Despite the increasing academic interest in populism, we still lack understanding of individual factors contributing to populist voting. One of the main reasons for this is that populism is almost always attached to other ideologies which makes it difficult to isolate factors. This book draws on an innovative research design by comparing the reasons to vote for six populist parties which differ remarkably in terms of their host ideology in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany. The results show that populist voters are motivated by their dissatisfaction with the functioning of democracy and a desire for more direct democracy. Furthermore it appears that populist parties do not mobilize among one specific social group although deprived groups are generally more susceptible to populist voting. Finally, this study explored why some populist parties persist while others decline. Origins of party formation and how leaders organize their party internally seem the most important factors determining party persistence. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of populism, European politics and contemporary political theory.

This volume surveys recent Taiwanese politics, mainly from the perspective of the ruling KMT party. It includes analysis of recent changes in the party itself and also in the relations between the party, the opposition, and society generally. Also included is simple statistical analysis of rank-and-file KMT activists and of the 1989 national elections. The work's theoretical center is the question of democratization, with an attempt to explore an anomaly: the KMT is, apparently, an example of a ruling hegemonic party that has undertaken a genuine liberalization, instituting changes that would put its rule at risk.

The general theoretical issue must be seen in the context of the specific Taiwan situation, and the work analyzes the complications this engenders. Democratization in particular has implications for the future relations between mainlanders and Taiwanese (particularly, can the KMT retain its integrity as a cohesive party if it becomes a Taiwanese-dominated political organization operating on Taiwan alone?), and the potential contradiction between a democratic Taiwan and the future unification of China. This volume will be essential reading for political scientists, students and scholars involved in the study of Taiwan as well as mainland China.

Party Structure and Organization in East-Central Europe focuses on the origin and development of new political parties within different countries in East-Central Europe. The book has a clear focus on party structure and organization. It is one of the first books to present empirical studies of the development of political parties in Eastern Europe. Whilst making a distinctive contribution, it also feeds into the broader debate about party development and links with other issues of political theory. The book fills a major gap in our understanding of developments within political parties and their structural evolution. It raises questions about the status and role of a modern political party - not least in East-Central Europe - and the links that can be drawn between developments within the parties and their changing position within the political system as a whole. All those with an interest in comparative party development and the processes of post-communist change in Eastern Europe will welcome this well focused empirical study.

This engaging exploration of the French Socialist Party details the exceptional problems that the party has faced and the way it has dealt with them. The result is a comprehensive and compelling guide to the quiddities of political infighting, the structure of power and of the environment in which the party operates.

Since the 1880s, the Conservative Party has been an important political force in Britain. In this study of Conservative ideology since the end of Second World War, first published in 1974, Andrew Gamble considers the nature of Conservative party opinion, and the factors that have accounted for its success. The adaptation of the party post-1945 is discussed, as well as the ascendancy of the Right progressives in the leadership, and the challenge of the Whigs and Imperialists. Finally, the book includes a discussion of the fluctuations within the Conservative Government between 1970 and 1974, with an account of what Gamble believes to have been ultimately a failure. A rigorous and comprehensive analysis of Conservative thought and policy, this study will be of particular value to those with an interest in the history of British Conservative politics and government.

Traditional perceptions of centre parties stress their moderating factors, but their opposite tendency of contributing to party system polarization has generally been treated as if it were of lesser consequence. This study seeks to settle an age-old debate by claiming that what has become acceptable almost universally by political scientists, and has achieved the status of an axiom when politics are discussed, is dubious, if not outright incorrect. Examining this important aspect of European parliamentary democracies, this book reassesses the perception of centre parties as a force of moderation, arguing that the centre has the capacity to cause polarization. An examination of contemporary centre parties is provided to prove this maxim.

In his acclaimed #1 "New York Times" bestseller, Mark R. Levin explores the psychology, motivations, and history of the utopian movement, its architects--the Founding Fathers, and its modern-day disciples--and how the individual and American society are being devoured by it.
Levin asks, what is this utopian force that both allures a free people and destroys them? Levin digs deep into the past and draws astoundingly relevant parallels to contemporary America from Plato's "Republic," Thomas More's "Utopia," Thomas Hobbes's "Leviathan," and Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto," as well as from the critical works of John Locke, Charles Montesquieu, Alexis de Tocqueville, and other philosophical pioneers who brilliantly diagnosed the nature of man and government. As Levin meticulously pursues his subject, the reader joins him in an enlightening and compelling journey. And in the end, Levin's message is clear: the American republic is in great peril. The people must now choose between utopianism or liberty.
President Ronald Reagan warned, "freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." Levin agrees, and with "Ameritopia," delivers another modern political classic, an indispensable guide for America in our time and in the future.

