Party Politics in European Microstates

Party Politics in European Microstates PDF Author: Fernando Casal Bértoa
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351798049
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
This book represents the first comprehensive study of the evolution of parties and party systems in all nine democratic European states with less than one million inhabitants. As small political units have for long been considered to be most conducive to stable democracy, this volume analyses the actual role of political parties and partisan competition in the operation of modern democracy in those European microstates. Drawing on the crucial contribution of leading country experts in the field, it provides rich, systematic contextualized knowledge on these lesser-known cases. It further contributes to the mainstreaming of small state research in social science studies by comparing the experience of party politics in European microstates with that of larger countries in the same region of the world. This volume will be of key interest to scholars and students of party systems and political parties, elections and democracy, small states, European politics and more broadly of comparative politics.

Party Politics in European Microstates

Party Politics in European Microstates PDF Author: Fernando Casal Bértoa
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351798049
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Get Book

Book Description
This book represents the first comprehensive study of the evolution of parties and party systems in all nine democratic European states with less than one million inhabitants. As small political units have for long been considered to be most conducive to stable democracy, this volume analyses the actual role of political parties and partisan competition in the operation of modern democracy in those European microstates. Drawing on the crucial contribution of leading country experts in the field, it provides rich, systematic contextualized knowledge on these lesser-known cases. It further contributes to the mainstreaming of small state research in social science studies by comparing the experience of party politics in European microstates with that of larger countries in the same region of the world. This volume will be of key interest to scholars and students of party systems and political parties, elections and democracy, small states, European politics and more broadly of comparative politics.

Politics and Democracy in Microstates

Politics and Democracy in Microstates PDF Author: Wouter Veenendaal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317646576
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
Why are small states statistically more likely to have a democratic political system? By addressing this question from a qualitative and comparative methodological angle, this book analyses the effects of a small population size on political competition and participation. By comparing the four microstates of San Marino (Europe), St. Kitts and Nevis (Caribbean), Seychelles (Africa), and Palau (Oceania), it provides fresh and stimulating insight, concluding that the political dynamics of microstates are not as democratic as commonly believed. Instead, it is found in all four cases that smallness results in personalistic politics, dominance of the political executive, patron-client relations between citizens and politicians, and the circumvention of formal political institutions. In addition, the book suggests that the study of formal institutions provides an incomplete image of microstate democracy and that informal characteristics of politics in microstates also need to be explored in order to better explain the influence of smallness on democracy. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of democracy, democratization, regional and decentralization studies and comparative politics.

The European Union and Party Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

The European Union and Party Politics in Central and Eastern Europe PDF Author: P. Lewis
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230596657
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
This book examines the influence of the EU on party politics in the ten 'new' EU countries from a variety of perspectives and using a range of empirical sources. The book thus makes an original and distinctive contribution both to contemporary EU studies and to the literature on CE party systems and party development.

Territorial Party Politics in Western Europe

Territorial Party Politics in Western Europe PDF Author: W. Swenden
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 023058294X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
This book looks at the organization and strategy of state-wide parties from across some of the most important multi-layered countries in Western Europe. The volume provides the first systematic attempt to study the strategy of state-wide parties on the basis of the comparative literature on issue voting.

Party System Closure

Party System Closure PDF Author: Fernando Casal Bértoa
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019255669X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Party System Closure maps trends in interparty relations in Europe from 1848 until 2019. It investigates how the length of democratic experience, the institutionalization of individual parties, the fragmentation of parliaments, and the support for anti-establishment parties, shape the degree of institutionalization of party systems. The analyses presented answer the questions of whether predictability in partisan interactions is necessary for the survival of democratic regimes and whether it improves or undermines the quality of democracy. The developments of party politics at the elite level are contrasted with the dynamics of voting behaviour. The comparisons of distinct historical periods and of macro-regions provide a comprehensive picture of the European history of party competition and cooperation. The empirical overview presented in the book is based on a novel conceptual framework and features party composition data of more than a thousand European governments. Party systems are analysed in terms of poles and blocs, and the degree of closure and of polarization is related to a new party system typology. The book demonstrates that information collected from partisan interactions at the time of government formation can reveal changes that characterise the party system as a whole. The empirical results confirm that the Cold War period (1945-1989) was exceptionally stable, while the post-Berlin-Wall era shows signs of disintegration, although more at the level of voters than at the level of elites. After three decades of democratic politics in Europe (1990-2019), the West and the South are looking increasingly like the East, especially in terms of the level of party de-institutionalization. The West and the South are becoming more polarised than the East, but in terms of parliamentary fragmentation, the party systems of the South and the East are converging, while the West is diverging from the rest with its increasingly high number of parties. As far as our central concept, party system closure, is concerned, thanks to the gradual process of stabilization in the East, and the recent de-institutionalization in the West and South, the regional differences are declining. Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu. The series is edited by Susan Scarrow, Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Houston, and Jonathan Slapin, Professor of Political Institutions and European Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Zurich.

