China and pressures from abroad, and the likely nature of its evolution. Overall, this book provides a comprehensive assessment of the internal dynamics of the Chinese Communist Party and its role in Chinese society.

This book addresses the paradox of political mobilization and the failings of governance in India, with reference to the conflict between secularism and Hindu nationalism, authoritarianism and democracy.
It demonstrates how the Internal Emergency of 1975 led to increased support of groups such as the BJS and the RSS, accounting for the rise of political movements advocating Hindu nationalism - Hindutva - as a response to rapid political mobilization triggered by the Emergency, and an attempt by political elites to control this to their advantage. Vernon Hewitt argues that the political disjuncture between democracy and mobilization in India is partly a function of the Indian state, the nature of a caste-class based society, but also - and significantly - the contingencies of individual leaders and the styles of rule. He shows how, in the wake of the Emergency, the BJP and the RSS gained popularity and power amid the on-going decline and fragmentation of the Congress, whilst, at the same time, Hindu nationalism appeared to be of such importance that Congress began aligning themselves with the Hindu right for electoral gains. The volume suggests that, in the light of these developments, the rise of the BJP should not be considered as remarkable - or as transformative - as was at first imagined.

Presenting a detailed explanation of party politics in the European Union, this new book uses the Party of European Socialists (PES) as a key case study, and tests the relevance of existing theoretical work on the meaning, significance, and prospects for realising other 'Europarties'.
This analysis operates from the assumption that the PES's main goal is to influence the outcome of EU public policy, rather than the more traditional party goals of vote maximisation or office seeking. Secondly, by subjecting the PES to careful scrutiny in two specific policy areas (employment and environment) and for specific treaties (in particular the Treaty of Amsterdam), it tests the PES's ability to construct policy to influence actual policy outcomes. Finally, it shows that whilst the PES was able to play a role in co-ordinating policy amongst the member parties since its formation in 1992, its influence has been exaggerated and the strength of the factors that limit its effectiveness have been underestimated. It argues that domestic policy imperatives and ideological differences between the member parties have hindered the development of the PES, thereby advancing our knowledge of Europarties and contributing to the literature on the Europeanization of political parties.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the European Union and party politics in general.

First published in 1981, The Communist Parties of Italy, France, and Spain presents a comparative and integrative overview of the development of three Communist parties in the postwar Europe. Through the systematic presentation of the most important documents of the Communist parties, the book provides an access to the basic declarations and positions to illustrate the strategic and ideological evolution of these three parties in the advanced industrial democracies. Eurocommunism, the editors argue cannot be usefully understood as a phenomenon which suddenly appeared and equally as rapidly disappeared, in the 1970s. Rather it is a process of adaptation and change which characterizes the development of all three parties since World War II. The explicitly comparative organisation of the documents into five basic themes -general strategy, alliances, party organization, international policy, policy toward the communist movement, allows the reader both to follow any single party in a specific policy area or to compare the parties in response to major domestic or international events of significance. Rich in archival material, this book will be an invaluable resource to scholars and researchers of European Politics, comparative politics, comparative communism and modern European history. .

What norms and principles guide the Afghan Taliban in their conduct of hostilities? The author focuses on the Layeha, a Code of Conduct issued by the highest Taliban authority. Interviews with Taliban members were conducted to understand their perception of the Layeha, which is modeled as a 'one-way mirror.'

Party affiliation has long been the driving force behind electoral politics in the United States. Despite this fact, scant attention has been devoted to the American electoratea (TM)s party imagesa "the "mental pictures" that individuals have about the parties which enable citizens to translate events in the larger political environment into terms meaningful to them as individuals. Party images are central to understanding individualsa (TM) political perceptions and, ultimately, voting behavior.

Party Images in the American Electorate systematically examines the substance, evolution, and manipulation of party images within the American public over the last half century, both within the public as a whole and within important subgroups based on class, race and ethnicity, sex, and religiosity. Ultimately, this important book investigates how these party images are tied into the story of party polarization and how they affect electoral outcomes in the United States.

When green parties emerged in the 1980s, not only did they question established ideas about nature and economic growth, they also challenged the 'iron law' of Roberto Michels that all parties inevitably follow a similar path towards informal concentration of power and oligarchy. Grass-roots democracy was both an ideological tenet and an organizational project for practically all green parties. These days the greens have lost their glamour and innocence. They have grown up and even joined governing coalitions in several countries. Did they leave grass-roots democracy by the roadside on the way to power? This book investigates to what extent green parties have remained true to their identity or have been transformed. Country specialists analyze the development of green parties in 14 countries across the world - not only Western Europe but also Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. These analyses also offer clues on broader questions about party types and party change in contemporary democracies.

Party affiliation has long been the driving force behind electoral politics in the United States. Despite this fact, scant attention has been devoted to the American electoratea (TM)s party imagesa "the "mental pictures" that individuals have about the parties which enable citizens to translate events in the larger political environment into terms meaningful to them as individuals. Party images are central to understanding individualsa (TM) political perceptions and, ultimately, voting behavior.

Party Images in the American Electorate systematically examines the substance, evolution, and manipulation of party images within the American public over the last half century, both within the public as a whole and within important subgroups based on class, race and ethnicity, sex, and religiosity. Ultimately, this important book investigates how these party images are tied into the story of party polarization and how they affect electoral outcomes in the United States.