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.

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

Get Book Here

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.

Politics and Democracy in Microstates

Politics and Democracy in Microstates PDF Author: Wouter Veenendaal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317646584
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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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.

Handbook on the Politics of Small States

Handbook on the Politics of Small States PDF Author: Godfrey Baldacchinoel
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1788112938
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 447

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Book Description
Comprehensive and timely, this Handbook identifies the key characteristics, challenges and opportunities involved in the politics of small states across the globe today. Acknowledging the historical legacies behind these states, the chapters unpack the costs and benefits of different political models for small states.

Party System Closure

Party System Closure PDF Author: Fernando Casal Bértoa
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198823606
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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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.

Why Politics Matters

Why Politics Matters PDF Author: Gerry Stoker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 113760896X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Profound social changes have made governance and political leadership more challenging than ever. The result is that politics in the democratic world faces a crisis in the 21st century. The revised edition of this highly successful text reassesses the gap between citizen expectation and the realities of government in light of new developments.

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.

Party Politics in European Microstates

Party Politics in European Microstates PDF Author: Fernando Casal Bértoa
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351798057
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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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.

The Oxford Handbook of Political Executives

The Oxford Handbook of Political Executives PDF Author: Rudy B. Andeweg
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192536915
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 865

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Book Description
Political executives have been at the centre of public and scholarly attention long before the inception of modern political science. In the contemporary world, political executives have come to dominate the political stage in many democratic and autocratic regimes. The Oxford Handbook of Political Executives marks the definitive reference work in this field. Edited and written by a team of word-class scholars, it combines substantive stocktaking with setting new agendas for the next generation of political executive research.

Patterns of Democracy

Patterns of Democracy PDF Author: Arend Lijphart
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300189125
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
Examining 36 democracies from 1945 to 2010, this text arrives at conclusions about what type of democracy works best. It demonstrates that consensual systems stimulate economic growth, control inflation and unemployment, and limit budget deficits.

Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy

Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy PDF Author: David Altman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108496636
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
Offers a comparative study of the origins, performance, and reform of contemporary mechanisms of direct democracy.