Barack Obama is quickly becoming America's most popular politician, and his run for the presidency has brought huge crowds at home and an unprecedented wave of international attention as well. Much more than a biography, this book is a political tour of Obama's legislative experience as well as his ideas about race, religion, and politics. Political writer John K. Wilson, author of four previous books including a study of Newt Gingrich, explores the reaction Obama has received from the left, the right, and the media. As the first presidential candidate from Generation X, Obama has generated an exciting movement of young people to support his campaign as he defines a new kind of broadly popular progressive politics. As improbable as such a quest may be this fresh new candidate may be just the right one to bridge not only generations but ideologies that often divide. Amid all the hype surrounding Obama, this book provides the first in-depth look at what he believes, what he represents, and how he might transform American politics.

The election of 2005 changed Germany's political 'landscape'. The combined share of the vote gained by the two major parties fell below 70 per cent, eliminating the option of a coalition between one of the two major parties (Christian Democrats and Social Democrats) with one of the smaller parties - the traditional pattern of government that had dominated German post-war politics since the late 1950s. The election resulted in the first national 'Grand Coalition' of the two major parties since 1969. While some have seen this government, elected in November 2005 and headed by the Christian Democrat Angela Merkel, as the symptom of a crisis of the traditional post-war German party system, others have highlighted the opportunities it opens up for constitutional and policy reform as Merkel's 'Grand Coalition' controls an overwhelming majority of the votes in both houses of the German legislature. The German Election of 2005 analyses the road to the 2005 election and provide in-depth studies of the campaign and candidates, of voting behaviour and immediate consequences of the election, with contributions from leading experts from Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. The findings are informed by theoretical and empirical work in the comparative study of parties and elections offering a nuanced, empirically rich picture of continuity and change in German electoral politics.

No other Marxist text has come close to achieving the fame and influence of The Communist Manifesto. Translated into over 100 languages, this clarion call to the workers of the world radically shaped the events of the twentieth century. But what relevance does it have for us today? In this slim book Slavoj Zizek argues that, while exploitation no longer occurs the way Marx described it, it has by no means disappeared; on the contrary, the profit once generated through the exploitation of workers has been transformed into rent appropriated through the privatization of the 'general intellect'. Entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have become extremely wealthy not because they are exploiting their workers but because they are appropriating the rent for allowing millions of people to participate in the new form of the 'general intellect' that they own and control. But, even if Marx's analysis can no longer be applied to our contemporary world of global capitalism without significant revision, the fundamental problem with which he was concerned, the problem of the commons in all its dimensions - the commons of nature, the cultural commons, and the commons as the universal space of humanity from which no one should be excluded - remains as relevant as ever. This timely reflection on the enduring relevance of The Communist Manifesto will be of great value to everyone interested in the key questions of radical politics today.

This book examines attempts by the Conservative party in the interwar years to capture the 'brains' of the new electorate and create a counter-culture to what they saw as the intellectual hegemony of the Left. It tells the fascinating story of the Bonar Law Memorial College, Ashridge, founded in 1929 as a 'College of citizenship' to provide political education through both teaching and publications. The College aimed at creating 'Conservative Fabians' who were to publish and disseminate Conservative literature, which meant not only explicitly political works but literary, historical and cultural work that carried implicit Conservative messages. This book modifies our understanding of the history of the Conservative party and popular Conservatism, but also more generally of the history of intellectual debate in Britain. It sheds new light on the history of the 'middlebrow' and how that category became a weapon for the Conservatives. -- .

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.

2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the Limehouse Declaration and the launch of the Social Democratic Party in the UK, which was later to merge and form the Liberal Democrats. To mark this important milestone, this book brings together prominent politicians from across the spectrum of social democracy to reflect on its history and the challenges it faces in the coming decades. With an introduction by Sir Vince Cable describing the current state of social democracy across the world, leading figures including Sarah Olney, Roger Liddle and Chris Huhne explore a wide range of contentious policy areas such as the economy, housing and globalisation. Together, they set out a vision for the country and for the Liberal Democrats that has social justice at its core.

*A Guardian Book of the Day* The defeat of socialist firebrand Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader in 2019 confirmed Tony Benn's famous retort 'the Labour party has never been a socialist party, although there have always been socialists in it.' For over a hundred years, the British Labour Party has been a bastion for working class organisation and struggle. However, has it ever truly been on the side of the workers? Where do its interests really lie? And can we rely on it to provide a barrier against right-wing forces? Simon Hannah's smart and succinct history of the Labour left guides us through the twists and turns of the party, from the Bevanite movement and the celebrated government of Clement Attlee, through the emergence of a New Left in the 1970s and the Blairism of the 1990s, to Corbyn's defeat and his replacement by Keir Starmer. This new edition is updated throughout, with a new final chapter and conclusion bringing the story up to date.

