In this book the author proposes that parties are indispensable to modern politics and that the absence of parties suggests that a system is governed by a traditional elite which has yet to come to terms with the modern world. Without them it would be impossible to legitimize modern systems, to engage the loyalty and support of the citizens. The alternative to party rule is either aristocracy or violent repression. In all systems the party widens the area from which political leaders are recruited and is thus a 'democratising' if not necessarily a 'liberalising' force.

Originally published in 1972, this edition includes expanded sections on class and voting and elites and participation in modern democracy. Many popular misconceptions - about the militancy of party activists, the relations between MPs and constituents, the role of TV and the fairness of the electoral system - are critically examined. Equally important is the review of representational theories, from Greek to Victorian, in the light of what we know today about the workings of Parliament, the role of pressure groups and the mixture of rational and irrational motives in human behaviour. A range of twentieth century critiques, including those of Robert Michels, Joseph Schumpeter, Robert Dahl and Peter Bachrach is presented. Wherever possible, British experience is compared with that of the USA, continental Europe or the Commonwealth.

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The Liberal Unionist party was one of the shortest-lived political parties in British history. It was formed in 1886 by a faction of the Liberal party, led by Lord Hartington, which opposed Irish home rule. In 1895, it entered into a coalition government with the Conservative party and in 1912, now under the leadership of Joseph Chamberlain, it amalgamated with the Conservatives. Ian Cawood here uses previously unpublished archival material to provide the first complete study of the Liberal Unionist party. He argues that the party was a genuinely successful political movement with widespread activist and popular support which resulted in the development of an authentic Liberal Unionist culture across Britain in the mid-1890s. The issues which this book explores are central to an understanding of the development of the twentieth century Conservative party, the emergence of a 'national' political culture, and the problems, both organisational and ideological, of a sustained period of coalition in the British parliamentary system.

'an extremely welcome and useful book...the best available text in the field.' - Gregory Claeys, Albion;'A comprehensive encyclopaedia of the ideology of the British Labour Movement...What emerges is by far the clearest account I have ever read of its strengths and weaknesses.' - Tony Benn, MP;This book provides a synoptic and accessible history of the development of political ideas within the Labour Party. It traces the complex relationship between power and political thought and illustrates how Labour's political ideas have been shaped and formed by the Labour Party's political experience. It presents 'labourism' or trade union politics as a clear theory and stresses its importance in understanding the different phases in the party's history, arguing that it constitutes the bedrock of the party's thought and that its crisis has caused the recent changes in party ideology.

The New Labour governments have rebuilt public services around the citizen-consumer: a choice-wielding individual disconnected from the political context of the welfare state. In their interactions with central and local government, citizens are recast as customers in search of satisfaction. Drawing on interviews conducted by the author with politicians, bureaucrats and citizens, alongside content analysis of government documents, the book explains how New Labour has consumerized public services and contributed to the anti-politics that it has widely decried.

If you share the commonly-held notions about the New Right, which typically associate it with a reactionary ideology of social and economic change, then you are in for a surprise: this study - the first to be carried out from the inside - shows that, at least so far as its young members are concerned, their core values rest upon a radical agenda that is explicitly internationalist, individualist, culturally relativist and secularist. After examining the social background and political psychology of the young Libertarians, the author comes to the conclusion that in adhering to a world view that has more to do with individualism - or "property-rights anarchism"- than any form of collectivist ideology, such as Fascism; they represent the antithesis of traditional Burkean thought. For, while Conservatives have historically adhered to the authority of religion, prescription, instinct and communitarianism, Libertarians place their faith in the authority of reality, reason, mankind and capitalism. As a school whose epistemology is reason,ethics - self-interest and politics - and anarcho-capitalism, they represent, so the author argues, an important post-modern paradigm shift in both Conservative thought and activism.

The Chinese Communist Party, as the political leader of the world's largest country and second largest economy, plays an undeniably important role in global politics. Founded in a boarding school in Shanghai in 1921, the Chinese Communist Party is one of the oldest ruling parties in the world since its takeover of mainland China in 1949 under the leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong. Since its inception, the party has survived a civil war with the Kuomintang (1946-1949); the political, cultural, and humanitarian catastrophe of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1960), where upwards of 30 million Chinese civilians died; and the death of the Chinese Communist Party's dominant leader, Mao Zedong, in 1976. In recent years, intellectuals and party members have been given increasing leeway to express their opinions, and Lawrence R. Sullivan takes advantage of this new research to provide a comprehensive history of one of the world's most fascinating political movements. The Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Communist Party contains a chronology, an introductory essay, an appendix, an extensive bibliography, and more than 400 cross-reference dictionary entries on key people, places, and institutions. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Chinese Communist Party.

