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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political parties > General
“Len tells his story as only he can: forthright, confident and witty. What emerges is a hard-hitting assessment of dramatic times, and a message of hope for the future.†— Jeremy Corbyn Len McCluskey is the standout trade unionist of his era. Head of the giant Unite union for more than a decade, he is a unique and powerful figure on the political stage. In this major autobiography, McCluskey throws back the curtains on life at the top of the Labour movement—with explosive revelations about his dealings with Keir Starmer, the behind-the-scenes battles of the Corbyn era, his secret Brexit negotiations with Theresa May’s government, the spectacular bust-up with his former friend Tom Watson, and his tortuous relationship with Ed Miliband. McCluskey is no run-of-the-mill trade unionist. Fiercely political, unflinchingly left wing, he is a true workers’ leader. His politics were formed in Liverpool at a time of dock strikes, the Beatles, and the May 1968 revolution in Paris. An eyewitness to the Hillsborough tragedy, he recounts in harrowing detail searching for his son. Witty and sharp, McCluskey delivers a powerful intervention, issuing a manifesto for the future of trade unionism and urging the left not to lose sight of class politics. A central player in a tumultuous period of British political history, McCluskey’s account is an essential—and entertaining—record of our times.
Feminist theory is interwoven with women's voices in this study of three consecutive Twentieth-century women's organisations, separate but affiliated to the Labour Party, which represented women workers, consumers and politicians, so that the totality of women's involvement in the Labour movement is considered.
Bavaria and German Federalism details the struggle by successive Bavarian political parties of the pre- and post-Nazi period to shape the construction of the German state in a decentralized fashion. While the Bavarian Peoples Party ultimately failed to redraw the Weimar constitution to satisfy Bavarian particularist desires, the Christian Social Union assumed the federalist mantle after 1945 and largely succeeded in helping shape western Germany into a workable federal state.
The former West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt grew up as a devout Anglophile, yet he clashed heavily and repeatedly with his British counterparts Wilson, Callaghan, and Thatcher during his time in office. Helmut Schmidt and British-German Relations looks at Schmidt's personal experience to explore how and why Britain and Germany rarely saw eye to eye over European integration, uncovering the two countries' deeply competing visions and incompatible strategies for post-war Europe. But it also zooms out to reveal the remarkable extent of simultaneous British-German cooperation in fostering joint European interests on the wider international stage, not least within the transatlantic alliance against the background of a worsening superpower relationship. By connecting these two key areas of bilateral cooperation, Mathias Haeussler offers a major reinterpretation of the bilateral relationship under Schmidt, relevant to anybody interested in British-German relations, European integration, and the Cold War.
This edited volume brings together leading specialists in Conservative Party politics to examine the effectiveness with which the Cameron led coalition has adapted to the demands of government. While the main focus is on the first year in office, there are insights into why a Conservative modernisation statecraft strategy resulted in a hung Parliament and the need to form a coalition. The coherence of the policy agenda that informs 'liberal conservatism' is analyzed and the impact of the coalition on party policy across a range of social and foreign areas is examined; including economic, European and immigration policies, as well as territorial politics. The contributors also consider how cohesive and unified the coalition actually is in parliamentary terms and the effectiveness of Cameron as leader and Prime Minister. They also evaluate the impact of the coalition on wider perceptions of party politics and on 'New' Labour and how it has adapted to opposition.
This cohesive and challenging collection of academic essays represents a radical analysis, indeed re-interpretation, of the political, social and economic events which have occurred within the new South Africa since the momentous 1994 general election. Chapters by three of the leading authorities in the field of South African history and politics, Professors Marks, Spence and Gutheridge, concisely examine the prospects for stability and progress as the key fields of regional and international security, armed forces integration and social and economic policy. Three other authors examine, sometimes in controversial fashion, the progress of and prospects for the three main political parties: the ANC; the NP; and the IFP. A further three studies address the ramifications of recent elections, developments in the arms industry and changes in the political economy of the new South Africa. The book as a whole will be seen as the first comprehensive study of the security prospects of the New South Africa under the inspired leadership of Nelson Mandela.