This book examines the staying power of the People's Action Party, a political party that has governed Singapore since June 1959. A political titan with few chinks in its armour, the party has kept winning elections under three prime ministers and Singapore is about to witness a transition to the fourth prime minister. The party's seemingly unstoppable sterling performance makes the issue of the durability of the PAP highly critical. In light of the serious weakness of the Opposition and the strong performance legitimacy of the ruling party, it is worthwhile asking the question, can the PAP stumble and fall? Addressing this question is highly relevant given that similar political parties and structures have almost all collapsed elsewhere - the Barisan Nasional as the latest casualty with its defeat in Malaysia's 2018 General Elections. With an extensive coverage on domestic and international issues, up-to-date developments on the finalisation of the PAP's 4G leadership, the Workers' Party town council saga, and the efforts to form an opposition coalition led by Tan Cheng Bock are also analysed in this book.

Political parties provide continuity at the elite level and among the mass electorate in times when "populist" forces threaten the stability of many western democracies. The parties, however, have experienced turbulent times with declining memberships among the established parties, volatile electorates and the emergence of new parties. This edited collection aims to make an analytical contribution to what "party democracy" means, how to study it and add to our knowledge of who the party members are, what they do and how influential they are in policy-making processes. Clearly, elections provide linkage at regular intervals. Does party membership, even after membership decline, provide a supplementary, representative linkage that supports democracy and stability in "post-cleavage" societies? Nordic party systems have kept central elements of their old "five party systems", with (mostly) large social democratic parties and a variable geometry of the conservative, liberal, agrarian and left socialist forces. They have experienced the electoral rise of new parties and - in particular - the increasing strength of vote-catching, anti-establishment parties; in most countries nurtured by anti-immigration sentiments. In contrast to much recent scholarship, this book investigates the stable element in Nordic mass politics, namely the parties as membership organisations: How many members? Why do they join parties? How much do they participate? Do they experience political influence? The overall question is to what extent the party organizations, which have been heavily "statified" by public subsidies, keep up linkage to civil society through their membership.

Since the 1970s, quotas for female political candidates in elections have proliferated worldwide. Beyond increasing the numbers of women in high-level elected bodies and, thereby, women’s political representation, advocates claim that quotas foster gender-equal participation in democracy and create female role models. According to this reasoning, quotas also overcome barriers to women’s political participation, especially discriminatory practices in the selection of electoral candidates. Though such claims have persuaded policy makers to adopt quotas, little empirical evidence exists to verify their effects. In Gender Quotas and Democratic Participation, Louise K. Davidson-Schmich employs a pathbreaking research design to assess the effects of gender quotas on all phases of political recruitment. Drawing on interviews with, and an original survey of, potential candidates in Germany, she investigates the extent to which quotas and corresponding increases in women’s descriptive representation have resulted in similar percentages of men and women joining political parties, aspiring to elected office, pursuing ballot nominations, and securing selection as candidates. She also examines the effect of quotas on discriminatory selection procedures. Ultimately, Davidson-Schmich argues, quotas’ intended benefits have been only partially realized. Quotas give women greater presence in powerful elected bodies not by encouraging female citizens to pursue political office at rates similar to men’s, but by improving the odds that the limited number of politically ambitious women who do join parties will be elected. She concludes with concrete, original policy recommendations for increasing women’s political participation.

"The Politics of Ethnic Nationalism "is the first significant local study of National Party and Afrikaner politics. By focusing on Stellenbosch as a university and a town, the book extends our understanding of the complex interaction between the GNP/HNP and various organisations of the radical right. The book illustrates, at a local level and using detailed materials, how identity was constructed through a process of excluding some (English, Jew, Coloured) and including others. In addition, it examines the ways in which Afrikaner nationalists of all shades of political opinion conceptualised their relationships with English-speaking South Africans, and the ways that the rhetoric of republicanism and anti-imperialism were employed by nationalists. The study exposes the complex and Byzantine nature of Afrikaner nationalist politics, revealing the multiplicity of identities and ideologies co-existing within Afrikanerdom, the cross-cutting allegiances and overlapping loyalties. It reveals further the extent to which branches of nationalist organisations were fragmented, and the extent to which even individuals could embrace contradictory ideologies.

