This book represents the first comprehensive study of how technocracy currently challenges representative democracy and asks how technocratic politics undermines democratic legitimacy. How strong is its challenge to democratic institutions? The book offers a solid theory and conceptualization of technocratic politics and the technocratic challenge is analyzed empirically at all levels of the national and supra-national institutions and actors, such as cabinets, parties, the EU, independent bodies, central banks and direct democratic campaigns in a comparative and policy perspective. It takes an in-depth analysis addressing elitism, meritocracy, de-politicization, efficiency, neutrality, reliance on science and distrust toward party politics and ideologies, and their impact when pitched against democratic responsiveness, accountability, citizens' input and pluralist competition. In the current crisis of democracy, this book assesses the effects of the technocratic critique against representative institutions, which are perceived to be unable to deal with complex and global problems. It analyzes demands for competent and responsible policy making in combination with the simultaneous populist resistance to experts. The book will be of key interest to scholars and students of comparative politics, political theory, policy analysis, multi-level governance as well as practitioners working in bureaucracies, media, think-tanks and policy making.

In an in-depth comparative and long-term analysis, first published in 2004, Daniele Caramani studies the macro-historical process of the nationalization of politics. Using a great wealth of data on single constituencies in seventeen West European countries, he reconstructs the territorial structures of electoral support for political parties, as well as their evolution since the mid-nineteenth century from highly fragmented politics in the early stages toward nation-wide alignments. Caramani provides a multi-pronged empirical analysis through time, across countries, and between party families. The inclusion in the analysis of all the most important social and political cleavages - class, state-church, rural-urban, ethno-linguistic and religious - allows him to assess the nationalizing impact of the class cleavage that emerged from national and industrial revolutions, and the resistance of preindustrial cultural factors to national integration. Institutional and socio-economic factors are combined with actor-centered patterns and differences between national types of territorial configurations of the vote.

This book discusses how the extension of voting rights beyond citizenship (i.e., to non-national immigrants) and residence (i.e., to expatriates) can be interpreted in the light of democratization processes in both Western countries and in developing regions. It does so by inserting the globalization-specific extension of voting rights to immigrants and expatriates within the long-term series of historical waves of democratization. Does the current extension enhance democracy by granting de facto disenfranchised immigrants and emigrants political rights or does it jeopardize the very functioning of democracy by undermining its legitimacy through the removal of territorial and national boundaries? The book offers a preliminary synthesis in a broad comparative perspective covering both alien and external voting rights in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. It shows that reforms toward more expansive electorates vary considerably and that their effects on the inclusion of migrants largely depend on the specific regulations and the socio-political context in which they operate. The book was originally published as a special issue of Democratization.

This book discusses how the extension of voting rights beyond citizenship (i.e., to non-national immigrants) and residence (i.e., to expatriates) can be interpreted in the light of democratization processes in both Western countries and in developing regions. It does so by inserting the globalization-specific extension of voting rights to immigrants and expatriates within the long-term series of historical waves of democratization. Does the current extension enhance democracy by granting de facto disenfranchised immigrants and emigrants political rights or does it jeopardize the very functioning of democracy by undermining its legitimacy through the removal of territorial and national boundaries? The book offers a preliminary synthesis in a broad comparative perspective covering both alien and external voting rights in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. It shows that reforms toward more expansive electorates vary considerably and that their effects on the inclusion of migrants largely depend on the specific regulations and the socio-political context in which they operate. The book was originally published as a special issue of Democratization.

This book represents the first comprehensive study of how technocracy currently challenges representative democracy and asks how technocratic politics undermines democratic legitimacy. How strong is its challenge to democratic institutions? The book offers a solid theory and conceptualization of technocratic politics and the technocratic challenge is analyzed empirically at all levels of the national and supra-national institutions and actors, such as cabinets, parties, the EU, independent bodies, central banks and direct democratic campaigns in a comparative and policy perspective. It takes an in-depth analysis addressing elitism, meritocracy, de-politicization, efficiency, neutrality, reliance on science and distrust toward party politics and ideologies, and their impact when pitched against democratic responsiveness, accountability, citizens' input and pluralist competition. In the current crisis of democracy, this book assesses the effects of the technocratic critique against representative institutions, which are perceived to be unable to deal with complex and global problems. It analyzes demands for competent and responsible policy making in combination with the simultaneous populist resistance to experts. The book will be of key interest to scholars and students of comparative politics, political theory, policy analysis, multi-level governance as well as practitioners working in bureaucracies, media, think-tanks and policy making.

