Decline Of Political Parties Research Articles

Democracy and Institutional Change in Times of Crises in Latin America

Latin American democracies have gone through a series of perfect storms over the recent years. In what ways have these challenges transformed the institutional infrastructure of democracy? How have institutional reforms impacted the democratic prospects? This review article analyzes four recent edited volumes that approach the problems of institutional change against the backdrop of the multiple crises unfolding throughout the region. It describes two modes through which the reforms of political institutions have had an ambivalent or outright negative effect on the quality of democracy, and assesses the resilience of political institutions. Arguing for a more prominent role of informal institutions and political parties in institutional analyses, the article suggests that changes in formal political institutions have had a limited impact vis-à-vis the profound changes in political cleavages, culture wars, swift changes in religious identities and the decline of political parties.

A Suggestion for Establishment of 'Party Crisis' Concept and Effective Measurement

본 연구는 ‘정당 위기’ 주장이 후발 민주주의 국가 사례에서 서구 정당과의 단순 비교, 저발전 및 혐오와의 혼용 등의 잘못을 범하고 있다는 판단하에 엄밀한 개념 정립과 평가 방식을 수립할 것을 제안하고 있다. 이를 위해 ‘정당 위기’ 상황을 정당 쇠퇴가 지속되어 ‘정당 실패’ 위험성이 가시적으로 커진 국면에 제한적으로 사용하고 있다. 이때 정당 쇠퇴는 ‘유권자 내 정당’과 ‘조직 수준 정당’과 관련되어 있고, 특히 정당 일체감의 약화, 선거 유동성의 증대, 투표율 감소, 당원 조직의 약화가 ‘지속’되는 경우로 보아 동태적 변화를 고려해야 한다고 주장한다. 정당 실패는 ‘정부 내 정당’에 해당하는 것으로 보고, 선거 결과 이 영역이 크게 축소되어 정치적 영향력이 현저하게 감소한 경우로 보았다. 이때 정치적 영향력은 분석 국가의 제도와 문화에 따라 기준을 세울 수 있다. 정당 위기는 이 쇠퇴와 실패의 분기점으로 보고 평가하는 것이 필요하다.This paper aims to define the theoretical meaning of party crisis and suggest how to measure it. This paper illuminates two main dimensions of ‘the crisis of political parties’: the decline and failure of political parties. The crisis of political parties occurs when political parties are in imminent danger of total failure with the consistent decline of people’s support for those parties. Specifically, the decline of political parties is mainly about people’s approval of parties whereas a certain party’s real influence on politics is a good measurement of party failure. With regard to ‘decline,’ this paper takes into account two dimensions of parties: ‘political party as organization’ and ‘party in the electorate.’ By the same token, number and influence of party figures in the cabinet were used to operationalize ‘party failure.’

Economy and political distrust: Explaining public anti-partyism in the Czech Republic

Abstract There is little doubt in the current comparative politics literature about the importance of political parties in modern democracies, nor is there any doubt about the centrality of political parties in the democratic transitions in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. This holds true for the Czech Republic as well. However, the three most recent general elections in the Czech Republic have shaken the country. Electoral earthquakes are becoming common in the region, and it seems that the Czech Republic is being affected by what has been described in the literature as the decline of political parties. The main aim of the article is to explore sources of public anti-party sentiment in the Czech Republic. The analysis of data from a public opinion survey shows that public anti-partyism can be explained by a perceived lack of political representation that stems from both economic conditions and a feeling of low political efficacy.

Populist leaders and political parties

AbstractPopulism is a particular type of constitutional pathology; a brand of groupthink in which a leader establishes a direct connection with the people and, by virtue of this connection, is able to govern outside the established constitutional processes of the state. This Article reflects on the interaction between populism and political parties. It argues that one of the roles of political parties is to act as a medium between political elites and the people; a medium that can, or should, enable the people to exercise control over this elite through their membership of parties. Populism therefore presents a threat to the proper operation of political parties, and the proper operation of political parties correspondingly threatens populism.This Article begins by reflecting on the nature of populism. It does not pretend to provide a complete account of that phenomenon, but rather aspires to identify one strand of populist rule: A particular type of connection between the leader and her people. Second, the paper reflects on the constitutional role of political parties. Whilst political parties have often been treated critically in British constitutional scholarship, it will be argued that they are essential to the success of the democratic process: Modern representative democracy cannot function in their absence. Finally, these two sections of the paper will be drawn together: One explanation for the rise of populism is the weakness of political parties, and one way of combating, or mitigating, populism is for the state, and the citizenry, to support and facilitate parties. This Article suggests a correlation between the decline of political parties and the rise of populism, but it cautiously avoids making claims of causation. It could be that the decline of political parties leads to the rise of populism, as voters who are faced with a choice of superannuated parties turn, instead, to charismatic individuals. Or it could be that the rise of populism leads to the decline of political parties, as voters develop a direct relationship with leaders and, as a result, cease to engage with each other within the context of parties. Or, perhaps, these interactions might occur together, forming a feedback loop, with the decline of parties leading to the rise of populism which, in turn, hastens party decay.