The Fall of Boris Johnson is the explosive inside account of how a prime minister lost his hold on power. From Sebastian Payne, Director of Onward and former Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times. Winner at the 2022 Parlimentary Book Awards A New Statesman, The Times, Daily Mail and FT Book of the Year 'Revelatory' - The Daily Telegraph 'Delicious detail' - The Times Boris Johnson was touted as the saviour of the country and the Conservative Party, obtaining a huge commons majority and finally "getting Brexit done". But within three short years, he was deposed in disgrace, leaving the country in crisis. Sebastian Payne tells the essential behind-the-scenes story, charting the series of scandals that felled Johnson: from the blocked suspension of Owen Paterson, through partygate and the final death blow: the Chris Pincher allegations. This is the full narrative of the betrayals, rivalries and resignations that resulted in the dramatic Conservative coup – and set in motion those events that saw the party sink to catastrophic new lows. With unparalleled access to those who were in the room when key decisions were made, Payne tells of the miscalculations and mistakes that led to Boris Johnson’s downfall. This is a gripping and timely look at how power is gained, wielded and lost in Britain today. 'Genuinely page-turning' - Andrew Marr 'Entertaining and illuminating' - Tim Shipman

This book examines the course of official criticism of republican leaderships in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from Stalin's death until the collapse of central control in the late 1980s. It focuses upon five republics, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belorussia. The extraordinary power of the central leadership to replace particular republican leaders is contrasted with the continuing dominance of elite politics in these republics by local cliques with substantial and increasing autonomy from Moscow.

This engrossing narrative chronicles the period immediately following the collapse of the Greenback-Labor Party in the 1880s and the subsequent rise of Populism a few years later. Originating in the Midwest and the South as a political response to the increasingly painful economic distress of the nation's farmers, the Populist Party-the most powerful agrarian movement in American history-achieved major-party status in several states while electing governors in Colorado, Kansas, and South Dakota. In addition to winning nearly 400 state legislative races and holding five seats in the U.S. Senate, the Populists also captured twenty-two congressional seats during their high-water mark in 1896-the largest bloc of third-party congressmen since the Know-Nothing Party of the 1850s.

Culminating with the party's demise in 1908, this period of rapid and unprecedented industrialization in American society also included the founding of the Socialist Party, a young and virile organization led by labor leader Eugene V. Debs that quickly eclipsed the older Socialist Labor Party on the American Left, and witnessed the venerable Prohibitionists-the country's oldest minor party-briefly emerge as the leading third-party movement in the United States.

By the time Margeret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister in 1990, she has tranformed the fortunes of her Conservative Party. Under her leadership the Conservatives won three general election victories in a row over a divided opposition and enjoyed a degree of political and ideological dominance that led many to speak of the end of the socialist era and the emergence of a new consensus. What Reagan had done in the United States, Margaret Thatcher had done in Britain. A new word--Thatcherism--had entered the political lexicon.

Thatcherism came to signify a wide-ranging and distinctive political project aimed at promoting economic recovery and restoring the authority of the state. This second, revised and updated edition of "The Free Economy and the Strong State" explores the political and ideological roots of Thatcherism and its relationship to the Conservative tradition and to the economic liberal ideology of the New Right, as well as to the new political agenda which emerged from the advent of recession and the crisis of the world order in the 1970's.

Andrew Gamble provides a clear and thorough account of the genesis of Thatcherism in opposition, its record in government and of the way it has been analyzed by the left and right. His book makes a major contribution to separating rhetoric from reality and understanding both the impact and the limits of Thatcherism in its bid to establish a new political hegemony and tackle Britain's economic decline.

