Contemporary American politics is highly polarized, and it is increasingly clear that this polarization exists at both the elite and mass levels. What is less clear is the source of this polarization. Social issues are routinely presented by some as the driver of polarization, while others point to economic inequality and class divisions. Still others single out divisions surrounding race and ethnicity, or gender, or religion as the underlying source of the deep political divide that currently exists in the United States. All of these phenomena are undoubtedly highly relevant in American politics, and it is also beyond question that they represent significant cleavages within the American polity. We argue, however, that disagreement over a much more fundamental matter lies at the foundation of the polarization that marks American politics in the early 21st century. That matter is personal responsibility. Some Americans fervently believe that an individual's lot in life is primarily if not exclusively his or her own responsibility. Opportunity is widespread in American society, and individuals succeed or fail based on their own talents and efforts. Society greatly benefits from such an arrangement, and as such government policies should support and reward individual initiative and responsibility. Other Americans see personal responsibility-while fine in theory-as an unjust organizing principle for contemporary American society. For these Americans, success or failure in life is far too often not the result of personal effort but of large forces well beyond the control of the individual. Opportunity is not widespread, and is by no means equally available to all Americans. In light of these basic facts of American life, it is the responsibility of the state to step in and implement policies that alleviate inequality and assist those who fail by no fault of their own. These basic differences surrounding the idea of personal responsibility are what separate Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, in contemporary American politics.

Drawing on theories of neo-institutionalism to show how institutions shape dissident behaviour, Boucek develops new ways of measuring factionalism and explains its effects on office tenure. In each of the four cases - from Britain, Canada, Italy and Japan - intra-party dynamics are analyzed through times series and rational choice tools.

The Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn is charting a new direction. Here, Nathan Yeowell has brought together a remarkable array of contributors to provide expert insight into twentieth-century British history and Labour politics - and how they might shape thinking about Labour's future. Reframing the span of Labour history and its effects on contemporary British politics, the book provides fresh thinking and analysis of various traditions, themes and individuals. These include the shifting significance of 1945, the need for more grounded interpretations of Tony Blair's legacy, and the enduring importance of place, identity and aspiration to the evolution of the party. Contributions from leading historians such as Patrick Diamond, Steven Fielding, Ben Jackson, Glen O' Hara and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite are supplemented by those with experience of Labour electoral politics, such as Rachel Reeves and Nick Thomas-Symonds. The result is an intellectually rich and politically relevant roadmap for Labour's future.

Are American political parties really in decay? Have American voters really given up on the major parties? Taking issue with widely accepted theories of dealignment and party decay, Paulson argues that the most profound realignment in American history occurred in the 1960s, and he presents an alternative theory of realignment and party revival.

In the 1964-1972 period, factional struggles within the major American political parties were resolved, with conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats emerging as the majority factions within their parties. The result was a critical realignment in Presidential elections, in which the decisive realignment involved the movement of white voters in the south toward the Republican coalition. The impression of dealignment came from the fact that electoral change in Congressional elections moved at a much slower rate. The south continued to vote Democratic for congress, usually for incumbent conservative Democrats. The result was an electoral environment which produced divided government. Secular realignment in congressional elections produced the Republican majorities of 1994. Now the conservative Democrats who were the swing voters since the 1960s, were voting Republican. The result is that the coalitions for yet another realignment are in place at the turn of the twenty-first century. After three decades in which the swing voters were relatively conservative, the new swing voter is a genuine centrist; an independent who is ideologically moderate. The coming realignment, Paulson asserts, will consummate the birth of a new, ideologically, polarized party system with a greater potential for party government, which would be a fundamental change for American democracy. A major resource for scholars, students, and other researchers interested in American parties and elections.

This edited collection interprets and assesses the transformation of Brazil under the Workers' Party. It addresses the extent of the changes the Workers' Party has brought about and examines how successful these have been, as well as how continuity and social change in Brazil have affected key domains of economy, society, and politics.

Once teetering on the brink of oblivion, the British Liberal Party has again re-established itself as a major force in national and local politics. David Dutton's approachable study offers new insights into the waning, near death and ultimate recovery of the Liberal Party from 1900 to the present day. Discussions of politics, philosophy and performance are all skilfully interwoven as Dutton demonstrates how the party has become, once more, a formidable player on the political stage.
The second edition of this established text offers:
* an entirely new chapter on the coalition government
* a chronology of key events
* numerous suggestions for further reading.
This lively survey of British Liberalism from the era of Campbell-Bannerman to that of Nick Clegg reviews existing literature while offering its own distinctive perspective on one of the most compelling of political dramas.

A collection of new, scholarly articles on the Jewish Workers' Bund - the first modern Jewish political party in Eastern Europe - written by prominent academics from eight countries. This work represents a broad range of perspectives, Jewish and non-Jewish, sympathetic to the Bund and critical of its work. The articles in this volume are fresh, make use of previously unused source material, and provide us with new perspectives on the significance of the Bund and its ideas.