This volume of essays constitutes the first history of Labour and left-wing politics in the decade when Margaret Thatcher reshaped modern Britain. Leading scholars explore aspects of left-wing culture, activities and ideas at a time when social democracy was in crisis. There are articles about political leadership, economic alternatives, gay rights, the miners' strike, the Militant Tendency and the politics of race. The book also situates the crisis of the left in international terms as the socialist world began to collapse. Tony Blair's New Labour disavowed the 1980s left, associating it with failure, but this volume argues for a more complex approach. Many of the causes it championed are now mainstream, suggesting that the time has come to reassess 1980s progressive politics, despite its undeniable electoral failures. With this in mind, the contributors offer ground-breaking research and penetrating arguments about the strange death of Labour Britain. -- .

The Australian Greens has been described at various times as the fastest growing new party in Australia, its forerunner the United Tasmania Group the first Green party in the world, and its former Leader Bob Brown as a global treasure. The party played a pivotal role after the 2010 federal election in ensuring the Gillard Government was sustained for 3 years. Although battered in the following Abbott landslide election, the party has survived and grown, to become somewhat of a fixture of Australia politics. However, what do we really know about the Greens in Australia? Is the party really just an extension of the environment movement, or has it matured to a professional party, capable of taking on the 'big boys'? This book represents an important effort to come to grips with this question, by talking to the people who make the party tick. Who are the members and activists of the party? What do they think about the political and policy winds sweeping Australia in the early 21st century? And has the party made that transition from a home for tree-huggers and alternative lifestylers to a party ready to work in Government? And the answer must be: yes.

Providing comprehensive insights into the parties and party systems of post-communist EU member states within the framework of each country's specific conditions and developments, this volume examines in particular the cases of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. The book concentrates on three main themes: ideological cleavages between parties, party system competition, and party organization. Analytically competent and highly informative, it is suitable for courses on party systems and EU politics.

The general perception of modern Latin American political institutions emphasizes a continuing and random process of disorder and crisis, continually out of step with other regions in their progress toward democracy and prosperity. In "History of Political Parties in Twentieth-Century Latin America," Torcuato S. Di Tella demonstrates that this common view lacks context and comparative nuance, and is deeply misleading. Looking behind the scenes of modern Latin American history, he discerns its broad patterns through close analysis of actual events and comparative sociological perspectives that explain the apparent chaos of the past and point toward the more democratic polity now developing.

Di Tella argues that although Latin America has peculiarities of its own, they must be understood in their contrasts--and similarities--with both the developed centers and undeveloped peripheries of the world. Latin American societies have been prone to mass rebellions from very early on, more so than in other regions of the world. He analyzes, as well, such significant exceptions to this pattern as Chile, Colombia, and, to a large extent, Brazil. Turning to the other side of the social spectrum, he shows how the underpriviledged classes have tended to support strongman populist movements, which have the double character of being aggressive toward the established order, but at the same time repressive of public liberties and of more radical groups. Di Tella provides here a necessary examination of the concept of populism and divides it into several variants. Populism, he maintains, is by no means disappearing, but its variants are instead undergoing important changes with significant bearing on the region's near-term future.

"History of Political Parties in Twentieth-Century Latin America" is rich in historical description, but also in its broad review of social structures and of the strengths and weaknesses of political institutions. "Choice" commented that "this heavily documented volume with an extensive bibliography would prove valuable to researchers and advanced students of Latin America."

Major party Senators are highly partisan actors, their strong partisanship is partly a result of their backgrounds in central office work in their political parties, and also a product of their election by means of a de facto list system of proportional representation, with centralised selection of lists. If the Senate's electoral system makes major party Senators heavily dependent on party, it also largely frees them of accountability to the electoral district they represent. Due to their pre-parliamentary careers and the influence of electoral rules, Senators are available, in several senses, to perform key tasks, both prior to and during the formal election campaign, in assisting their parties to secure the maximum number of House of Representatives seats. This role, now institutionalised in the major parties and referred to as 'duty Senatorship', is an important aspect of electoral professionalism in Australian political parties. But how professional really are major party senators? Do they adequately serve their party in the pursuit of lower house seats, the accumulation of which determines which major party forms government? What distractions exist which may take away from this electoral professional role?