Although the United States has always portrayed itself as a sanctuary for the world's victim's of poverty and oppression, anti-immigrant movements have enjoyed remarkable success throughout American history. None attained greater prominence than the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, a fraternal order referred to most commonly as the Know Nothing party. Vowing to reduce the political influence of immigrants and Catholics, the Know Nothings burst onto the American political scene in 1854, and by the end of the following year they had elected eight governors, more than one hundred congressmen, and thousands of other local officials including the mayors of Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago. After their initial successes, the Know Nothings attempted to increase their appeal by converting their network of lodges into a conventional political organization, which they christened the "American Party". Recently, historians have pointed to the Know Nothings' success as evidence that ethnic and religious issues mattered more to nineteenth-century voters than better-known national issues such as slavery. In this important book, however, Anbinder argues that the Know Nothings' phenomenal success was inextricably linked to the firm stance their northern members took against the extension of slavery. Most Know Nothings, he asserts, saw slavery and Catholicism as interconnected evils that should be fought in tandem. Although the Know Nothings certainly were bigots, their party provided an early outlet for the anti-slavery sentiment that eventually led to the Civil War. Anbinder's study presents the first comprehensive history of America's most successful anti-immigrant movement, as wellas a major reinterpretation of the political crisis that led to the Civil War.

"Party Politics in Germany" is the only English-language study of its kind and examines the phenomenon of party politics in the Federal Republic through comparison across time and space. It draws upon new data from the 2002 Federal elections and recent Land elections, as well as on a far more explicitly comparative literature than is generally found in single-country studies. The book not only sheds new light on political phenomena in Germany but also allows students of the comparative method to apply some of the key concepts, models and approaches with which they are familiar to the rich context of a single country study.

No other political party in the history of Britain's fascist tradition has been as successful at the ballot box as today's British National Party (BNP). This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Contemporary British Fascism offers an in-depth study of the BNP and its quest for social and political legitimacy.

This publication consists of 12 essays on the principal thinkers and schools of thought concerned with the political and historical development of the Labour Party and Labour movement. It is an examination of the major methodologies and approaches in Labour studies and a critical evaluation and appreciation of much of the most interesting scholarship in this area of study. The essays have been written by contributors who have devoted many years to the study of the Labour Party, the trade union movement and the various ideologies associated with them. and goes on to examine key periods in the development of the ideologies to which the party has subscribed. This includes the ideology on inter-war Labourism, the rival post-war perspectives on Labourism, the New Left, and the contentious alliance of unions with Labour. Key thinkers analysed include: Henry Pelling; Ross McKibbin; Ralph Miliband; Lewis Minkin; David Marquand; Perry Anderson; and Tom Nairn. Each chapter situates its subject matter in the context of a broader intellectual legacy, including the works of Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Theodore Rothstein, Stuart Hall and Samuel Beer, among others. This book should be of interest to undergraduate students of British politics and political theory and to academics concerned with Labour politics and history, trade union history and politics, research methodology and political analysis.

The Conservative Party is known as being a party of government, but its periods in opposition have been of crucial and sometimes greater importance. The Party makes radical changes to its attitudes, policies and organisation not during periods in office, but whilst recovering from the shock of defeat. The Conservative's uncomfortable spells in opposition have seen leadership crises, bitter factional strife and intense debate over the party's future direction - yet at the same time they have been the springboard for recovering power, and the foundation for the next spell of political dominance.

This text provides an overview of political parties in France. The social and ideological profiles of all the major parties are analysed, chapter by chapter, highlighting their principal functions and dynamics within the system. This examination is complemented by analyses of bloc and system features, including the pluralist left, Europe, and the ideological space in which the parties operate. In particular, the book addresses the impressive capacity of French parties and their leaders to adapt themselves to the changing concerns of their electorates and to a shifting institutional context. Contrary to the apparently fragmentary system and increasingly hostile clashes between political personalities, the continuities in the French political system seem destined to persist.

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.