This book offers a comprehensive and accessible study of the electoral strategies, governing approaches and ideological thought of the British Conservative Party from Winston Churchill to David Cameron. Timothy Heppell integrates a chronological narrative with theoretical evaluation, examining the interplay between the ideology of Conservatism and the political practice of the Conservative Party both in government and in opposition. He considers the ethos of the Party within the context of statecraft theory, looking at the art of winning elections and of governing competently. The book opens with an examination ofthe triumph and subsequent degeneration of one-nation Conservatism in the 1945 to 1965 period, and closes with an analysis of the party's re-entry into government as a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in 2010, and of the developing ideology and approach of the Cameron-led Tory party in government.

No one could have predicted that a peaceful sit-in to counter government plans to raze Istanbul's Gezi park would escalate into a country-wide protest movement, arguably the most serious political crisis Turkey, a country often hailed as a 'model' in the region, has faced in the last ten years.
The protests left 8 dead, more than 8,000 wounded, and the country deeply polarized. Much ink has been spilled since June 2013 to explain the Gezi protests in the media, most of it based on hasty analogies and banal platitudes, referring to a 'Turkish spring'. Yet no academic analyses of the protests have been published so far and it is in this context that this collection of essays, the first academic book on the topic in English, is both timely and important.
This collection offers a preliminary analysis of the Gezi protests and addresses the following key questions: 'How can we account for the protests?' 'Who were the protesters?' 'Why did the Justice and Development Party government choose to suppress the protests instead of meeting the demands of the protesters?' and 'Were Gezi protests in any way connected to protest movements in other parts of the world?'

Using archival sources and interviews with key participants, new insight is gained to how the Lib-Lab Pact of 1977-78 - an agreement, short of a full coalition - came about, was structured and implemented, and how Liberal leader, David Steel, might have achieved significant policy concessions on electoral reform.

The first Democratic president for twelve years, William Jefferson Clinton entered the White House on a note of optimism, pledged to give priority to economic policy and his domestic agenda of healthcare and welfare reforms. President Clinton the "Man from Hope" faced what looked like a fresh opportunity to move ahead with legislation. The years of "gridlock", whereby a president of one political party faced a Congress dominated by another, were over. This volume analyzes in depth the processes and policies of the Clinton presidency. It reveals the contradictions, achievements, reversals and triumphs of a complex and fascinating president and his administration.

"How can we strengthen the capacity of governments and parties to manage arrivals and departures at the top? Democracy requires reliable processes for the transfer of power from one generation of leaders to the next. This book introduces new analytical frameworks and presents the latest empirical evidence from comparative political research"--

Why did the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) not follow the failure of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union? This book examines this question by studying two crucial strategies that the CCP feels it needs to implement in order to remain in power: ideological reform and the institutionalization of leadership succession.

To step in government at only one level or to stay in opposition at both? To opt for a single consistent strategy or to try out various, but sometimes conflicting, formulae? To replicate coalition agreements at the federal level or to adapt them to the regional context, even if this means departing from a coherent party line? These are just some of the many questions that political parties face when attempting to form a successful coalition in multi-level polities. Through the example of Germany and Spain Dr. Stefuriuc seeks to explore how political parties form coalitions at the subnational level and in doing so develops a strong theoretical framework that revises existing models of government formation and creates explanations based on the multi-level institutional context. This excellent contribution to the subject is important reading for students and scholars of Comparative European Politics, Federalism, decentralization and Multi-level Governance.

The Republican People's Party (RPP), also know as the CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi), stands as the main opposition party - one of two major political currents, second only to the Erdooan's AK Party. Established as the founding party of Ataturk's republican regime, the RPP has a history of hostility of leftist parties. Despite this, by the mid-1960s, the RPP had re-orientated itself as left of centre, as the growing influence of the left inside the RPP pushed it in a new direction. This is hailed as the entry point of social democratic politics into Turkey, and is the focus of Yunus Emre's impressively researched book. Through extensive primary research, Emre tracks the fluctuations in Turkish politics from the single-party period to the making of a new regime following the 1960 coup, looking at the place of both the RPP and the left in this trajectory. The RPP's internal struggles in this period, in particular around the working class movement and the legal right to strike, debates over anti-imperialism and land reform, and the role of the military in politics provide the political context into which a new social democratic agenda emerged. Engaging with the body of literature on social democratic movements, Emre analyses the reasons for the 'delayed' emergence of social democracy in Turkey. He argues that the absence of European style social democratic formations in Turkey can be traced back to the developments around the adoption of a left of centre position by the RPP. From the 1960s to the present, the RPP has oscillated between a social democratic position and its Kemalist roots in the early republican single-party regime - this book analyses the fundamental point of change in this process. It is essential reading for scholars of Turkish politics and modern history, providing insight into the development of Turkey's founding political party, the left and social democratic movements.

This book offers a comprehensive treatment of the timely question of the politicization of European integration. It shows how this issue's complex linkages with traditional political divides pose a tough challenge to politicians and lead to bitter framing contests about its actual meaning.