The Syrian Social Nationalist Party devoted itself to reviving and unifying the Syrian nation and establishing this nation's complete independence over its historical homeland, Greater Syria. It continues its struggle today, influencing and shaping Lebanese and Syrian society and politics. Yet, the party remains largely unknown and misunderstood, a condition that stems from the lack of any comprehensive study of it. This book fills this gap. Syrian nationalism and nationalist movements, generally speaking, have been largely neglected and ignored by historians, scholars, and observers of the Middle East. So, too, has the SSNP. The lack of detailed and nuanced analyses has left significant gaps in the party's rich history unaddressed and enabled the perpetuation of inaccuracies and misperceptions regarding its past. Given this and the party's ongoing relevance in Lebanon and Syria, a thorough examination of the early history of the SSNP, the political organization and movement that embodied Syrian nationalism's most explicit, most cogent expression is even more necessary. Based on an extensive and thorough examination of Arabic, French, and English primary sources, the monograph is the first comprehensive, systematic history of the SSNP to date, detailing its struggle to fulfill its nationalist vision and establish a secular, independent state in Greater Syria through a thorough analysis of its formation, evolution, and political activities in Lebanon and Syria.

The author writes from the experience of thirty years working in the Jerusalem municipality, including 21 years as a public official and ten years as an elected councilor representing the left-wing Meretz party. This book is born from an urgent need to understand the mechanisms articulating the city in which I live, which I love and for which I suffer. I am from Jerusalem, I could not live in another city and the barbarities my government is perpetrating on the Palestinian parts of the city do not allow me to remain quiet. Through this book I engage with the prevailing model of power and repression and the neo-colonial system that expresses its perverse functioning. This book is centered on the political and economic mechanisms practiced by Israel in East Jerusalem over the last decade. These mechanisms reinforce the occupation and keep Jerusalems Palestinians subjugated through co-optation into the Israeli system. Analysis is centered on the changes wrought during the mayoralty of Nir Barkat (20082018), who came into politics from the business world and introduced management concepts to the workings of municipal government. While Barkat succeeded in creating the illusion of a new era in eastern Jerusalem, the result is heartbreaking displacement and vulnerability toward East Jerusalems residents, and the application of urban planning that impacts negatively on residents legal status. The City of Jerusalem: The Israeli Occupation and Municipal Subjugation of Palestinian Jerusalemites is a profound sociological and economic analysis of a city under a normalised occupation which has destroyed the very essence of what Jerusalem stands for: a reflection of diverse religious belief within a multicultural setting, where citizens rights are upheld and not discriminated against for political purpose.

How challenger parties, acting as political entrepreneurs, are changing European democracies Challenger parties are on the rise in Europe, exemplified by the likes of Podemos in Spain, the National Rally in France, the Alternative for Germany, or the Brexit Party in Great Britain. Like disruptive entrepreneurs, these parties offer new policies and defy the dominance of established party brands. In the face of these challenges and a more volatile electorate, mainstream parties are losing their grip on power. In this book, Catherine De Vries and Sara Hobolt explore why some challenger parties are so successful and what mainstream parties can do to confront these political entrepreneurs. Drawing analogies with how firms compete, De Vries and Hobolt demonstrate that political change is as much about the ability of challenger parties to innovate as it is about the inability of dominant parties to respond. Challenger parties employ two types of innovation to break established party dominance: they mobilize new issues, such as immigration, the environment, and Euroscepticism, and they employ antiestablishment rhetoric to undermine mainstream party appeal. Unencumbered by government experience, challenger parties adapt more quickly to shifting voter tastes and harness voter disenchantment. Delving into strategies of dominance versus innovation, the authors explain why European party systems have remained stable for decades, but also why they are now increasingly under strain. As challenger parties continue to seek to disrupt the existing order, Political Entrepreneurs shows that their ascendency fundamentally alters government stability and democratic politics.

In 1895, Eleanor Marx and Edward Aveling were two of the best-known socialists in Britain, mixing with the most influential figures of their time, from Keir Hardie to William Morris. The couple were committed to building a socialist political force based on the 'scientific' theories of Eleanor's father Karl and his collaborator, Friedrich Engels. Marx and Aveling's 'letters' to Russia from England offer a unique perspective on British socialism as it entered its crucial phase, which culminated in the foundation of the Labour Party in 1900. As they reported from the heart of capitalist Britain, a Liberal government fell, having failed to keep its promises to labour. The remainder of the year saw the election of a Conservative-led Unionist administration, an underwhelming general election performance by socialists, and the death of Engels. These lively, accessible letters include sharp reflections on Victorian cultural figures including Oscar Wilde, Annie Besant, and the 'new woman' novelists. An introductory essay sheds light on the authors' complex, tumultuous life and work together, and reveals the friendships and political connections Karl Marx, Engels and the authors had with prominent Russian revolutionaries. The book will be of interest to students, historians, and all those interested in left politics and movements in Britain.