It would be differcult to think of any political party whose internal problems have been so publicly scrutinised as have those of the Labour Party in recent years. The authors of The Politics of the Labour Party were not specifically asked to consider the question-why Labour? There has been no shortage of published views on that subject. Instead they were invited to look at certain themes and topics of longer-term significance. With a focus on contemporary problems, whose consequences are still unfolding The Politics of the Labour Party promotes an understanding of the context in which those problems occured and will develop with its main theme being change. Chapters included focus on power in party; the developing incompatibility of intra-party democracy and parliamentary democracy and the changing styles of political leadership. Noted contributors such as the late Robert Mackenzie, Colin Crouch and Dennis Kavanagh raise important questions about the changes in the relationship between the party and the trade unions; remind us about the scale of labours recent decline in electoral support and investigate the party's ideas of representation and asks if Labour is still the workers party. The Politics of the Labour Party provides simply the most authoritative analysis of the longer-term tensions which lie behind the immediacy of day-to-day events.

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.

Asian countries are not homogenous. They are in different stages of social and economic development, with cultural conditions and institutional and legal frameworks varying from one country to another. Therefore, how water can be successfully managed differs from one country to another. The book provides authoritative analyses of how water is being managed in different Asian countries, ranging from the world 's most populous countries like China and India to a city state like Singapore and an island country like Fiji. It also analyses in depth several wide ranging issues like terrorism, human rights, water-energy nexus, and roles of media, along with comprehensive discussions of legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks in an Asian water management context. The overall focus is on how water can be managed efficiently, cost-effectively and equitably in various Asian countries.

All except for three papers, were originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

This book provides a systematic and comparative account of the rise of 'new challenger parties' across Western Europe. It analyses how parties that challenge the conventional party system by addressing issues neglected by existing parties can succeed and fail. Systematically comparing 229 elections since 1950 across 15 European democracies, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Benelux and Scandinavian countries, this book questions why new challenger parties are more successful in some countries than others, and analyses the conditions that determine their emergence and subsequent success or failure. As one of the first systematic and comparative examinations of new challenger parties, this book looks at both new politics parties and extreme-right parties, and the structures to aid their emergence at the time of an election. Identifying two distinctive stages of party development, the author adopts a 'double-hurdle' model involving, first, the chances of emergence, and second, sustained success. This framework, in combination with a wide-range of empirical data, provides for an innovative and insightful analysis of a neglected topic. New Challenger Parties in Western Europe will be of interest to students and scholars of government, comparative politics and political parties.

What has happened to the European radical left after the collapse of the USSR? How has it reacted, reformed, even revived? This new volume is one of the first to provide an overview of the main developments in contemporary European radical left parties (those defining themselves as to the left of, and not merely on the left of social democracy), which are now an increasingly visible phenomenon in European party politics. Unlike many of the existing studies it focuses on communist and non-communist parties, addresses their non-parliamentary and international activity, and takes a pan-European perspective, focusing on both Eastern and Western Europe. March focuses on key contemporary left parties, the nature of their radicalism and their ideological and strategic positions, and overall, addresses their current dynamics and immediate electoral prospects. The book argues that radical left parties are still afflicted by existential crises about the nature of 'socialism', and the future of communist parties in particular is under threat. The most successful left parties are no longer extremist, but present themselves as defending values and policies that social democrats have allegedly abandoned, focus on pragmatism rather than ideology and increasingly orientate themselves towards government. Providing a significant contribution to existing literature in the field, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, political parties and radical politics.

From its inception in 2001, the United Russia Party has rapidly developed into a hugely successful, organisationally-complex political party and key component of power. This book provides a much needed analysis on United Russia by exploring the role of the party in the Russian political system, from 2000 to 2010. It explores the party empirically, as an impressive organisation in its own right, but also theoretically, as an independent or explanatory variable able to illumine the larger development of dominant-power politics in Russia in the same period.

The book creates a model to understand the role of political parties in electorally-based political systems and shows how United Russia conforms to this model, and importantly, how the party also has unique features that affect its place in the political system. The book goes on to argue that United Russia represents a virtual party hegemony, an outcome of political changes occurring elsewhere, and so a reversal of the typical relationship between parties and power found in comparative literature. This has potentially far reaching implications for our understanding of party dominance in the twenty-first century and also the sources of regime stability and instability.

Recent election success across the continent strikingly demonstrates the endurance of the extreme right in Europe. Piero Ignazi's volume provides the definitive account of this important political phenomenon. What is its significance? Why have such parties prospered in some countries and not others? Who votes for them and why? These are some of the questions that the book aims to answer during the course of its borad-ranging analysis.