At the beginning of the twentieth century, the British Labour Party was broadly supportive of Irish home rule. However, from the end of the First World War, Labour anticipated a place in government, and as a modern, maturing party in British politics, it developed a more calculated set of responses towards Ireland. With contributions from a range of distinguished Irish and British scholars, this collection of essays provides the first full treatment of the historical relationship between the Labour Party and Ireland in the last century, from Keir Hardie to Tony Blair. By widening the lens on Labour's responses to the 'Irish question' over an entire century, it offers an original perspective on longer-term dispositions in Labour mentalities towards Ireland and on the relationship between 'these islands'. It will prove essential reading for those with an interest in modern Irish and British history, Anglo-Irish relations, and the current Northern Ireland peace process. -- .

Eighty years ago Ramsay MacDonald took office as the first British Labour Prime Minister, the placards announcing LENIN DEAD, RAMSAY MACDONALD PREMIER. The judgement of historians on this short-lived minority administration in 1924, dependant on Liberal parliamentary votes, has often been 'in office, but not in power'. "The First Labour Government" is the first major account for nearly fifty years to re-assess critically Labour's first period in office in terms of domestic, foreign and imperial policy. It draws on a wide range of private papers and official sources and reconstructs the history of this forgotten government in the broader social and political context of the 1920s. This comprehensive study will appeal to everyone interested in twentieth- century British political history.

This collection of writings about political parties shows how nineteenth-century American and European authors assessed the changing roles of these newly prominent institutions. Their reactions ranged from outrage to grudging admiration — reactions which are not so different from those so often seen today. This reader makes accessible to modern readers a variety of classic texts, which still shape today’s views of partisan politics. This unique collection will be an important resource for students and scholars of both political science and history.

This major reference provides comprehensive coverage of the political parties and movements in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Frank Tachau and a group of prestigious scholars and internationally acclaimed experts on the region's political history describe the formation, evolution, and impact of parties in each of the 19 countries that are surveyed, and they also discuss Palestinian and Kurdish political groups. Bibliographies accompany each chapter. The two appendixes are chronologies of important dates in the political developments in the various countries and in the region and information about the genealogies of parties where country histories are particularly complex. A general index and internal cross-references make the data about the parties easily accessible to the political scientists, historians, and Middle Eastern students, teachers, and professionals for whom the survey is designed.

This book grew out of the authors' growing sense of frustration with the tenor of the debate over the health of the American political party system. Conventional party theory, they contend, had become a theoretical straitjacket providing little understanding of the transformed contemporary American party system. Baer and Bositis present a theory--based on a combination of elite, interest group, and social movement theories--in an effort to redefine the terms of the debate. They argue that political action within and outside of the party system is elite and group-based and that the group concept incorporates and accounts for elite-mass interdependence. Coming at a time when many existing explanations of political party behavior are under increasing scrutiny, Elite Cadres and Party Coalitions offers a provocative new theory. It will be essential reading for students, scholars, and members of the general public interested in American politics. The authors have divided their argument into two parts, the first of which is an extensive review of the history of party reform and contemporary assessments of its meaning. Included in this review is a similarly extensive assessment of a variety of party and party-related theory and scholarship. This is followed by an explanation of their own party elite theory of democracy. The second half of the book is devoted to a test of the various theories of party behavior using survey data from The Party Elite Study and from the 1980 and 1984 National Election Studies. These data are used to make comparisons over time among four elite cadres in both parties: nominating convention delegates, national committee members, and state and county chairs in office in 1980 and 1984.

"Germany's New Right as Culture and Politics" is the first full-length study in English of the New Right in Germany and it breaks new ground by considering the New Right as both a political and a cultural movement. This approach reveals the problems that arise when a political movement seeks to embrace culture as the foundation for a political programme. The book examines the often contradictory motives that feed into New Right political pronouncements and explores the cultural thinking that feeds into extreme political commitment.

Alastair Thompson here challenges the view of German Liberalism as the helpless victim of mass mobilization and political polarization in Wilhelmine Germany. He reveals the influence of a party that was the third largest in German politics by 1914 and which effectively wrote the Weimar Constitution. His study is central to understanding increasing Left Liberal support on the eve of war, and why liberal values could not be consolidated after 1918.

The primary objective of Maguire's study is to consider the evolution of women's role in the Conservative Party since the time of Disraeli and try to assess whether it has always been one of progress. To do this she examines not only the attitude of women to the party and the official attitude of the party towards women but also the degree of acceptance that Conservative men have shown towards women members. It considers women at all levels, from that of the voter to the grassroots organization to national politics.