This book investigates Turkey's departure from a 'flawed democracy' under Kemalist secularism, and its transitioning into Islamist authoritarian Erdoganism, through the lenses of informal law, legal pluralism, and legal hybridity. In doing so, it examines the attempts of Turkey's ruling party (AKP) at social engineering and gradual Islamisation of the Turkish state and society, by using informal Islamist laws. To that end, the book argues that the AKP has paved the way for Islamist legal hybridity where society, state, and law, are being gradually Islamised on an ad hoc basis. Informal law and legal pluralism in Turkey have had a non-state characteristic which have permitted Muslims to solve disputes by seeking the opinions of religio-legal scholars. Yet under the AKP rule, this informal legal system has become increasingly dominated by conservatives, sometimes radical Islamists, which the governing party has taken advantage of by either formalizing some parts of the informal Islamist law, or using it informally to mobilize its supporters against the opposition.
"An original combination of theoretical innovation and a detailed empirical analysis of the ideas, language and policy of New Labour. Politicians often appeal to moral principles and arguments in their efforts to win support for new policy programs. Yet the question of how politicians use moral language has until now been neglected by scholars"--
What impact do political parties have on women's political representation and on state gender policies? Does this vary between national and local levels of government? This study focuses on two Latin American cases. The first analyzes the National Women's Ministry in Chile, a country with a history of ideological conflict, strong parties and centralized government. The second examines the local administrations of the leftwing Brazilian Workers' Party, in a political environment shaped by clientelism, weak parties and decentralization.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the party finance regime at the level of the European Union. Based on an in-depth analysis of the interaction between European political parties and their institutional environment, it shows how the Europarties have coped with - and altered - the funding rules. The book explains why increasing party subsidies have been made available, and why considerable differences exist in how Eurosceptic and pro-European parties have used their EU funding. It also examines how party finance reform at the EU level has been at the centre of party competition, by demonstrating how the rules were strategically changed to benefit some European parties over others. Considering the strong democratic aspirations that lay at the origins of the finance regime, the book explores its consequences for party democracy and the rule of law in Europe. This book is valuable for scholars working on the European Parliament, Eurosceptic parties, EU decision-making, (European) party politics and political finance.
This book analyses the politicization of immigration and the European Union in Italy, the UK, and the European Parliament (EP) from 2015 to 2020. The book uses the case studies of Italy, the UK, and the EP to study party positioning specifically towards immigration and the European Union, to understand to what extent mainstream-left, mainstream-right and populist parties adopt different framing strategies to compete on the new cultural dimension created by globalization. The book draws on saliency theory, issue ownership theory, and yield theory to investigate the multidimensional nature of political competition, and the relevance of institutional settings in determining party framing strategies. Bridging two fields that typically do not interact-party politics and migration studies-this book fills gaps in the academic literature and as such will be appropriate for students and researchers interested in party politics, European politics, immigration politics, populism, and text analysis.
A study of territorial dynamics within party organizations in multi-layered systems. This book contributes to a new approach in party research which acknowledges the importance of multi-layered institutional framing. It includes an analysis of vertical linkages and sub-state autonomy in Austrian, Belgian, British, German and Spanish parties.
Ilaria Favretto presents a detailed study which traces the origins of the Third Way by comparing the European Left's contemporary neo-revisionism with past revisionist attempts. Focusing its analysis on the British Labour Party and the Italian Left, this book provides new interpretations and insights into the histories of both parties.
First Published in 1968. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The State of the Parties 2022 brings together leading scholars of parties, elections, and interest groups to provide an indispensable overview of American political parties today. The 2020 presidential election was extraordinary. What role did political parties play in these events? How did the party organizations fare? What are the implications for the future? Scholars and practitioners from throughout the United States explore the current state of American party organizations, constituencies and resources at the national, state and local level.
As an electoral bloc, contemporary white evangelical Christians
maintain a remarkable ideological and partisan conformity, perhaps
unmatched by any other community outside of African Americans.
