Author: Eva Kolinsky
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317362292
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323
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Book Description
This book, first published in 1987, analysed the state and changing nature of political opposition in Western Europe at the time. For each country covered, it discusses the concept of opposition and the approach adopted by opposition parties. It explores the institutional framework that was in place at the time, the electoral support for opposition, attitudes towards opposition and the criteria for the success of opposition parties. It shows how opposition had changed in nature as a result of both voter re-alignments and also because some interest groups have engaged directly in opposition activities, rather than working through opposition parties as was done previously, thereby increasing the scope of extra parliamentary opposition. Opposition is a fundamental element in democratic politics, and this book therefore throws considerable light on the whole range of political activity in the countries covered. This title will be of interest to students of politics.
Author: Robert A. Dahl
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300094787
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 488
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Book Description
The idea that the opposition has a right to organize and to appeal for votes against the government in elections and in parliament is one of the most important milestones in the development of democratic institutions. Mr. Dahl and nine collaborators analyze the role of the opposition in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. In introductory and concluding chapters, Dahl compares the patterns of opposition in these countries and makes predictions for the future. He carries forward on the basis of this evidence the theory of a pluralistic society he has explored in earlier books such as Who Governs? Mr. Dahl is Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University. His collaborators are Samuel Barnes, Hans Daalder, Frederick Engelmann, Alfred Grosser, Otto Kirchheimer, Val R. Lorwin, Allen Potter, Stein Rokkan, and Nils Stjernquist. "This stately volume is distinguished by several unusual features. First, it straightforwardly focuses on a crucial issue of Comparative Politics without being vitiated by the familiar behaviorist semantics and jargon. Secondly, contrary to the ubiquitous trend in this country, flooded by discussion—more journalistic than scientific—on the emergent states, it centers on constitutional democracy in Western Europe, a region which for a decade and more had been badly neglected by the rampant computerizers. Thirdly, for the ten countries under discussion Professor Dahl was fortunate to enlist the services of genuine experts, the majority of whom are specialists in their field. . . . On the whole the volume is one of the major contributions to Comparative Politics that have appeared in this country for some time. The study of the issue as such as well as of the individual reviews is highly rewarding."—Karl Loewenstein, The Annals.
Author: Martin Klimke
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 0857451073
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 355
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Book Description
Abandoning the usual Cold War–oriented narrative of postwar European protest and opposition movements, this volume offers an innovative, interdisciplinary, and comprehensive perspective on two decades of protest and social upheaval in postwar Europe. It examines the mutual influences and interactions among dissenters in Western Europe, the Warsaw Pact countries, and the nonaligned European countries, and shows how ideological and political developments in the East and West were interconnected through official state or party channels as well as a variety of private and clandestine contacts. Focusing on issues arising from the cross-cultural transfer of ideas, the adjustments to institutional and political frameworks, and the role of the media in staging protest, the volume examines the romanticized attitude of Western activists to violent liberation movements in the Third World and the idolization of imprisoned RAF members as martyrs among left-wing circles across Western Europe.
Author: Hagevi, Magnus
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1800884737
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
Identifying a crisis for representative democracy in Western European party systems, this essential book studies the widening gap between political parties’ ideological economic Left–Right rhetoric. Combining in-depth theoretical analysis with empirical research, it addresses whether political party ideologies are converging or diverging, and whether these changes are initiated by the parties themselves, aligned with voter demand, or forced by economic globalization.
Author: Piero Ignazi
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191522058
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
This book has three aims. Firstly, it explores the extreme right in order to assess its ideological meaning and its political expression. Beginning with a discussion of the meaning and usefulness of the Left-Right distinction, it deals with the varying significance of the term 'right' and discusses the appropriateness of the competing terms: 'radical', 'new', 'populist', and 'extreme right'. The book argues that the traditional neo-fascist party has been supplanted by a new type of extreme right party, unrelated to fascist ideology, but nevertheless opposed to the fundamental values of the democratic political system. The book's second aim is to carry out an in-depth analysis of the post-war evolution of the extreme right of each country in Western Europe. The analysis highlights their lineage from pre-war fascist regimes or movements, their different partisan expressions in the post-war period, their ideological profile, their party's relationship with other actors in the party system, the socio-demographic and attitudinal profile of their voter-base, and finally the conditions which have favoured or inhibited their development. Finally, the book discusses in detail more recent trends within the West European extreme right and outlines a conceptual framework for explaining the success or failure of each political party. The volume, extensively revised, expanded, and updated from its original widely acclaimed Italian edition, will be essential reading for all those working on parties and movements in Western Europe.