Everyone should know the life story of Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest leaders of all time, the first black president of South Africa, the most famous African, and a major world statesman. His inspiring life receives a fresh retelling in this new biography written especially for students and general readers. This volume is an enjoyable, authoritative, and balanced way to not only understand a great man, but also to understand a critical time in world history and race relations. Mandela's quest for racial justice for black South Africans as a leader of the African National Congress led to twenty-seven years of imprisonment. South African Apartheid consumed the attention of the world, coming to a head in the 1980s. With intense international pressure on the Apartheid government, Mandela was finally freed in 1990. Through the landmark presidency of South Africa and post Nobel Peace Prize years up until today, he has continued as a peacemaker and agent for change. Chapter 1 covers his birth into a strong Xhosa family and clan, with cultural, historical, and geographical context, and the next chapter follows his elite education path, taking into consideration the forces and people who helped shape the future leader. Chapter 3 discusses his law practice, African National Congress work, and his first wife. Chapters 4-6 continue with his growing political involvement and family. Chapter 7 and 8 deal with the long imprisonment and then freedom. The final chapters discuss his presidency and Nobel Peace Prize and life today. A timeline, photo essay, and selected bibliography complement the narrative.

Drawing upon the expertise of a team of established researchers, The Conservatives under David Cameron provides a detailed analysis and evaluation of the ideas, policies and electoral strategy developed during the tenure of David Cameron as Conservative Party leader. For students of developments in British politics, the book provides the essential guide to key domestic and foreign policy choices, including the Conservative Party's agenda for economic policy, reform of the public services, welfare reform, law, order and immigration, the environment, constitutional reform, foreign affairs and defence, the European Union, and international development. These choices are placed in historical context by an introduction which also includes a detailed analysis of Conservative Party ideology.

America's presidential nominating process is inherently unfair and exclusive, yielding undue weight and privilege to the states that vote in the earliest rounds. More and more states are beating down the door to vote earlier, trying to redress the inequity on a state-by-state basis. In the ensuing free-for-all, the presidential primary schedule has become so front-loaded that the anointed "front-runner" with the biggest war chest in each of the major parties is the de facto nominee. The primaries are becoming mere noise and pageantry, as the national conventions have been for several decades. From the Primaries to the Polls describes the problem and proposes the solution. The American Plan is designed to begin with contests in small-population states, where candidates do not need millions of dollars to compete and a wide field of presidential hopefuls can be competitive in the early going. A "minor candidate's" surprise success in early rounds, based on merit rather than money, tends to attract money from larger numbers of small contributors for the campaign to spend in later rounds of primaries. Keeping more candidates in the race longer to challenge to the "front-runners" prevents a rush to judgment and permits more voters across the country to select from a diverse field. As the campaign proceeds over ten two-week intervals of primaries and caucuses on a semi-randomized schedule, the aggregate value of contested states becomes successively larger, requiring the expenditure of larger amounts of money in order to campaign effectively. A more gradual weeding-out process occurs, allowing a clear winner to emerge only after the full spectrum of candidates has been in play nationally.

A critical assessment of the "New Labour" phenomena. It assesses the impact of Labour's "modernizers" in three crucial areas: changes within the Labour party itself; the reformation of the British state; and the influence on particular areas of policy. The essays do not seek to provide unequivocal answers to the questions raised by the arrival of New Labour and their initial period in office, but provide a debate between the contributors over the nature and significance of these changes. The book is a wide ranging and accessible account of the political phenomena which will lead Britain into the 21st century.

Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin, author Tim Schilke knew that his concerns about some generally accepted suburban truths were often left unanswered. He later learned that a carefully crafted Red-suburban version of reality isolated him from nearly everything real.

"Red truth" was a strange morph of God, Patriotism, and Republicans. When this uniquely Red-suburban mentality played a role in winning President George W. Bush a second term in late 2004, Schilke began an investigation into the driving factors behind his Red upbringing, which still persist and thrive today in suburban and rural America.

From carefully-guarded moral relativism, to the Army's questionable recruiting techniques; from Major League Baseball's tainted home run records, to the myth of the Ownership Society; Schilke maps these current events back into the perspective of his Red upbringing.

Why does Red-suburban middle-America consistently vote against its own interests in election after election? "Growing Up Red" attempts to show that, in Red America, it is simply the patriotic thing to do. In Red America, raw Faith trumps Knowledge. Carefully-tweaked irrational fear drives never-ending consumption. A Republican President marches arm-in-arm with God down Main Street every Fourth of July.

What happens when actual reality starts to bleed through the carefully-protected fences of suburbia? Find out in "Growing Up Red."