The Ideal of Western Liberal Democracy and Real Democracies

The distinction between the ideal of Western Liberal democracy and real democracies is essential for all those who desire to understand what is going on in the world of democratic regimes. In fact, there is no crisis of the ideal. Indeed, the ideal continues to be the goal of all those who, no matter in which part of the world, want to obtain and maintain civil and political rights and to construct a political system characterized by pluralism and free and fair elections. Many of them, the statistics show, have had success. Real democracies are always facing challenges and problems. The most important one in recent times is populism. Accommodating political and parliamentary representation for the populists is a sign that democratic regimes work and know how to react and transform themselves. The author argues that the most important factor affecting the dynamics of contemporary democratic political systems is the decline of political parties. Parties created and accompanied real democracies. Their decline has a negative impact on the quality and, perhaps, even the continued existence of real democracies.

When Things Get Personal: How Informal and Personalized Politics Produce Regime Stability in Small States

AbstractThe personalization of politics, the decline of political parties and the weakening of political institutions in large democracies are considered to produce instability and to undermine democratic governance. Yet despite having extremely informal and personalized systems with non-ideological parties, small states around the world maintain significantly higher levels of democracy and regime stability than large ones. This article addresses this paradox by offering a systematic literature review of 167 case study publications on personalization and informal politics in 46 small states. The analysis reveals that personalized relations between political elites translate into either fragmentation or power concentration, while pervasive patron–client linkages structure the interaction between citizens and politicians. Despite the obvious downsides of these dynamics for democratic governance, the small state system is functional in the sense that it fulfils the needs of both citizens and politicians, which explains why small states have succeeded in maintaining their political stability.

Persistence and decline of political parties: the case of Estonia

The article explores the factors contributing to the decline and persistence of the political parties in Estonia, while proposing a more systematic framework for tackling the problem. The case study is focused on three Estonian parties (Res Publica, People's Union, and the Centre Party). The article puts forward an empirical framework in which three central dimensions are explored: (1) system-level variables; (2) external-dynamic variables; and (3) internal-organisational-level variables. The results of the analysis indicate that the quality of party leadership and the parties’ attachment with the major cleavages in a given society are crucial factors in explaining the parties’ persistence or demise.

THE STATE OF DEMOCRACY AND REPRESENTATION IN AUSTRALIA

Australia, like many other democracies, has not escaped the climate of disaffection and disillusionment with representative politics that has permeated academic and public discourse in recent years. This essay explores why this might be the case, by evaluating the current state of representative government and politics in Australia and by looking at four sets of ‘challenges’ to the current system. Each of these areas has sparked salient debate in the last few years: challenges to voting and elections, the character of Australian parliamentary and political culture, the future of political parties in Australia, and the world of politics beyond parliament. Salient examples include guaranteeing effective electoral administration, regulating the role of ‘micro-parties’ in elections, addressing the continuous underrepresentation of women and minorities in the parliament, acknowledging the decline of political parties as mass-membership organisations, and recognising the extent of political engagement taking place beyond the realm of formal representative institutions.

Leadership Trends in Advanced Democracies

AbstractPolitical sociology suggests two inter‐related leadership trends in advanced democracies: the increasing prominence of political leaders, and the waning influence of political parties, especially the ideological‐programmatic ‘mass parties’ or Volksparteien. These trends intensified and reinforced each other over the last 30–40 years resulting in a rapidly changing physiognomy of contemporary democracy. Democratic politics becomes more elite driven, mass‐mediated and populist in style than in the past. Moreover, the power and elite structures in advanced democracies, as well as the electoral competition, increasingly resemble what Weber labelled ‘leader democracy’. The shift towards ‘leader democracy’ has coincided with the processes of party‐voter dealignment and decline of political parties, the rise of the electronic mass media, and the ascendancy of powerful leaders–reformers in the ‘core’ liberal democracies. The sociological argument about the shift is anchored in a theoretical framework derived from works of Max Weber and Joseph Schumpeter. It depicts democratic political leaders as key political actors embedded in broader elites, motivated by determination and commitment, and empowered by the resources of modern states and the mass media.

