Based on extensive original research and interviews with a wide variety of key players, this is a compelling assessment of the Labour Party in power.

Beginning with a detailed account of the development of New Labour, including the ideological tensions within the party, Eric Shaw provides a sophisticated analysis of the Labour Government during an unprecedented period of power.

Offering the most detailed examination yet published of the actual performance of the party in several key social and economic policy areas, Losing Labour 's Soul? will be of enormous interest to students of British politics, labour history and party politics.

The decade commencing with the great crash of 2008 was a watershed period for Italian politics, involving fundamental and dramatic changes, many of which had not been anticipated and which are charted in this book. This comprehensive volume covers the impact of the Eurozone crisis on the Italian economy and its relationship with the European Union, the dramatic changes in the political parties (and particularly the rise of a new political force, the Five Star Movement, which became the largest political party in 2013), the changing role of the Trade Unions in the lives of Italian citizens, the Italian migration crisis, electoral reforms and their impact on the Italian party system (where trends towards bipolarisation appear to be exhausted), the rise of new forms of social protest, changes to political culture and social capital and, finally, amidst the crisis, reforms to the welfare state. Overall, the authors reveal a country, which many had assumed was in quiet transition towards a more stable democracy, that suffers an immense shock from the Eurozone crisis and bringing to the fore deep-rooted structural problems which have changed the dynamics of its politics, as confirmed in the outcome to the 2018 National Elections. This book was originally published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics.

Turkey is ninty-nine per cent Muslim, its ruling party, Justice and Development Party (JDP), comes from but denies its Islamist pedigree and has a very secular feel. However, the deeply secular regime distrusts the JDP with regard to its 'true' colours. This book makes sense of these paradoxical perceptions which have characterized Turkey's politics since the JDP has come to power in 2002. The key momentum for shaping the nature and trajectories of the ruling party of Turkey since 2002, the JDP, has been the 'identity' question. The JDP's commitment to transform Turkey's politics was part of its engagement to remake its own identity. The JDP's adoption of a conservative-democrat identity has rested on a new understanding of Westernization, secularism, democracy and the role and relevance of Islam in politics. The book's central problematic is to explain both the politics of change the JDP initiated and sustained in the first three years in office and the politics of retreat it has made from its reformist discourse since 2005. The book analyzes not just the catalysts for its reformist discourse of the first 3 years but tries to explain its reversal to an inward-looking conservative nationalist course. By approaching this topical debate from the conceptual stance rather than a party-centered approach, UEmit Cizre identifies that the change the JDP has initiated within Turkey's political Islam and in Turkish politics is the product of an interactive process between many levels, actors, forces and historical periods. The forces and actors covered include: global forces of Islam the secular establishment and its popular extensions the past and present Islamic actors in political and non-political spheres the changing balance of forces in the region which frame the EU and the US policies toward the JDP. Secular and Islamic Politics in Turkey is a valuable contribution to the study of globalization and 'change' in contemporary political Islam, the relationship between religion and politics, and secularism and political Islam. As such, it will be of interest to students and researchers alike in the area of Islamic politics, democratization, European Union and political Islam, and globalization.

The history of British political parties tells of change and continuity. But, how and why? This textbook continues to provide the best introduction currently available on the British political party system, explaining the history, structure, actors and policies of both the main political parties and the minor parties. Substantially revised and updated, this fourth edition contains new material on the: political party system in post-devolution Scotland and Wales media and political parties emergence of minor parties onto the British political landscape replacement of party ideology with political pragmatism. Stephen Ingle argues that in order to meet formidable national and international challenges the British party system is once more in need of fundamental change, to a less confrontational style of politics. The British Party System is the ideal book for students of British politics wanting a topical and accessible text on political parties in the UK.