In a broadly comparative, historical and quantitative analysis, this study reveals the unity of European electorates and party systems. Investigating thirty countries in Western and Central-Eastern Europe over 150 years of electoral history, the author shows the existence of common alignments and parallel waves of electoral change across the continent. Europeanization appears through an array of indicators including cross-country deviation measures, uniform swings of votes, the correspondence between national arenas and European Parliament, as well as in the ideological convergence among parties of the same families. Based on a painstaking analysis of a large wealth of data, the study identifies the supra-national, domestic and diffusion factors at the origin of Europeanization. Building on previous work on the nationalization of politics, this new study makes the case for Europeanization in historical and electoral perspective, and points to the role of left-right in structuring the European party system along ideological rather than territorial lines. In the classical tradition of electoral and party literature, this book sheds a new light on Europe's democracy.

With unparalleled empirical material, this is the most comprehensive introduction to comparative politics written by the leading experts in the field who bring together a diverse and informed international perspective on comparative politics. Six new authors join the team for the sixth edition, bringing fresh ideas and insights to the comparative analysis the book provides. The new edition has been brought fully up to date with coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and challenges to the global international order. A new chapter on the Nation-State and multicultural citizenship focuses on identity, community, ethnicity, migration, and regions. In addition to this, a new chapter 11, 'Direct Democracy', provides cutting-edge analysis of referendums, citizen assemblies, and other forms of democratic innovations. Additional analysis of gender equality, poverty, and climate change is provided from a global perspective in the new chapter 22, which examines the impact of public policies. And finally, a new chapter 25, 'Promoting and Protecting Democracy', draws on the latest developments, such as global shifts towards authoritarian regimes and autocracy, and international relations perspectives, to present a clear overview of democracy promotion. An unrivalled amount of empirical material in the text illustrates the key similarities and differences across political systems. The wealth of empirical data also encourages students to go beyond the 'what' of comparison to the 'how'. Combining cutting edge treatment of theories and truly global geographical coverage, this exciting textbook is essential reading for all comparative politics students. The sixth edition includes a wealth of embedded digital resources, which are accessible through the enhanced e-book. These include: - Multiple-choice questions for every section, designed to reinforce students' understanding of key points through frequent and cumulative revision, and to assist with independent self-study - Interactive graphs with live-updating data, which allow readers to manipulate and customise their own charts, to help reinforce understanding of empirical data in the context of each chapter - A library of web links to relevant databases, blogs, debates, and videos, to help explore research interests and take learning further - Answers to end of chapter questions, which contain useful hints and tips to help tackle the knowledge-based, critical thinking, and applied questions - Videos of news reports, speeches, analysis, and key events to help bring theories and concepts to life - A bank of comparative tables and country profiles, which illustrate ideas and concepts, but can also be used in students' own research and analysis, giving readers a real sense of how comparative politics works in practice. - An interactive flashcard glossary to test students' knowledge and understanding of each chapter's key terms Teaching resources for adopting lecturers include: - Seminar activities that lecturers can use to engage their students, based on the content of each chapter - A bank of questions for lecturers to use to test students' understanding of key concepts covered in the chapters

In an in-depth comparative and long-term analysis, first published in 2004, Daniele Caramani studies the macro-historical process of the nationalization of politics. Using a great wealth of data on single constituencies in seventeen West European countries, he reconstructs the territorial structures of electoral support for political parties, as well as their evolution since the mid-nineteenth century from highly fragmented politics in the early stages toward nation-wide alignments. Caramani provides a multi-pronged empirical analysis through time, across countries, and between party families. The inclusion in the analysis of all the most important social and political cleavages - class, state-church, rural-urban, ethno-linguistic and religious - allows him to assess the nationalizing impact of the class cleavage that emerged from national and industrial revolutions, and the resistance of preindustrial cultural factors to national integration. Institutional and socio-economic factors are combined with actor-centered patterns and differences between national types of territorial configurations of the vote.

In a broadly comparative, historical and quantitative analysis, this study reveals the unity of European electorates and party systems. Investigating thirty countries in Western and Central-Eastern Europe over 150 years of electoral history, the author shows the existence of common alignments and parallel waves of electoral change across the continent. Europeanization appears through an array of indicators including cross-country deviation measures, uniform swings of votes, the correspondence between national arenas and European Parliament, as well as in the ideological convergence among parties of the same families. Based on a painstaking analysis of a large wealth of data, the study identifies the supra-national, domestic and diffusion factors at the origin of Europeanization. Building on previous work on the nationalization of politics, this new study makes the case for Europeanization in historical and electoral perspective, and points to the role of left-right in structuring the European party system along ideological rather than territorial lines. In the classical tradition of electoral and party literature, this book sheds a new light on Europe's democracy.