Book Review: Media Democracy: How the Media Colonize Politics, Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences, 2nd Edn

MEDIA DEMOCRACY: HOW THE MEDIA COLONIZE POLITICS Thomas Meyer with Lew Hinchman Cambridge: Polity, 2002, xvii + 166 pp. (paperback). MEDIA/SOCIETY: INDUSTRIES, IMAGES AND AUDIENCES, 2ND EDN David Croteau and William Hoynes Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2000, xx + 399 pp. (paperback). There can be little doubt that one of the major growth areas for sociology, and for the social sciences more generally, in recent years has been in the area of media and, in particular, in analysing the relationships between media and society, and media and politics. In quite different ways, and with different audiences in mind, these two books make important contributions to our understandings of the ever-increasing significance of media in political and social processes. Media/Society is a textbook that is highly successful in introducing students to a 'sociologically informed analysis of the media process' (p. xvi). Beginning with a focus on media and the social world, the book moves on to engage with the processes and power dynamics involved in media production, media representations of the social world, audience reception and debates around globalization. In presenting the debates around these media processes, the authors focus on the social dimensions of print, television, radio and the Internet. While many of the debates covered in the text will be familiar to people researching and teaching in media, the bringing together of the constituent elements of media as a process, and from a distinctively sociological perspective, is the central strength of the text. Through its focus on the media-society relationship, the book provides a major statement of the contribution that sociology can make to contemporary understandings of the media, both engaging with and going beyond approaches emerging out of disciplines such as media and communications studies, cultural studies and political science. In their discussions of media work, for example, the authors reveal how journalistic practices around, and understandings of, 'newsworthiness' are socially constructed through organizational practices and professional ideals. In analysing media representations of social relations, including race, gender, class and sexuality, the authors show not only that media content influences our understanding of the social world, but also that the social world can affect media product, both positively and negatively. The authors also provide important insights into the relationships between media and politics. As well as discussing media regulation, they engage with the literature on media influence in terms of mass audiences, social movements and political elites. Providing an important link with Meyer's Media Democracy (the other title under review here), Croteau and Hoynes reveal how a range of political processes have changed in response to media, from the increasing importance of image and personality to the decline of political parties. In the context of image and personality, the authors provide a striking example from Clinton's presidential campaign in 1996, when a Hollywood producer was hired 'to orchestrate a train trip leading up to the Democratic national convention' (p. 233). While little policy news emerged, the train trip itself became a mediated political event showcasing Clinton, 'just as the campaign had planned' (p. 233). The story provides an example of the ways in which contemporary political practice is constantly mediated. As this is a textbook, the authors use a number of strategies to capture the attention and interest of students. In addition to using timely examples, Internet resources and a good selection of photos, cartoons and tables, the authors also pose challenging questions. One of these is to try to 'imagine life without the media' (p. 5). Undertaking such an exercise quickly reveals one of the authors' central contentions, namely that we live in a media-saturated world. …

The ‘Modernisation’ of Political Management Arrangements in Post Devolution Scottish Local Government

While devolution has brought central government geographically and politically closer to local government it has not shielded it from pressures to ‘modernise’ its political management arrangements. However, devolution has created a different political context to other parts of the UK and this has allowed Scottish local government to voice its views on ‘modernisation’ with perhaps greater weight than is the case elsewhere. Moreover, ‘modernisation’ has not resulted in the decline of political parties and the diminution of the ‘political’ nature of local government decision making. Equally internal council political hierarchies remain important in the decision making processes of councils. However, while the language of ‘modernisation’ appears to be alien to many Scottish councillors, many of its associated activities are not. While different political parties view the issues relating to ‘modernisation’ in different lights it is important to note that when councillors form part of a local administration their views on the core issues of ‘modernisation’ are more similar than the party divide may suggest. Many of the core objectives of ‘modernisation’ are being delivered within Scottish local government but the forms that ‘modernisation’ is taking may not be those that Tony Blair or other prominent ‘modernisers’ may have chosen.