Published in 1998. Was the Italian Communist Party (PCI) a typical Social Democratic party in tune with the programmatic principles of the Second International? What is the appropriate context within which the strategies of 'historic compromise' and Eurocommunism in the 1970s can be analyzed and understood? In what form and to what extent has the process of European integration and the crisis of Keynesianism contributed to the transformation of the party in 1989-91? What caused the collapse of the ruling political class of the First Italian Republic? Why did the transformed PCI, the PDS (Democratic Party of the Left), fail to lead the transition to the Second Italian Republic between 1992 and 1996? Is there any link between the party's historical factions and the current divisions in the Italian Left? Is it possible to theorize and speculate upon these divisions? Italy, Europe, the Left seeks to answer these questions, debating conventional views and examining the extent to which the end of the Cold War has contributed to a redefinition of the Left's identity in Italy and Europe. The exemplary methodological framework and the wider European perspective adopted throughout, make the book an indispensable reading in the field of Italian and European politics.

Democratic theory considers it fundamental for parties in government to be both responsive to their electorate and responsible to internal and international constraints. But recently these two roles have become more and more incompatible with Mair's growing divide in European party systems between parties which claim to represent, but don't deliver, and those which deliver, but are no longer seen to represent truer than ever. This book contains a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the behaviour of the opposition parties in eleven European democracies across Western and East Central Europe. Specifically, it investigates the parliamentary behaviour of the opposition parties, and shows that the party context is increasingly diverse. It demonstrates the emergence of two distinct types of opposition: one more cooperative, carried out by the mainstream parties (those with government aspirations), and one more adversarial focusing on government scrutiny rather than on policy alternatives (parties permanently excluded from power). It systematically and analytically explores the sources of their behaviour, whilst acknowledging that opposition is broader than its mere parliamentary behaviour. Finally, it considers the European agenda and the economic crisis as two possible intervening variables that might have an impact on the opposition parties' behaviour and the government-opposition relations. As such, it responds to questions that are major concerns for the European democracies of the new millennium. This text will be of key interest to students and scholars of political parties, European politics, comparative politics and democracy.

Reflecting current understanding of the complexities of sexual activity among persons with chronic mental illness, the text draws upon the collective wisdom and experience of experts from a variety of settings. Clinicians, advocates, consumers, researchers, legal experts, and administrators all contribute to document the concerns about sexual behavior and the consequent health risks for this at-risk population. The research presented here is particularly timely in view of recent emphases on patient choice, recovery, and advocacy, and can be used to provide guidance to clinicians, mental health administrators, policymakers, advocates, and researchers.

Over the past seven decades and more, political parties have become an essential feature of the political landscape of the South Asian subcontinent, serving both as a conduit and product of the tumultuous change the region has experienced. Yet they have not been the focus of sustained scholarly attention. This collection focuses on different aspects of how major parties have been agents of - and subject to - change in three South Asian states (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), examining some of the apparent paradoxes of politics in the subcontinent and covering issues such as gender, religion, patronage, clientelism, political recruitment and democratic regression. Recurring themes are the importance of personalities (and the corresponding neglect of institutionalisation) and the lack of pluralism in intraparty affairs, factors that render parties and political systems vulnerable to degeneration. This book was published as a special issue of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics.

Questions of war were not central to the founding of the Labour Party, yet questions of war - specifically, under what circumstances the party would support the dispatch of British military forces to fight abroad - have divided and damaged the party throughout its history more deeply than any other single issue.

The Labour Party, War and International Relations, 1945-2006 opens by identifying and examining the factors that have influenced the party's thinking about war, before considering the post-1945 Cold War context and analyzing a range of cases:

• the Korean War
• the party's response to the 1956 Suez crisis
• the Wilson government's approach to the Vietnam War
• Labour's response to the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands
• the crisis over the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, culminating in the 1991 war
• the wars of the 1990s over Bosnia and Kosovo
• the case for war in Iraq developed by the Blair government during 2002-03.

This is a timely book that both illuminates approaches to past wars and helps us understand the basis of current military commitments. As such it will be of great interest to students across courses in politics, history, and war studies.