This text offers a concise and accessible coverage of the historical background, the organization and policies of the 15 social democratic parties in the European Union with a focus on the 1945-1990s period. It combines an updated study of the evolution of each party's ideology, sociology and policies, with attention also to the impact of European integration on the fortunes of social democratic forces. The book can be used as a reference text by academics, students and political practitioners and contains contact details and reference information for each party.;The book is aimed at departments of politics (European politics, politics of European Union, comparative politics and government, political ideology), sociology, history, European studies; trade unions, Left political parties in EU; political commentators, journalists, and party research centres.

WHAT SHOULD THE LEFT AIM TO ACHIEVE TODAY? This book addresses the challenges facing socialists and the recent shift from protest to politics. It examines the limits and possibilities for class, party and state transformation and the democratic and socialist insurgencies inside the Labour Party in Britain, and the Democratic Party in the USA. One of the most unexpected aspects of politics today is the coming to the fore of socialists at leadership level in the British Labour Party and the US Democratic Party. Their class-focused political discourse is directed against the power of capitalists, corporations and banks - and against the state policies which reflect and sustain that power. This is more than mere left populism - the focus is on addressing the dynamics, structure, inequalities, and contradictions in capitalism, confronting ruling class privilege and power, and the systemic core of neoliberal globalization. There is a new will: to build the power, cohesion, and capacities of the working class; to struggle for broader and deeper reforms. New socialist movements know that they must offer systematic political education to realise their great potential, and to overcome the barriers that they face. The authors provide essential historical, theoretical and critical perspective. They stress the need for renewing working-class politics through new kinds of socialist parties.

This volume brings together some of the foremost scholars of European party politics to discuss the challenges currently faced by western European political parties. Each contributor provides a concise, critical review of the theoretical and methodological 'state of the art' in respect of a specific aspect, and also reviews the latest empirical findings in that area.

Exploring relationships between politics, the people and social change, this book assesses the fortunes mainly of Labor, but also of the Communist Party and the New Left in postwar Britain. Using concepts like political culture, it looks at the left's articulation of "affluence": consumerism, youth culture, America, TV, advertising and its disappointment at the people under the impact of such changes. It also examines party organization, socialist thinking and the use of new communication techniques like TV, advertising and opinion polling.

The revised 2nd edition of this successful textbook explores Japanese politics in the postwar era from theoretical and comparative perspectives. After providing historical context, it offers an in-depth exploration of postwar political institutions, political reform in the 1990s, the policymaking process, and the politics of economic growth and stagnation. By delving into Japan's international relations, the book sheds light on Japan's security and foreign policies, and Japan's role in Asia. The textbook concludes by addressing what has changed since party alternation in 2009, the triple disaster in March 2011 and the global Covid pandemic. Themes and questions addressed throughout the text include: How and why did Japan modernize so successfully when so many other countries fell prey to colonialism and authoritarianism? What explains the Japanese economic miracle and its subsequent economic stagnation? What accounts for Japan's successful democratization? In the international realm, why has Japan achieved economic superpower status without achieving political superpower status? What is the future trajectory of Japanese politics? Connecting Japan to larger themes in comparative politics and linking Japan's history, institutions, policymaking process, and international relations to experiences and structures in other countries, this book is essential reading for students of Japanese or Asian Politics.

Sir Charles Dilke's claim to a leading place in the pantheon of Victorian radicalism, with Cobden, Bright and Chamberlain, has been overshadowed by the sensational divorce case in 1886 that ruined his career. Yet his political abilities were great and his career a most remarkable one. He was regarded by many of his contemporaries as a likely successor to Gladstone and a probable future Prime Minister. It can be argued that his political eclipse was a crucial contributing factor to the Liberal Party's failure to provide a viable alternative to the rise of the Labour Party.
This is the first new biography of Dilke since Roy Jenkins' "Sir Charles Dilke: A Victorian Tragedy," published in 1958. David Nicholls has used substantial new material to provide what is likely to be the definitive work on Dilke, shedding new light on his character, personal life and political career, as well as on the famous divorce scandal. This highly readable book is both an account of a remarkable man and an important contribution to the understanding of Victorian politics.