Historically, evangelicals have supported various political
parties, but their approach to civil religion, or the way that they
apply the spiritual to the public realm, has, as Republican
Theology argues, been consistent in its substance since the
founding of the nation. Put simply, this civil religion holds that
limited government and a free-market are essential to the
cultivation of Christian virtue, while the livelihood of the
republic depends on the virtue of its citizens. While evangelicals
have long promoted conservative moral causes, from temperance and
anti-obscenity in the nineteenth century to abstinence education in
the twentieth, they have also aligned themselves on many other
seemingly unrelated agendas: in support of the Revolution in the
1770s, on antislavery in the 1820s, against labor unionism in the
1880s, against the New Deal in the 1930s, on assertive
anticommunism in the 1950s (a major theme in Billy Graham's early
sermons), and in favor of deregulation and lower taxes in the
1980s.
As the number of women candidates for office in the U.S. increases each election cycle, scholars are confronted with questions about the impact of their sex on their chances of success. Chief among these questions involves the influence of gender stereotypes on the decisions voters make in elections in which women run against men. Previous research documents that voters see women and men as possessing different character traits and different abilities to handle policy issues. These findings, combined with anecdotal evidence of sexist attitudes toward women candidates, raises concerns that women candidates are hampered by their sex and gender considerations. Employing data from an original survey of 3150 U.S. adults conducted in 2010, this book confronts scholarly concerns that gender stereotypes work to undermine women's chances of success. Challenging the conventional wisdom, these data demonstrate that voters do not rely heavily on gender stereotypes when evaluating and voting for women candidates. Voters do hold gendered attitudes, both positive and negative, about women candidates, but these attitudes are not related to the political decisions voters make. Instead, in deciding for whom to vote, people are influenced by traditional political forces, like political party and incumbency, regardless of the sex of the candidates. There is also evidence that partisan stereotypes interact with gender stereotypes to influence reactions to candidates, both women and men, depending on their political party. In the end, this project demonstrates that women candidates win as often as do men and that partisan concerns trump gender every time.
This book analyzes how AKP's embedded intellectuals operate as media spin doctors, exploring their transformation from passionately engaged intellectuals into apparatchiks. This project adapts a post-Soviet geography approach to the media, intelligentsia, and political discourse as derivative of authoritarian regimes to the Turkish context. It offers a fresh look at the Turkish political and intellectual scene and a comparative study of the populist-authoritarian politics of Turkey. Situated in the literature on the post-Soviet authoritarian regimes and their ways of governing, as well as their manipulation of public opinion, the book analyzes AKP-aligned intellectuals as apparatchiks. Gurpinar explores the different constellations of pro-AKP intellectuals vindicating the AKP regime from various angles, including: liberal/progressive intellectuals who initially supported the party for its liberal vistas but continued their support by twisting their progressive rhetoric; Islamist intellectuals blending their Islamism with populism; and national security intellectuals who joined after the AKP came to propagate a national security agenda. The book also provides an overview of the mechanisms of political technology, including the media landscape and its running by the AKP, intellectuals themselves as operators of political technology, and the problem of "cultural power." The book will be of interest to those studying comparative authoritarian politics, populism, political communication, and scholars of Middle East and Eastern Europe.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has moved from a religion-dominated protest party to a pragmatic party of government in Northern Ireland, the most popular in the region, with more votes, Assembly seats, and MPs than any of its rivals. This book draws upon the first-ever survey of the party's members, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, along with over one hundred interviews, to analyse their views on the transformation undergone by the DUP. The book analyses what categories of individual make up the DUP, ranging from religious fundamentalists or moderates, detailing the religious composition of the party. How Free Presbyterian or Orange is the modern DUP and how is its membership changing? What identity do those members hold? The book then assesses the attitudes of members to the contemporary power-sharing arrangements in a divided society. How comfortable is the DUP to sharing political spoils with the republican 'enemy'? How supportive are members of the Executive and Assembly in Northern Ireland and what progress do they think has been made? The book also dissects the modern fears of DUP members, ranging from the dilution of religious fervour to continuing fears over security and opposition to policing reforms. Attitudes to unity with other Unionist groups are explored, as are the prospects of capturing support from Catholic supporters of Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom. Drawing upon unprecedented access to a party traditionally suspicious of outsiders, this book offers a unique insight into how an opposition party grounded in religious principles has accommodated change and broadened its appeal, whilst retaining most of its traditional hardcore membership.
