This study is a comparative analysis of the relationship between social structure and party choice in eight West European countries. Oddbjbliogorn Knutsen analyzes the comparative strength of social structural variables, and how these have changed from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. Other factors that are considered include for which parties the structural variables have the largest impact within the various party systems and across national contexts, and for which parties are the most significant changes in support from various social groups found.

Populism is a concept that is currently in vogue among political commentators and, more often than not, used pejoratively. The phenomenon of populism is typically seen as something adverse and, in the European context routinely related to xenophobic politics. What populism exactly is and who its main representatives are, however, often remains unclear. This text has two main aims: to identify populist parties in 21st century Europe and to explain their electoral performance. It argues that populist parties should not be dismissed as dangerous pariahs out of hand but rather that their rise tells us something about the state of representative democracy. The study has a broad scope, including populist parties of various ideological kinds - thus moving beyond examples of the 'right' - and covering long-established Western European countries as well as post-communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe. It presents the results of an innovative mixed-methods research project, combining a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) of populist parties in 31 European countries with three in-depth case studies of the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.

This study departs from traditional interpretations of cohabitation in French politics, which suggest French institutions are capable of coping when the President and Prime Minister originate from different political parties. Instead, it offers the opposite view that cohabitation leads to partisan conflict and inertia in the policy-making process.

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 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 book is concerned with global communications revolution and political power. It offers a fascinating combination of astuteness together with intellectual provinciality.

An analysis of the proceedings of the 37th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Setting the Congress in its context, and focusing on the issues of political reform, economic restructuring, the nationalities question and foreign policy, this book explores the struggle for power between radicals, reformers and conservatives in the USSR. It highlights the Party's changing role in the Soviet political system and its changing relationship with the military and the KGB. It examines the ongoing reappraisal of the Soviet past, particularly the Stalin era, and its significance for the rethinking of Soviet socialism, the democratization of the society and the dismantling of the command-administrative economy. The Congress, forecast by some as heralding the demise of the CPSU as a ruling party, examines the debates raging within the Party and the wider society concerning the future of the USSR and the fate of perestroika.

Examining the social, cultural and political foundations of German political parties past and present, this book concentrates on the social context in which the parties operate. German political parties are examined both at regional level and in historical perspective.

Why would a famously centralized Latin American state begin to re-distribute political power to cities and towns? In the Dominican Republic in the years between 1994 and 2008, a pro-municipal social alliance pressed for decentralization and politicians yielded, seeking power in three-party competition. Reformers utilized the central dynamics of a patrimonial system in order to reform it as rival parties and factions formed a series of shifting temporary alliances on municipal issues. Based on contemporary files and more than 60 interviews with participants, this study examines how electoral, financial, and administrative power has been dispersed. Non-concurrent local elections made municipal political leaders more autonomous; new laws multiplied central revenue-sharing twelve-fold; the centralist Ministry of Municipalities was greatly weakened; and participatory budgeting became mandatory nation-wide. The analysis also documents the continuing power of centralist political forces and suggests innovative strategies to maintain decentralizing momentum.

This book traces the economic ideology of the UK Labour Party from its origins to the current day. Through its analysis, the book emphasises key crises, including the 1926 General Strike, the 1931 Great Depression, the 1979 Winter of Discontent and the 2007/2008 economic crisis. In analysing this history, the ideology of the Labour Party is examined through four core themes: * the party's definition of socialism; * the role of the state in economic decision making; * the party's understanding of inequalities; and * its relationship with the trade union movement. The result is a systematic exploration of the drivers and key ideas behind the Labour Party's economic ideology. In demonstrating how crises have affected the party's economic policy, the book presents a historical analysis of the party's evolution since its formation and offers insights into how future changes may occur.

"The Transformation of Urban Liberalism" re-evaluates the dramatic and turbulent political decade following the 'Third Reform Act', and questions whether the Liberal Party's political heartlands - the urban boroughs - really were in decline. In contrast to some recent studies, it does not see electoral reform, the Irish Home Rule crisis and the challenge of socialism as representing a fundamental threat to the integrity of the party. Instead this book illustrates, using parallel case studies, how the party gradually began to transform into a social democratic organisation through a re-evaluation of its role and policy direction. This process was not one directed from the centre - despite the important personalities of Gladstone and Rosebery - but rather one heavily influenced by 'grass roots politics'. Consequently, it suggests that late Victorian politics was more democratic and open than sometimes thought, with leading urban politicians forced to respond to the demands of party activists. Changes in the structure of urban rule produced new policy outcomes and brought new collectivist forms of New Liberalism onto the political agenda. Thus, it is argued that without the political transformations of the decade 1885-1895, the radical liberal governments of the Edwardian era would not have been possible.

This major new reference surveys political parties of importance in the Americas since 1980, with the exclusion of the United States. This one-volume work is part of "The Greenwood Historical Encyclopedia of the World's Political Parties "and has been fashioned both to update Robert J. Alexander's prize-winning two-volume set published in 1982, "Political Parties of the AmericaS," and to serve as an analysis of political development and political parties in the Western Hemisphere during the last decade, an encyclopedia that can stand on its own. Like other works in this series, this volume edited by Charles D. Ameringer is intended for college, university, institutional, and public libraries.

Following a brief introduction giving some general historical background, chapters on 49 countries in North and South America and in the Caribbean are arranged alphabetically. These chapters provide some historical information, short bibliographies, and then describe political parties and current developments of note. Parties are arranged alphabetically by their English names or translations. Internal cross-references and a full index make the volume easily accessible to researchers in different fields. A chronology points to dates of importance.