The Challenges of Intra-Party Democracy provides a comprehensive examination of both the concept and the practice of intra-party democracy (IPD). Acknowledging that IPD is now widely viewed, among both democratic practitioners and scholars, as a normative good, this volume suggests that there is no single, or uniformly preferred, form of IPD. Rather, each party's version of IPD results from a series of choices they make relating to the organization and division of power internally. These decisions reflect many variables including a party's democratic ethos, its electoral context, state regulation and whether or not it is in government. Individual chapters examine the relationship between party models and IPD, the decline in party membership and activism, the role of the state in regulating party democracy, issues relating to gender and party organization, norms of candidate and leadership recruitment and selection, party policy development and party finance. The analysis considers the principal issues that parties (and the state) must consider relating to IPD in each area of party activity, the range of options open to them, current trends in terms of paths chosen, what these choices tell us about parties and, most importantly, what the implications of these choices are. In doing so, we offer a common language and set of questions relating to IPD that enhance the ability for consistent evaluation of the state of internal party democracy. Through thorough analysis of associated costs and benefits, we also provide a framework to assist with considerations of IPD reforms -- particularly in terms of their scope, the range of options available and their implications.
Comparative Politics is a series for students, teachers, and researchers 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 Comparative Politics series is edited by Professor David M. Farrell, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, and Kenneth Carty, Professor of Political Science, University of British Columbia.

One of the truisms in American politics has been that "divisive" primaries hurt the party's prospects of winning the presidency in the general election. However, traditional definitions of divisive primaries focus too much on candidate behavior and not enough on the actual divisions and fractures within a party. The Invisible Hands of Political Parties in Presidential Elections proposes a new measure of party cohesion that instead looks at individual donors who are willing to contribute to multiple candidates during the early stages of the presidential primaries. The authors of this collection reveal how these preprimary donor networks can serve as an accurate barometer of party unity, providing a significant perspective on the changing roles of political parties in American government today.

This incisive volume examines the rise to power of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party and the dilemmas it faced once in power. Unlike any other work in print, it deals with the Spanish Socialist Party exclusively and focuses on some of the problems facing all socialist parties in advanced capitalist democracies. Share's introduction discusses the combined crises of advanced capitalism and social democracy and provides an informative overview of the complex dilemmas facing sound democratic future in the 1980s. Dilemmas of Social Democracy examines in depth how the economic, electoral, ideological, and internal organizational crises have compounded each other, how the European social democratic parties have responded to those crises, and focuses extensively on Spain in the 1980s. This important work investigates the historical emergence of socialism in Spain, the transition to democracy, the reemergence of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, the ideological crisis, and the socialist experience in government. There are chapters explaining the Socialists' behavior in government and evaluating the past and prospects for the future. A selected bibliography is included. This exhaustive study will be of great importance to scholars of socialism and social democracy, political science, and Spanish government, and will be read with interest by those engaged in graduate programs in comparative European politics and political economy.

Bringing together a collaboration of leading specialists in Labour Party history, this edited collection provides a detailed and accessible analysis of what has led to the demise of respective Labour governments from Ramsay MacDonald to Gordon Brown. In doing so this volume provides engaging comparisons between Labour governments considering both external and internal factors which includes the importance of themes such as economic performance; political leadership; party unity; policy direction and the condition of the Conservatives in opposition. The result is a powerful and thought-provoking volume that provides a context in which the reader can place the fall of the Labour government under Gordon Brown in 2010. The book is required reading for students and scholars of British Political History and Labour Party History.

Ethnicity and ethnic parties have often been portrayed as a threat to political stability. This book challenges the notion that the organization of politics in heterogeneous societies should overcome ethnicity. Rather, descriptive representation of ethnic groups has potential to increase regime support and reduce conflict.

The constitution that establishes the institutional framework for American national government makes no mention of political parties. Yet for over two centuries, political parties have competed in encouraging, organizing, and directing political activity in the United States. This volume compiles entries of concepts, terms, labels, and individuals central to identifying and comprehending these key roles political parties have played in American political life. The second edition of Historical Dictionary of United States Political Parties addresses the historical development, organization, operation, and leadership of the parties, as well as their broader environment. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, a bibliography, and over 800 cross-referenced dictionary entries addressing individuals, institutions, and terms.

Conservative critics argue that modern political satire, in the age of The Daily Show, has a liberal bias. A quick review of the humor landscape shows that there are very few conservative political satirists, and using personal interviews with political humorists this book explains why. The book explores the history of satire, the comedy profession, and the nature of satire itself to examine why there is an ideological imbalance in political humor and it explores the consequences of this disparity. This book will appeal to Daily Show and Colbert fans, political junkies, and anyone interested in the intersection of politics and media.

This groundbreaking volume describes and analyzes grassroots political party organizations in the South. Based upon surveys of county political party committee activists, conducted for the Southern Grassroots Party Activists Project and funded by the National Science Foundation, the work examines each of the 11 Southern states. Each chapter in the book, written by a scholar from the particular state, describes the general political history of that state over the 1954-1992 period, and then details state party organizations and activists--activists' backgrounds, politics, motivations for party activism, and party organization maintenance. The data and analysis presented depict political changes in the South, at both the state and national level, and provide for fascinating comparisons from state to state in the solid South.