Author: Gordon Smith
Publisher: Gower Publishing Company, Limited
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 424
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Book Description
Author: Eva Kolinsky
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317362306
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 380
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Book Description
This book, first published in 1987, analysed the state and changing nature of political opposition in Western Europe at the time. For each country covered, it discusses the concept of opposition and the approach adopted by opposition parties. It explores the institutional framework that was in place at the time, the electoral support for opposition, attitudes towards opposition and the criteria for the success of opposition parties. It shows how opposition had changed in nature as a result of both voter re-alignments and also because some interest groups have engaged directly in opposition activities, rather than working through opposition parties as was done previously, thereby increasing the scope of extra parliamentary opposition. Opposition is a fundamental element in democratic politics, and this book therefore throws considerable light on the whole range of political activity in the countries covered. This title will be of interest to students of politics.
Author: Ferenc Laczó
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9633863759
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
This volume examines the legacy of the East–West divide since the implosion of the communist regimes in Europe. The ideals of 1989 have largely been frustrated by the crises and turmoil of the past decade. The liberal consensus was first challenged as early as the mid-2000s. In Eastern Europe, grievances were directed against the prevailing narratives of transition and ever sharper ethnic-racial antipathies surfaced in opposition to a supposedly postnational and multicultural West. In Western Europe, voices regretting the European Union's supposedly careless and premature expansion eastward began to appear on both sides of the left–right and liberal–conservative divides. The possibility of convergence between Europe's two halves has been reconceived as a threat to the European project. In a series of original essays and conversations, thirty-three contributors from the fields of European and global history, politics and culture address questions fundamental to our understanding of Europe today: How have perceptions and misperceptions between the two halves of the continent changed over the last three decades? Can one speak of a new East–West split? If so, what characterizes it and why has it reemerged? The contributions demonstrate a great variety of approaches, perspectives, emphases, and arguments in addressing the daunting dilemma of Europe's assumed East–West divide.
Author: Emiliano Grossman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192662945
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224
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Book Description
Are election campaigns relevant to policymaking, as they should in a democracy? This book sheds new light on this central democratic concern based on an ambitious study of democratic mandates through the lens of agenda-setting in five West European countries since the 1980s. The authors develop and test a new model bridging studies of party competition, pledge fulfillment, and policymaking. The core argument is that electoral priorities are a major factor shaping policy agendas, but mandates should not be mistaken as partisan. Parties are like 'snakes in tunnels': they have distinctive priorities, but they need to respond to emerging problems and their competitors' priorities, resulting in considerable cross-partisan overlap. The 'tunnel of attention' remains constraining in the policymaking arena, especially when opposition parties have resources to press governing parties to act on the campaign priorities. This key aspect of mandate responsiveness has been neglected so far, because in traditional models of mandate representation, party platforms are conceived as a set of distinctive priorities, whose agenda-setting impact ultimately depends on the institutional capacity of the parties in office. Rather differently, this book suggests that counter-majoritarian institutions and windows for opposition parties generate key incentives to stick to the mandate. It shows that these findings hold across five very different democracies: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK. The results contribute to a renewal of mandate theories of representation and lead to question the idea underlying much of the comparative politics literature that majoritarian systems are more responsive than consensual ones.
Author: Philip Norton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135254737
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
The relationship between parliament and government is fundamental to a political system. In this volume, a distinguished team of specialists explore that relationship and consider to what extent parliaments have the capacity to constrain governments. Are there particular institutional features, such as specialisation through committees, that enhance their capacity to influence public policy?