Keohane examines the main British political parties' attitude to Britain's policy on three key security issues: the use of force; nuclear weapons; and security in Northern Ireland. He analyzes how each of the parties viewed conflicts at Suez, the Falklands and the Gulf, elucidates their perspective on nuclear weapons and concludes with a review of their attitude towards security in Northern Ireland. The text concludes that the parties' policies reflect their distinctive views on security, and that international conditions often severely affect the policy pursued.

The Scottish independence debate has consequences for Scotland, British politics, the future of the UK - and internationally. In Scotland Rising, Gerry Hassan addresses the key questions in this debate with a deep dive into its history, beyond the usual references to Thatcherism, Toryism and Westminster, by analysing the relative decline of the UK, the nature of the British state, its capitalist economy and politics that underpin it. At the same time, a distinctive, autonomous Scotland has emerged beyond Nichola Sturgeon's SNP and independence that has demanded more self-government. Scotland Rising highlights the importance of culture, stories and collective voices in reshaping how people see Scotland, both in during the first referendum in 2014 and again today. This debate is of relevance to everyone in the UK, including England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Can politics and democracy liberate people from the wreckage of Westminster? And if the Scots can, could it inspire others? Scotland Rising is a must-read for anyone with an interest in the future of Scotland and the UK.

"Political Parties in Post-Communist Societies "is a study of party development in the post-communist world. Set in the endogenous institution tradition, it develops an analytical framework that can be used to understand why parties form and how and why they choose certain electoral strategies once formed. The book is based on extensive fieldwork in Bulgaria and Hungary and uses the experience of parties there as well as aggregate data from 12 post-communist states to provide an explanation of the behavior of parties since 1990. The book offers some new insights into the impact of party financing, party organization and international actors on the behavior of political parties in these recently democratized political systems.

The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), successor to the East German Communist party, has long outlasted the state that spawned and nourished it. It now flourishes in Berlin and the territories of the old GDR, confounding the conventional political in Germany and the rest of the West. This is the first scholarly examination of the party's unexpected success as a regional party, as well as a left-wing party of protest and reform. It is a unique study of the PDS's structure, strategy and support, and of its present and future status in German politics.

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.

National and transnational debates in Britain and Germany surrounding the meaning of the word "conservative" continue to have far-reaching political consequences. After 1945, even while the term was an accepted part of the political vocabulary of Great Britain, in the Federal Republic of Germany their young democracy was conflicted due to anti-democratic instability. The Guardians of Concepts analyzes the historical changes in the political languages of conservatism in the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany between 1945 and the early 1980s which plagued intellectuals, politicians, and entire parties. As one of the most difficult concepts in both the political and historiographical vocabulary of the German language, conservatism's analysis takes a linguistically focused path through comprehensive and transnational connection of intellectual history with the history of politics, which are subjects that are otherwise commonly addressed separately from each other.

The Routledge Handbook of Far‐Right Extremism in Europe is a timely and important study of the far and extreme right-wing phenomenon across a broad spectrum of European countries, and in relation to a selected list of core areas and topics such as anti‐gender, identitarian politics, hooliganism, and ideology. The handbook deals with the rise and the developments of the far‐right movements, parties, and organisations across diverse countries in Europe. Crucially it discusses the main topics and features issues pertaining to the far‐right ideology and positioning, and considers how central and less central actors of the far‐right milieus have fared within the given context. Comprising a wide range of subject expertise, the contributors focus on far-right organisations on the margins of the electoral sphere, as well as street‐level movements, and the relationship between them and electoral politics. The handbook spans nearly twenty European country‐cases, grouped according to geographical/regional area. It includes case studies where the far right has gained increased momentum, as well as countries where it has been much less successful in mobilising public opinion and electorate. Another important feature is the inclusion of street‐level mobilisations, such as football firms, thereby expanding and updating existing research, which is primarily focused on political parties and organisations. Multidisciplinary and comprehensive, this handbook will be of great interest to scholars and students of Criminology, Political Science, Extremism Studies, European Studies, Media and Communication, and Sociology.

In August 1968, Democrats gather at their National Convention in Chicago to debate a platform for a deeply divided party. Factions are split over issues such as civil rights, infrastructure and the war on poverty-not to mention the war in Vietnam. Meanwhile, crowds of protesters descend upon the city. Impassioned antiwar protesters plan sit-ins and marches while the absurdist Yippies, determined to make a mockery of the Convention, intend to nominate a pig for president. Journalists flood the area to cover the stories of the delegates and protesters. Over the course of this game, players will develop a better understanding of the complexities of the social and cultural tumult that has come to be known as "the Sixties".

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 Conservative Party has been the dominant force in twentieth-century British politics. On its own or as the predominant partner in a coalition it has held power for more than sixty years since 1900. Despite this it has been the most neglected and misunderstood of all the main parties. This book is the first systematic attempt to survey the history and politics of the Conservative Party across the whole of the twentieth century from the `Khaki' election of 1900 to John Major's victory of 1992 and beyond. Traditional boundaries between history and political science have been ignored, with each of the authoritative team of contributors pursuing an important theme within three main areas; the composition and structure of the Party; its ideas, policies and actions in government; and its public image and sources of support in the country. The essays are based upon new research, in particular in the Conservative Party archives. Conservative Century will be essential reading for both students and specialists, and it offers a mine of fascinating information for anyone interested in British politics.