State Formation and the Decline of Political Parties: American Parties in the Fiscal State

The shifting salience of political parties is a central issue in American political development. From the debates over colonial “parties” to debates over the relevance of realignment theory in the 1980s and 1990s, scholars have attempted to assess the impact of political parties on political development. One topic that has provoked particularly extensive debate is the status of parties since World War II. Scholars point to confidence gaps, realignment, and institutional displacement, among other factors, to explain the postwar decline of political parties. But there are problems: Analytical frameworks explaining decline cannot account for recent signs of party resurgence; frameworks explaining resurgence typically account for little of the decline. Those focused on one aspect of the party system (e.g., parties in Congress) rarely offer insights on other aspects (e.g., parties in the electorate). What is needed is an approach that places parties within their structural settings. If these settings change, parties may change.

120 Years of Swedish Election Campaigns: A Story of the Rise and Decline of Political Parties and the Emergence of the Mass Media as Power Brokers

A framework for descriptive analysis of election campaigns is suggested, emphasizing the parties' use of direct (personal) and indirect (media) channels for voter communication. The direct campaign channels had their heyday during the 1920s and 1930s. Since the 1940s radio and television have dominated the scene. However, the parties maintained control over opinion formation until the breakthrough of an assertive and independent political journalism at the end of the 1960s.

Televised presidential debates and public policy

Televised Presidential Debates and Public Policy, 2d ed. Sidney Kraus. Mahwah, NJ, and London, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000. 323pp. $65.95 hbk., $32.50 pbk. In a new election season replete with candidate debates, it is useful to be reminded that things have not always been this waythat there have been long seasons without debates, that debates have been avoided or cancelled because of fearful strategists, and that wholesale controversy has sometimes raged among journalists and politicians about debate formats, rules, and sponsorship. Sidney Kraus provides just such a reminder. Kraus's work should also convince us that, despite the current ho-hum attitude regarding debates and even campaigns in general, these fixtures of today's political races were hard-fought-for, hard-won, and need care and improvement. Kraus has been our most careful observer of televised Presidential debates since the now mythic Kennedy-Nixon encounter of 1960. He is also a self-confessed lover of the debates. He believes intently that, despite their flaws, the debates-or what passes for debates-provide voters with perhaps their most valuable information source about candidates and their positions. Even in Election 2000, when polls show minimal public attention to the fledgling campaigns and fall turnout may reach another record low, who can doubt that we have already learned more from these encounters than from any other source? Despite his commitment to debates, however, Kraus maintains sufficient scholarly detachment so that his analyses of formats, sponsorship, and rules and his record of nearly three decades of debate observation appear sage and balanced. Kraus, longtime professor of communication at Cleveland State University and sometime chair, has often observed the debates from a privileged seat behind the scenes. He has documented his findings and observations in two edited volumes, The Great Debates: Background, Perspective, Effects (1962) and The Great Debates: Carter vs. Ford, 1976 (1979), as well as in the first edition of this book (1988). The current effort is clearly written and appropriate for university students at all levels. It is risky to abstract an argument from such a detailed book, but the thrust of his text is clear: Given the decline of political parties, the slippage of interest in political campaigns, the increased role of television in political socialization, the preoccupation with horserace coverage, and the limitation of debate formats, these encounters are a good thing anyway. …

Do Parties Make a Difference? The Role of Party Organizations in Congressional Elections

Political scientists have expressed concern over the decline of political parties in recent years. This study provides evidence that at least one element of the political party, the party organization, is experiencing a resurgence rather than a decline. Data collected from nearly 400 House candidates reveal that party organizations continue to play an important role in congressional elections. National party committees, particularly the parties' congressional campaign committees, are now providing candidates with valuable assistance in activities that require technical expertise, in-depth research, or connections with the Washington campaign community. Included among these activities are campaign advertising, issue development, and fund-raising. State and local party organizations continue to assist candidates with gauging public opinion and mobilizing the electorate. Republican party organizations, especially the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, provide candidates with more assistance than do their Democratic counterparts. The RNC and the NRCC are more effective at targeting their assistance to candidates involved in competitive races. Party organizations are successfully adapting to the changing political environment. T he last few decades comprise an era of tremendous change for American political parties. Newly enacted campaign finance laws have served as a catalyst for the growth of vast numbers of political action committees (PACs), which now compete with parties for influence over candidates and voters. Party-initiated reforms in the nomination process have restructured the roles of party organizations in candidate recruitment and selection. The emergence of a more independent and more volatile electorate has helped to bring about changes in the tactics that candidates and parties use to garner support. Finally, technological innovations developed in the field of public relations have been adapted to the

The Decline of Political Parties

The Decline of Political Parties