"Political Parties in the Southern StateS" traces the changes presently taking place in the South and identifies their broader consequences. The South is undergoing a political revolution--from issueless politics to one of the most issue-oriented sets of party coalitions and policy alternatives in the nation. These studies, based on a 1984 survey of state convention delegates, explores fundamental aspects of the changing system. Concerns include the role of elite studies in interpreting trends in mass politics; the increasing institutionalization of American politics, particularly as effected by 1970 nominating reforms; and the realignment of southern politics, its present condition, and the continuing consequences for political positions, concerns, and clientele group support. Editors conclude their volume with projections of future consequences for southern and national politics.

Researching political views and personal attributes of delegates to the 1984 national nominating convention, these editors choose six states as representative of the South. They then analyze characteristics that represent the standard subgroups of national interest. Emerging studies are organized under the following three sections: Party Reform and Party Systems introduces party reform, nationalization of American politics, and party change in the South. Party Reform and Southern Convention Delegates places emphasis on the roles of blacks, civil rights activists, women, and various age groups. Cultural Changes in Southern Party Coalitions covers topics such as the development of the two-party system, the impact of urbanization, and immigration. The volume concludes with a discussion of southern party coalitions.

This book is about the metamorphosis of national ideology in Ba'thist Iraq. By "ideology" the reference is to a very broad sense of the term, closer to a "collection of political proposals...somewhat intellectualistic" than to a comprehensive world view or an interpretation of history fully, systematically and rigorously thought out, presented and elaborated. Speeches by leading politicans, historiography and the writings of intellectuals in regard to Iraq's political community, are considered here as ideology, even if these ideas do not constitute a complete "politico-social programme".;This book is an attempt to follow and analyze the change in the Ba'th party's perception and representation of Iraq as a political community. By resurrecting and imbuing with great national significance elements previously rejected, ignored or downplayed in Ba'th ideology such as territory, race and local pre-Islamic and pre-Arab historical epochs, the Ba'th regime of Iraq has sought to re-shape the collective identification of its countrymen. In several cases, this reshaping took the form of re-enforcing and fully legitimizing an already existing identification that hitherto the party had looked

A cross-country comparison of recent Labour Party governments in New Zealand, Britain, and Australia, and an exploration of how those countries' labour movements responded to their parties' neoliberal policies in power.

ANTHONY L. HALL takes aim at the global events of 2013 with a unique and refreshing perspective. Here are some of the topics he addresses: Public outrage over NSA spying"There's no rationalizing their outrage over the NSA monitoring their promiscuous and indiscriminate footprints (online and via telephone). For, evidently, these nincompoops think it's okay for Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Facebook, and others to spy on them to sell them stuff, but not okay for the NSA to do so to keep them safe."National praise NBA player Jason Collins got for coming out"His courageous stand is somewhat undermined by the fact that he waited to take it on his way out of the league."

Women who'd rather pose nude than be caught without makeup

"Who would've thought the liberation inherent in the sexual revolution and feminist movement would devolve into a self-abnegating farce where women themselves consider it a 'brave decision' to go out in public without makeup?"

Mediterranean Sea becoming a graveyard for Africans migrants

"I just hope the damning irony is not lost on any proud African that, 50 years after decolonization, hundreds of Africans (men, women, and children) are risking their lives, practically every day, to subjugate themselves to the paternal mercies of their former colonial masters in Europe."

Pope rebuking church for neglecting poor

"Nothing indicates how far mainstream Christians have backslidden quite like the pope's good old-fashioned religion being hailed as revolutionary."

World paying tribute to Nelson Mandela

"As you see the most powerful people in the world falling all over themselves to sing Mandela's praises in the coming days, bear in mind that the people Mandela himself loved and admired most (outside of family members) are old comrades--most of whom you will never see on TV or social media."

In 1991 Taiwan held its first fully democratic election. This first single volume of party politics in Taiwan analyzes the evolution of party competition in the country, looking at how Taiwan's parties have adjusted to their new multi-party election environment. It features key chapters on:

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• the development of party politics in Taiwan
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• the impact of party change on social welfare, corruption and national identity
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• party politics in the DPP era.

Including interviews with high-ranking Taiwanese politicians and material on the 2004 Presidential election, this important work brings the literature up-to-date. It provides a valuable resource for scholars of Chinese and Taiwanese politics and a welcome addition to the field of regime transition and democratization.

This book examines Conservative backbench debate on European integration and British relations in the Middle East between 1948 and 1957. In seeking to compare the impact of a loose affiliation of Conservative MPs, an organized faction of longstanding and an ad-hoc pressure group, the text concentrates upon the Europeanists, the Suez Group and the Anti-Suez Group and considers their attempts to influence British foreign policy, using interviews with former parliamentarians and contemporary sources, published and unpublished.