The biblical adage that ‘if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand’ remains sound theological advice. It is also essential counsel for any political party in Britain that aspires to win elections. Though both major parties have been subject to internal conflict over the years, the Labour Party has been more given to damaging splits. The divide exposed by the Corbyn insurgency is only the most recent example in a century of destructive infighting. Indeed, it has often seemed as if Labour is more adept at fighting itself than defeating the Tory party. This book examines the history of Labour’s civil wars and the underlying causes of the party’s schisms, from the first split of 1931, engineered by Ramsay MacDonald, to the ongoing battle for the future between the incumbent Labour leader, Keir Starmer, and those who fundamentally altered the party’s course under his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.

This book is an analytical study of secularism in contemporary Turkey by tracing its historical trajectory within the context of political transformation in a country that experienced a social and cultural rupture in its formative years. Its principal focus is on the policies and practices of the current ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (JDP), which has influenced the process of change, evolution, and transformation with regard to secularism and state policies toward religion. Following its foundation in 2001, the JDP developed a unique approach to conceptualising the relationship between state and religion. In contrast to other mainstream parties and political positions both in the past and present, it offers an alternative vision and model to that of inherited Kemalist secularism, as formulated by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (the founder of modern Turkey) and refined by his close associates in the formative period of the Republic. The project draws its findings from in-depth interviews with members of political parties, civil society activists and religious leaders.

Questions of war were not central to the founding of the Labour Party, yet questions of war - specifically, under what circumstances the party would support the dispatch of British military forces to fight abroad - have divided and damaged the party throughout its history more deeply than any other single issue. The Labour Party, War and International Relations, 1945-2006 opens by identifying and examining the factors that have influenced the party's thinking about war, before considering the post-1945 Cold War context and analyzing a range of cases: the Korean War the party's response to the 1956 Suez crisis the Wilson government's approach to the Vietnam War Labour's response to the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands the crisis over the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, culminating in the 1991 war the wars of the 1990s over Bosnia and Kosovo the case for war in Iraq developed by the Blair government during 2002-03. This is a timely book that both illuminates approaches to past wars and helps us understand the basis of current military commitments. As such it will be of great interest to students across courses in politics, history, and war studies.

It is not possible to understand the nature and functioning of post-communist political parties without understanding their relationship with the state. On the one hand, few parties in the region would be able to survive and perform without state resources as they lack strong roots within the wider society. On the other hand, the relatively weak states inherited from the communist period offer parties and elites opportunities for various forms of rent-seeking within state institutions. But how can we understand the relationship between parties and the state? How do the party-state links work in practice and do they exhibit any cross-national or cross-party variation? Are there any discernible patterns of party-state linkages among the post-communist democracies? Previously published as a special issue of The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, this volume addresses these questions. The party-state linkages are analyzed alongside three analytical dimensions: state financing of parties, their legal regulation, and party patronage within the state institutions. The contributors bring together case studies of post-communist countries, as well as cross-country comparative analysis, each addressing at least one of these analytical dimensions. Besides providing a framework within which studies of party-state relationship can be undertaken, the book brings comparative evidence on the extent and the manner in which parties in the region use the state for their own purposes.

The period between the two World Wars saw the emergence of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes in most European countries, and the development of powerful communist and fascist movements in most others. This book examines the reasons why such movements did not flourish in Britain.

What do we really mean when we say a political party has changed? And exactly what is it that drives that change? Political scientists working in the comparative tradition have come up with a general explanation that revolves around the role of election defeats and loss of office, and around changes of leader and factions. But how well does that explanation cope when subjected to a historically-grounded and therefore robust examination? This book tries to answer that question by subjecting the common wisdom to a real-world, over-time test using one of the world's oldest and most successful political parties as an in-depth case study. What do the periods spent in both opposition and government by the British Conservatives since 1945 tell us about what drives parties to change their sales-force, the way they organize, and the policies they come up with? Using internal papers, memos and minutes of meetings from party archives, along with historical and contemporary accounts, memoirs and interviews, this book maps the extent of change and then explores what may have driven it. The conventional wisdom, it turns out, is not necessarily wrong but incomplete, requiring both qualification and supplementation. This approachably-written book suggests when, how, and why. Along the way, it provides a fresh and comprehensive account of the Conservative Party that should appeal equally to those interested in political history and those interested in political science.