New Labour is the most innovative and powerful political movement in Britain today. However, New Labour: A Critique argues that its apparent pragmatism disguises an ideological commitment to particular forms of social science, deploying new institutionalism and communitarianism to respond to the New Right.
Bevir traces the impact of these forms of social science on the ideas and policies of New Labour, paying particular attention to the welfare state and the economy. New Labour, the new institutionalism and communitarianism typically objectify aspects of the social world to sustain claims to expert knowledge. Bevir defends and enacts an alternative, interpretive approach to social science. This interpretive approach inspires a critique of New Labour as a contingent reworking of a particular socialist tradition rather than the necessary or pragmatic response that it portrays itself as.

Essentials of UK Politics and Government is the go-to textbook for all A-level Politics students studying the Edexcel specification. Building on Andrew Heywood's signature accessible style, this new fifth edition has been thoroughly updated by Kathy Schindler and Adam Tomes who draw on their experience to provide an innovative guide to UK Politics. This book covers all the core topics from Democracy and Participation, Elections and Referendums and Voting Behaviour, to the Constitution, the Prime Minister and Parliament. Packed with contemporary examples, this edition includes material on the 2017 and 2019 General Elections, Covid-19 and the latest Brexit developments. Curated pedagogical features such as Key Topic Debates, Case Studies and Synoptic Links will encourage students to strengthen their critical thinking skills and hone their ability to debate with confidence. Accompanying the book is a content-rich companion website featuring bonus case studies, further sample student answers with annotations, tips for planning and organising revision and much more. Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at bloomsburyonlineresources.com/essentials-of-uk-politics-and-government-5. These resources are designed to support teaching and learning when using this textbook and are available at no extra cost.

The recent global expansion of Protestant Christianity, and the increase in multiparty democracies, has led to the multiplication of Protestant political parties. One cannot talk of Protestant parties today without mentioning countries as diverse as Norway, Latvia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Zambia and Nicaragua. Whilst the well-established parties of the Netherlands and Scandinavia have long been studied, Paul Freston's groundbreaking book is the first global survey of this phenomenon. After looking at the traditional Protestant heartlands of Europe and the English-speaking world, Freston traces the spread of the Protestant party model to post-communist countries, the Pacific, the Muslim world, southern Africa and Latin America. He examines the circumstances favouring such parties, and the political projects they represent. The conclusion analyses the diversity of Protestant parties due to different interpretations of Christian politics and varied contexts. This unique book will interest specialists and non-specialists, across disciplines and in many parts of the world.

Since World War II, the British Labour Party has played a central role in dealing with complex international issues. Achieving real power in parliament for the first time, Labour governments have acted responsibly, and are usually in accord with the views of a substantial majority of the British people. Such was not always the case. In "British Labour Seeks a Foreign Policy," 1900-1940, Henry R. Winkler synthesizes twenty years' study of the subject to offer the first full-scale treatment of the Labour Party's evolution in foreign affairs. The Labour Party came into existence at the beginning of the twentieth century to deal with the domestic problems of the working class, and it showed relatively little interest in foreign policy issues. In the aftermath of World War I, however, small groups of moderates made the case against the bitter rejection of the Versailles Treaty by many in the Labour Party and the trade union movement. Most of these argued that the League of Nations could be used to remedy some of the deficiencies of the settlement and that such a League must have the sanction of force if it was to be effective. During the 1930s, the failures of the League--in the Far East, Abyssinia, Spain, and Central Europe--compelled some of its advocates to conclude that, League or no League, the threat from Nazi Germany mandated support for a program of preparedness and rearmament even under the aegis of a hated National Government. The result, by 1937, was the final formal abandonment of many of the radical illusions of the twenties and thirties, as Labour reluctantly but formally assumed a posture that enabled it to share in the governance of wartime Britain and to take a key role in dealing with the international issues that emerged in the aftermath of the Second World War. This volume contains valuable lessons on the responsibilities of political parties as well as the pros and cons of specific policies. It is essential reading for understanding Britain's later stands as its leaders tried to adjust to Britain's diminished power in the post-World War II world.

1970 to 1974 was a pivotal period in the history of the Labour Party. This book shows how the Labour Party responded to electoral defeat in 1970 and to what extent its political and policy activity in opposition was directed to the recovery of power at the following general election. At a point in Labour's history when social democracy had apparently failed, this book considers what the party came up with in its place. The story of the Labour Party in opposition, 1970-1974, is shown to be one of a major political party sustaining policy activity of limited relevance to its electoral requirements. Not only that, but Labour regained office in 1974 with policies on wages and industrial relations whose unworkability led to the failure of the Labour government 1974-1979, and the Labour Party's irrelevance to so many voters after 1979. Using primary sources, the author documents and explains how this happened, focusing on the party's response to defeat in 1970 and the behaviour of key individuals in the parliamentary leadership in response to pressure for a review of policy.