This volume aims to provide consolidated analyses of the 2019 European elections and explanations about the future of the European party system, in a context in which the EU has to face many challenges, including the erosion of electoral support for mainstream parties and the increasing success of populist parties. The structure of the book is designed to combine the overall view on the role of elections in shaping the future European project with relevant case studies. The reader is given a perspective not only on the results of the European Parliament elections as such, but also on how these results are related to national trends which pre-exist and what kind of collateral effects on the quality of democracy they could have. Contributors include: Jan Bíba, Sorin Bocancea, Dóra Bókay, Radu Carp, József Dúró, Tomáš Dvořák, Alexandra Alina Iancu, Ruxandra Ivan, Petra Jankovská, Małgorzata Madej, Cristina Matiuța, Sergiu Mișcoiu, Valentin Naumescu, Gianluca Piccolino, Leonardo Puleo, Alexandru Radu, Mihai Sebe, Sorina Soare, Tobias Spöri, Jeremias Stadlmair, Martin Štefek, Piotr Sula, and Jaroslav Ušiak.

This book offers an innovative framework for understanding the role of civil society in regional and global policymaking. Using political economy analysis, Gerard demonstrates that ASEAN's people-oriented agenda builds legitimacy, while sidelining its detractors.

This book offers an in-depth examination of party finance and political corruption in a variety of political contexts. Its central focus is on the relationship between different forms of raising party finance and the consequent implications for improper influence over policy making and implementations. It presents both a general discussion of the issues and a set of case studies which illuminate the particular experiences of Britain, the United States, Russia, Italy, Germany and Southeast Asia.

Here is the first book to cover the history of British Liberalism from its founding doctrines in the later eighteenth century to the final dissolution of the Liberal party into the Liberal Democrats in 1988. The Party dominated British politics for much of the later nineteenth-century, most notably under Gladstone, whose premierships spanned 1868-1894, and during the early twentieth, but after the resignation of Lloyd George in 1922 the Liberal Party never held office again. The decline of the Party remains a unique phenomenon in British politics and Alan Sykes illuminates its dramatic and peculiar circumstances in this comprehensive study.

This is an account of how one Labour Party politician, after suffering the biggest setback of his political career, used the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in Grosvenor Square, the battle over trade union reform and the troubles in Northern Ireland to propel himself to Number 10.

An updated and revised edition of a lively account of British Conservativism, illuminated throughout by a concentration upon the men, and woman, who have led the Conservative party.This book is written by a big name author with trade acumen and a lively and engaging writing style. It offers detailed history and analysis from 1830 to the present day, including a new chapter on David Cameron's leadership. It provides revisionist accounts of Peel, Disraeli and Churchill.The second edition of this successful text has been thoroughly updated to take into account recent research, and now begins at 1830. Charmley examines the history of the party and takes the story through the recent 'wilderness years' following the 1997 election fiasco, right up to David Cameron's leadership.

Based on a unique series of surveys conducted during the 1990s, this book examines changes in the social backgrounds, attitudes, beliefs, and political activities of Labor party members. It addresses questions such as: What do Labor party members think of New Labor and its policies? How important are the members to the party? Are they becoming more or less active over time? Can the party dispense with its membership and still remain viable?

This book looks at the organization and strategy of state-wide parties from across some of the most important multi-layered countries in Western Europe. The volume provides the first systematic attempt to study the strategy of state-wide parties on the basis of the comparative literature on issue voting.

Attlee is undoubtedly one of the key figures in modern British history. An important figure in Churchill's War Cabinet, and premier of the first majority Labour Government, he created the Welfare State, nationalised a substantial part of industry and secured the independence of India. Yet his political stature remains unresolved. Was he Churchill's "modest man with much to be modest about" who squandered the fruits of victory, or, as many now claim, one of the truly great prime ministers? Robert Pearce's lucid and drily amusing study goes behind the stern exterior to find ambition and indecision, and a uniquely moral vision.

The Republican Party currently enjoys an edge. The advantage can be seen in Congress, state politics, judicial rulings, foreign and domestic policy, party finances, the media, public attitudes, and economic and demographic developments. Yet the Republicans do not seem capable of translating this into a durable electoral majority. Conditions now exist within American politics that will facilitate the establishment of Republican rule. Many of these conditions have ripened during the past decade. They include rules governing elections and campaign finance, shifts in core political values among the public that are consistent with Republican philosophy, and fundamental social and economic changes in American society that are likely to increase the ranks of Republican voters. The author explains in lucid, engaging terms how Republicans have taken control of both houses of Congress and experienced a remarkable resurgence at the state level. He explores how conservatives are utilizing the courts to simultaneously move policy rightward and mobilize sympathetic parts of the electorate. He also examines social and economic changes to show how racial politics, religiosity, and the nature of work and wealth benefit today's Republican Party. Republican rule should not be confused with Republican realignment. These conditions will advantage Republicans in future elections and bring about consistent Republican control of government at all levels—federal, state, and local, executive, legislative, and judicial. However, current conditions do not guarantee the kind of enduring Republican majority many journalists and strategists have predicted. Taylor explains the factors that will prohibit the Republicans from fully exploiting their advantages and dominating American politics the way the Democrats did in the 30 years following the New Deal. These factors include internal and intractable tensions within the Republican Party, the parties' sophisticated political information gathering strategies, and the innate risk aversion of the campaign industry.