Over the years, America's national elections have become focused almost exclusively on Democrats and Republicans; other parties exist but rarely rise to prominence. Elections at the state level, on the other hand, offer a livelier history, with successful candidates from political parties of all stripe, including Free Soil, Abolitionist, Anti-Monopoly, Farmers Alliance, War Democrat, Anti-Masonic, Socialist, and many more. This book lists the party affiliation of state legislatures beginning in 1796 through the elections of 2006. Information on each state includes a summary of how its electoral process developed, including the origins and stipulations of each state's constitution, the terms and size of the legislature, and other details pertaining to the history of the state's legislative branch. Each state's chapter closes with a list of sources. In all, the book documents over 100 different party affiliations.

This book analyzes the operational dimension of the Chinese communist party's ideology and reveals the complex relationship between ideology, language, governance, and political power in the broader context of China's economic reforms. The book questions state-centric, legitimacy-focused, and content-based approaches to party ideology and analyzes its practice. Conceptualizing public discourse as a 'language game' played by the rules set by the party, the book examines how party ideology is operationalized by multiple state and non-state actors as political rhetoric for persuasion in contentious reform discourses. Through the case studies of the policy discourses over state-owned enterprise reforms under Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Xi Jinping, the book highlights ideology's double-edged operational functions (consensus-inducing and conflict-inducing) and claims that ideology can be a double-edged sword for rulers: It is a vital resource to legitimate and sustain their rule; yet, it potentially destabilizes their rule as well. The book proposes new angles to study ideology, legitimacy, and governance and is aimed at political scientists who study authoritarian governance, policy process, and political communication. Its multi-disciplinary approach also appeals to sociologists, media/communication scholars, and linguists who work on rhetoric, political language, and media discourses.

The Nazi Party and the German Foreign Office explores the struggle between entrenched diplomats in the Foreign Office and Party loyalists, who presumed that with the assumption of power in 1933 total state control was theirs.

This volume looks at the impact of the landmark 2014 elections and the consequent Assembly elections which have transformed the ideological discourse of India. It discusses a variety of topical issues in contemporary Indian politics, including the Modi wave, Aam Aadmi Party and the challenges it is confronting today, Hindutva and minorities, the decline of the Congress party, changes in foreign policy, as well as phenomenona like 'love jihad' and ghar wapsi. It also draws together political trends from across the country, especially key states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Seemandhra, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, and Meghalaya. The volume will be of great importance to scholars and researchers of Indian politics, public policy, sociology, and social policy.

Well-reputed political scientists residing and teaching in ten countries, five in Asia and five in Europe, comparatively examine the place of political parties in democracy, and provide an empirically rigorous, up-to-date, comprehensive synthesis of the organization of political parties and their links with citizens in a democracy.

Published in 1997, This book offers an up-to-date guide to the Green parties of Western Europe as the optimism of the 1980s confronts the 'Green fatigue' of the 1990s. The approach is both thematic and comparative. Green politics in Europe is located in its historical and cultural context. There is a comparative analysis of the principal ideological questions , policy issues and strategic dilemmas that have confronted the European Greens. There are national profiles of Green politics throughout the European Union. The conclusion addresses the critical issue of political change in post industrial societies. It discusses the contribution of Green parties to the 'New Politics' and assesses their likely impact on post-modern politics

Coalition government among different political parties is the way most European democracies are governed. Traditionally, the study of coalition politics has been focused on Western Europe. Coalition governance in Central Eastern Europe brings the study of the full coalition life-cycle to a region that has undergone tremendous political transformation, but which has not been studied from this perspective. The volume covers Bulgaria, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. It provides information and analyses of the coalition life-cycle, from pre-electoral alliances to coalition formation and portfolio distribution, governing in coalitions, the stages that eventually lead to government termination, and the electoral performance of coalition parties. In Central Eastern Europe, few single-party cabinets form and there have been only a few early elections. The evidence provided shows that coalition partners in the region write formal agreements (coalition agreements) to an extent that is similar to the patterns that we find in Western Europe, but also that they adhere less closely to these contracts. While the research on Western Europe tends to stress that coalition partners emphasize coalition compromise and mutual supervision, there is more evidence of 'ministerial government' by individual ministers and their parties. There are also some systems where coalition governance is heavily dominated by the prime minister. No previous study has covered the full coalition life-cycle in all of the ten countries with as much detail. Systematic information is presented in 10 figures and in more than one hundred tables. Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu. The series is edited by Emilie van Haute, Professor of Political Science, Universite libre de Bruxelles; Ferdinand Muller-Rommel, Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University; and Susan Scarrow, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Political Science, University of Houston.