The demise of the French Communist Party (PCF) has been a recurrent
feature of overviews of the Left in France for the past two
decades, and yet the Communists survive. This study examines the
factors that undermined the position of the PCF as the premier
party of France, but also highlights the challenges that the party
faces in a society disillusioned with politics, and the new
strategies that it is developing in order to revive its
fortunes.
Americans have a love-hate relationship with negative campaigning, claiming to despise it and ranting about how it turns off the electorate, while at the same time paying an increasing amount of attention to negative ads and tactics during ever-lengthening campaign seasons. Swint gathers the most compelling of these campaigns from the two "Golden Ages" of negative campaigning--1864 to 1892 and 1988 to the present--in addition to some that fall outside those demarcations, and ranks them in descending order, from No. 25 to No. 1. Mudslingers covers presidential, senatorial, gubernatorial, and mayoral races and chronicles the dirtiest, most low-down campaign tactics of all time. The list includes the presidential campaign of 1800, when the disputed outcome of the race between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had to be decided by the House of Representatives, and the election of 2004, in which George W. Bush beat John Kerry after one of the nastiest showdowns on record. The first round of negative campaigning in American history was driven by post-Civil War politics, the end of Reconstruction, an increasingly corrupt federal government, and a rabid partisan press. The current Golden Age of mudslinging and dirty politics is driven by huge increases in campaign spending, television advertising, decreased civility in public life, and a muckraking mass media. These fascinating stories from the annals of negative campaigning will entertain as well as educate, reminding us, the next time we are tempted to decry the current climate, that it was (almost) ever thus.
Millions of enfranchised people live in abject poverty in democracies around the world. Yet in representative democracies, the success or failure of political parties rests on their ability to effectively engage voters. In today's highly unequal and individualized societies, the diversity of voters along socioeconomic, religious, and other lines presents an obstacle for parties vying for electoral success. How, then, can widespread, crushing poverty still exist in stable democracies, if every citizen has a vote? Two wildly different parties, Chile's right-wing UDI and Uruguay's left-wing Frente Amplio, have achieved stunning victories in this supposedly inhospitable political landscape. They have done so by simultaneously segmenting and strategically harmonizing their linkages to distinct cross-sections of voters in each society. While that electoral strategy makes for a winning hand for parties in fragmented modern societies, it perpetuates the gross inequalities that characterize the social, political, and economic landscapes of the developing democratic world. This book develops a new analytical and conceptual framework to unveil and explain segmented representation, revealing new implications for democratic societies. Oxford Studies in Democratization is a series for scholars and students of comparative politics and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on the comparative study of the democratization process that accompanied the decline and termination of the cold war. The geographical focus of the series is primarily Latin America, the Caribbean, Southern and Eastern Europe, and relevant experiences in Africa and Asia. The series editor is Laurence Whitehead, Official Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
Covering key issues ranging from education to political mobilization to racial stratification, this book provides a comprehensive examination of the Obama Presidency. President Barack Obama's election and subsequent reelection represent a critical paradigm shift in American political history. But will there be lasting effects of the election of an African American to the highest office in the land in terms of the United States' economic, educational, political and social realities? A valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, state and federal policymakers, and general readers, this book poses critical questions and offers insightful answers from expert contributors, provides a balanced critique of President Obama's accomplishments and challenges, and considers the national and international impact President Obama's tenure had on politics. The numerous contributors to this book provide a range of perspectives on President Obama's presidency that question conventional thinking, covering key issues that include health care, education, political mobilization, gender, racial stratification, voting patterns, and criminal justice. Readers will come away with a heightened comprehension of the complex relationships between political structures, economic policies, and minority interests; how Congress, traditional and contemporary activists, and domestic and international issues all shaped the Obama Presidency; and how micro and macro issues such as voting rights, voting patterns, and Get Out the Vote (GOTV) initiatives are connected.
This is the first ever major study examining of the views of the Conservative Party towards the key aspects of Anglo-German relations from 1905 to 1914. Drawing on a wide variety of original sources, it examines the Conservative response to the German threat, and argues that the response of the Conservative Party towards Germany showed a marked absence of open hostility towards Germany. Overall, this important new study provides a powerful and overdue corrective to the traditional depiction of the Conservative Party in opposition as 'Scaremongers' and the chief source of Germanophobic views among the British political parties. |
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