The Personalization of Democratic Politics and the Challenge for Political Parties

The Personalization of Democratic Politics and the Challenge for Political Parties
Author: William P Cross
Publisher: ECPR Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2018-09-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1785522965

The implications of the personalization of politics are necessarily widespread and can be found across many different aspects of contemporary democracies. Personalization should influence the way campaigns are waged, how voters determine their preferences, how officials (e.g., MPs) and institutions (e.g., legislatures and governments) function, and the place and operations of political parties in democratic life. However, in an effort to quantify the precise degree of personalization over time and to uncover the various causes of personalization, the existing literature has paid little attention to many of the important questions regarding the consequences of personalization. While the chapters throughout this volume certainly document the extent of personalization, they also seek to address some fundamental questions about the nature of personalization, how it is manifested, and its consequences for political parties, governance, representation, and the state of democracy more generally. Indeed, one of the primary objectives of this volume is to speak to a very broad audience about the implications of personalization. Those interested in election campaigns, voting, gender, governance, legislative behaviour, and political parties will all find something of value in the contributions that follow.

Digital Parties

Digital Parties
Author: Oscar Barberà
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2021-10-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030786684

This book analyzes how mainstream and new parties are building their digital platforms and transitioning from traditional (offline) organizations into the digital world. The authors present an innovative empirical exploration of the democratic consequences and technical challenges of the digitalization of party organizations from a comparative perspective. They provide an original account of how party digital platforms are regulated and used, and a crucial discussion of the main technological and democratic issues that political parties face in their digital transition. Further, the authors assess the consequences of these digitalization processes for political participation and party membership, as well as the impact on party organizational models and electoral campaign potential. The book looks into one of the less-studied aspects of digital democracy, also presenting empirical evidence and case studies. It presents different parties and their adoption of digital participation platforms, from the Pirate Parties in Northern Europe to Podemos in Spain, La France Insoumise in France, the Five Stars Movement in Italy, or the German Greens. Therefore, the book is a must-read for scholars of political science, policy-makers, and practitioners, interested in a better understanding of the transition of political parties into the digital world.

Party Responses to Social Movements

Party Responses to Social Movements
Author: Daniela R. Piccio
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2019-03-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1789201543

Across the West, the explosion of social movement activity since the late 1960s has constituted a “participatory revolution” that has posed profound challenges for formal political parties. Through an analysis of new interviews, institutional documents, and a host of other largely unexploited sources, Daniela R. Piccio provides a rich and empirically grounded exploration of the wide-ranging responses to these movements. Focusing on Italy and the Netherlands since the 1970s, Party Responses to Social Movements demonstrates how political parties have incorporated the demands of movements to a surprising extent, even as both have grappled with fundamental and inevitable tensions between their respective roles and aims.

Challenges of Party-Building in Latin America

Challenges of Party-Building in Latin America
Author: Steven Levitsky
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 573
Release: 2016-10-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1107145945

This book presents a new and conflict-centered theory of successful party-building, drawing on diverse cases from across Latin America.

Democracies Divided

Democracies Divided
Author: Thomas Carothers
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2019-09-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 081573722X

“A must-read for anyone concerned about the fate of contemporary democracies.”—Steven Levitsky, co-author of How Democracies Die 2020 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Why divisions have deepened and what can be done to heal them As one part of the global democratic recession, severe political polarization is increasingly afflicting old and new democracies alike, producing the erosion of democratic norms and rising societal anger. This volume is the first book-length comparative analysis of this troubling global phenomenon, offering in-depth case studies of countries as wide-ranging and important as Brazil, India, Kenya, Poland, Turkey, and the United States. The case study authors are a diverse group of country and regional experts, each with deep local knowledge and experience. Democracies Divided identifies and examines the fissures that are dividing societies and the factors bringing polarization to a boil. In nearly every case under study, political entrepreneurs have exploited and exacerbated long-simmering divisions for their own purposes—in the process undermining the prospects for democratic consensus and productive governance. But this book is not simply a diagnosis of what has gone wrong. Each case study discusses actions that concerned citizens and organizations are taking to counter polarizing forces, whether through reforms to political parties, institutions, or the media. The book’s editors distill from the case studies a range of possible ways for restoring consensus and defeating polarization in the world’s democracies. Timely, rigorous, and accessible, this book is of compelling interest to civic activists, political actors, scholars, and ordinary citizens in societies beset by increasingly rancorous partisanship.

Anti-political Establishment Parties

Anti-political Establishment Parties
Author: Amir Abedi
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2004
Genre: Government, Resistance to
ISBN: 0415319617

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Challenges to Political Parties

Challenges to Political Parties
Author: Kaare Strøm
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 428
Release: 1997
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780472106806

A unique inquiry into the long-term prospects for political parties

Responsible Parties

Responsible Parties
Author: Frances Rosenbluth
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2018-10-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0300241054

How popular democracy has paradoxically eroded trust in political systems worldwide, and how to restore confidence in democratic politics In recent decades, democracies across the world have adopted measures to increase popular involvement in political decisions. Parties have turned to primaries and local caucuses to select candidates; ballot initiatives and referenda allow citizens to enact laws directly; many places now use proportional representation, encouraging smaller, more specific parties rather than two dominant ones.Yet voters keep getting angrier.There is a steady erosion of trust in politicians, parties, and democratic institutions, culminating most recently in major populist victories in the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. Frances Rosenbluth and Ian Shapiro argue that devolving power to the grass roots is part of the problem. Efforts to decentralize political decision-making have made governments and especially political parties less effective and less able to address constituents’ long-term interests. They argue that to restore confidence in governance, we must restructure our political systems to restore power to the core institution of representative democracy: the political party.

Confronting the Weakest Link

Confronting the Weakest Link
Author: Thomas Carothers
Publisher:
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2006
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Beginning with a penetrating analysis of party shortcomings in developing and post-communist countries, Thomas Carothers draws on extensive field research to diagnose chronic deficiencies in party aid, assess its overall impact, and offer practical ideas for doing better.