This book analyzes parties beyond the national borders and their increasing institutionalization abroad, in order to understand their development, their organizational specificities, their functions, and their impact on the party system and national politics at home. With 12 contrasted case studies, it comparatively addresses a wide range of perspectives on political parties abroad and lays the foundation for a framework of analysis of political parties abroad, contributing to a better understanding of transnationalism and long-distance democracy. The generalization of overseas voting and the development of representative institutions for emigrants has transformed the civic and political links between states and their diaspora. This has also created new opportunities for political parties, with the task to reach out to citizens living abroad, mobilize them for elections, and even organize their representation at home. This book represents the first in-depth study of an emerging phenomenon. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of political parties/party politics, immigration, and more broadly to democracy studies and comparative politics.

Why Liberals and Conservatives Clash offers an explanation for the extreme polarization between liberal and conservative that is the hallmark of the American political landscape today. It suggests that liberal thought is intrinsically different from conservative thought, and that each constitutes a self-subsistent world-view with its specific qualities and rules. The book offers a set of guidelines to predict a person's views based on other views s/he holds, given that each world-view is what it is for structural reasons, and is more than merely a sum of discrete positions. It explains, for example, why people who support gay marriage also typically support the woman's right to an early-term abortion, and why people who demand that citizens "support the military" understand this as meaning, support putting members of the military in harm's way. Because liberal thought and conservative thought each constitutes a closed world-view, neither side will ever convince the other in an argument. The most we can hope for is an acknowledgment by each side of the usefulness of the other, a goal Fleming proposes as the most reasonable one for our times.
Why Liberals and Conservatives Clash makes logical the most striking, and hitherto puzzling feature of the contemporary American political landscape: its acrimony, its air of being an argument between the deaf: neither side understands the other. Fleming suggests this is so because neither side accepts the bases underlying the other's particular positions. We can, however, understand that they are different, and that trying to force the other side into submission won't work. We need to go beyond liberals dismissing conservatives with horror andconservatives dismissing liberals with disgust. Conservatives aren't merely imperfect liberals, they're something else entirely. Liberals aren't merely potential conservatives, they actually think differently.

For all the critique of interparty coalitions, they become inevitable – and essential instruments of governance – when absolute majorities are not realised in an election. Such governments are, in a sense, a product of the people’s will in that the electorate asserts a lack of overwhelming confidence in any single contestant in the polls.

Marriages of Inconvenience: The politics of coalitions in South Africa is a research- based volume that collates and interprets lessons that South Africa should take to heart in managing such eventualities. This book explores domestic experiences of coalition government as well as case studies from the rest of the African continent and instances further afield.

On the whole, it would seem that South Africa is poorly equipped for coalition politics. This volume seeks to distil the factors that leverage successful coalitions, along with those that undermine them. Authors show that instability in coalitions is not an inevitable product of multiparty governance. In many countries, and indeed in some municipalities in South Africa, there is appreciation of the need to govern cooperatively, constructively and in the popular interest when coalitions become inevitable.

Various chapters of this volume reveal the stabilising effects of coalitions when political parties engage in mature consensus-building and cooperation to deliver effective governance. But there is also acknowledgement of co-governing arrangements beset with debilitating rivalry, which result in severely compromised governance and services to the public. Marriages of Inconvenience: The politics of coalitions in South Africa identifies and explores critical questions about how to stabilise coalition governance in the South African setting. The volume is an essential guide for both practitioners and analysts.