Party Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

Party Politics in Central and Eastern Europe PDF Author: Tim Haughton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131798739X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
What impact has EU membership had on party politics in Central and Eastern Europe? Although there is an emerging body of literature on the Europeanization of political parties, most of these accounts focus exclusively on Western Europe. Drawing on a range of qualitative and quantitative approaches including detailed studies of party programmes and manifestos, analysis of the media, semi-structured interviews and expert surveys, this collection provides not just conceptually informed, but also empirically rooted analyses of party politics in Central and Eastern Europe during the first four years of EU membership. In particular, the contributions assess the impact of EU membership on parties’ internal balance of power, the use of European issues in inter-party competition, the role of transnational party federations and the broader role the EU plays in party politics. The findings not only shed light on the impact of EU membership on party organization and programmes, they also inform broader debates concerning the dynamics, fluidity and motors of party politics in Central and Eastern Europe. This book was based on a special issue of Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics.

Europeanising Party Politics

Europeanising Party Politics PDF Author: Paul Lewis
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719082979
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This book is a comparative, empirically based study of party politics in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe that seeks to define the impact of European Union membership in this area. The question of Europeanization has been intensively debated over recent years, but no firm conclusion has been reached. This collection of rigorously comparative contributions directs attention to a number of key areas in the attempt to isolate cases where Europe has made a difference. Successive chapters examine how new parties are managed by the state and the ways in which parties colonize the state itself, the role of transnational cooperation and the influence pan-European parties have on national organizations. The book goes on to consider patterns of party-oriented participation in the new democracies and dimensions of electoral turnout, dimensions of inter-party competition and identification of the specific features of post-communist party politics, examination of the key case of the extreme right and the conditions under which it tends to emerge, detailed analysis of the quality of political representation in the new democratic context, and discussion of how EU constraints are likely to undermine the prospects of stable party linkages. A conclusion seeks to establish how far Europe and EU policy has succeeded in influencing Central and East European developments.

The Microstates of Europe

The Microstates of Europe PDF Author: P. Christiaan Klieger
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739174274
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
The seven microstates of Europe are remarkable not only for their size, but their persistence as well. It is a sociopolitical phenomenon that has rarely been addressed, but this book shows how it may have clues for the larger understanding of the conflicting agencies of nationalism and globalism currently seen around the world.

The Europeanisation of Party Politics in Malta

The Europeanisation of Party Politics in Malta PDF Author: Jean Claude Cachia
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031232909
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
This book examines the Europeanisation of party politics in Malta. It evaluates the influence of Europeanisation on the political system, which is based on two party-system, polarisation, and clientelism. Malta is the smallest European Union (EU) member state, which joined the EU in 2004. The road toward membership was fraught with contentious and emotionally charged debates. This book explores the relationship between Maltese political parties and the EU, the politicisation and framing of the European Union by political parties, and the impact of the European Union on Malta’s political system. The book further discusses more contentious recent events which made headlines at the EU level, including the Panama Papers scandals, the Individual Investment Programme, and the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The book will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of political science and international relations interested in a better understanding of electoral studies, Europeanisation, European integration, as well as the Maltese political system, and party politics.

A Theory of Disfunctionality: The European Micro-states as Disfunctional States in the International System

A Theory of Disfunctionality: The European Micro-states as Disfunctional States in the International System PDF Author: Archie W. Simpson
Publisher: Vernon Press
ISBN: 1648891942
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
"A Theory of Disfunctionality: The European Micro-states as Disfunctional States in the International System" explains the continuing survival of European micro-states as members of the international system. Micro-states are small sovereign states with populations of 1 million or less, of which there are 10 in Europe. The existence of micro-states raises a number of questions about the nature of statehood, the recognition of sovereignty, and the ability of such states to maintain a presence in international politics. This book establishes the ‘theory of disfunctionality’ in which a functional account of statehood is proposed. It is argued that the state has six functions—but the micro-states are so small that they ‘contract out’ some state functions to others in the international system. By doing this, the micro-states ensure their continuing survival in international politics. The book, which focuses on two case studies—Monaco and Luxembourg—, will be of particular interest to those involved in small state studies including scholars, students, practitioners and policy-makers, as well as those researching International Relations and state theory.