Party Institutions Research Articles

Internal Democracy in Pakistani Religious Parties: A Comparative Analysis of Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami

Democratization is an important phenomenon in the contemporary world. An important feature of modern representative democracy is the emergence of political parties, as these are regarded indispensable for the successful working of democratic institutions. Democracy needs sound and democratic political parties. Democratic political parties ensure successful democracy in every democratic polity. Political parties are considered the lifeline of modern representative democracy and are critically significant in a democratic system. Internal Democracy plays a significant role in the democratization and institutionalization of political parties. The IPD is a broader term and is simply defined as “Rule by the party members”. Political parties must adopt and promote democratic culture in their ranks in order to encourage the participation of the masses in the political process. This research study was undertaken to investigate the concept of internal democracy in major religious political parties of Pakistan. This research work has also discussed the concept of internal democracy and its impacts on the overall quality of democracy in the country. It applies Michels’ (1911) “Iron law of oligarchy” theory to study the oligarchical and dynastical trends in political parties of Pakistan. Despite, the crucial role of political parties for strengthening democracy in the country, political parties continue to be termed as oligarchical and to be criticized on account of their internal practices. This research has primarily focused on the two major religious political parties of Pakistan including, JUI (F), and JI. This research study is qualitative. Moreover, this study is descriptive in character. The data is collected mainly through secondary sources. It has been found in this research work that, except for JI, the majority of political parties are not observing the principles of internal democracy. Political parties operate as family enterprises run by dynastical leadership and hereditary politics are in full swing in political parties of Pakistan. Political parties are highly centralized, and decisions are taken at a central level without involving the local chapters of the party.

The importance of political parties in shaping public governance

Since the emergence of humanity, governance relations have taken different forms in different eras and have been formed in different ways. As the world community became more modern, the ways of forming the administration became more democratized. Today, people's participation in the formation of state administration is carried out through free, democratic and transparent elections. We can observe that the characteristics of the electoral system are manifested in different ways in different countries of the world. Studying the importance of the political party institution in the formation of state administration through elections is one of the urgent tasks of modern political science. In our country, in recent years, the importance of civil society institutions, in particular political parties, has been increasing in shaping the system of public administration. As a result of reforms, political parties have become the main institutions that form the government, along with the presidential and parliamentary institutions, which has further increased its influence.

Being a Woman Politician on the Isle of Man: How Smallness Explains Political Culture

Abstract This article explores the distinctive experience of women as legislators in a small democracy, drawing on a multimethod study of the Isle of Man. Experiences of gender in a small democracy’s politics are not merely quantitatively different, for instance in terms of constituents per representative; but qualitatively different as a result of the interconnected ramifications of quantitative differences. We find pervasive effects from the absence of strong party institutionalization, the intersection of intimacy and vulnerability, and the constraints of strictly limited capacity. Understanding gender and politics in a small democracy is an important contribution to island feminism, and acts as a corrective to an understanding of the interrelations of gender and politics within democratic constitutions based only on the experience of women in large democracies. The study also shows the pervasive importance of smallness even for a European democracy with close cultural ties to a large democracy.

Soviet Partisans in Lithuania in 1941–1944: Aspects of Repressive (Terrorist) Activity

The article deals with the establishment of the Soviet armed underground in the years of the Nazi Germany occupation (1941–1944), revealing its complicated situation and reasons, predetermining its repressive activity aspects – the use of coercion and violence. The expression of those activity aspects, concrete attempts to effect terror acts (political assassinations) against the German occupational regime, Lithuanian administration officers, political and military figures are elucidated on the basis of archival sources. Soviet armed underground in Lithuania had the strong, many-sided and multiple repressive origin. In the spring of 1941–1942, the most important role in the organization of Soviet resistance belonged to the USSR NKGB–NKVD bodies. Already in July-August 1941, twelve NKGB–NKVD groups, 85 people, were sent to Lithuania for terrorist (also for intelligence and sabotage) actions. Those groups were not able to develop any activities in Lithuania, almost all participants of those groups perished. From the end of 1942, the Soviet partisan resistance was organized and guided by the Communist Party institutions, attempting to organize the Soviet underground on the broader political and social basis. The participants of the Soviet underground were: 1) groups sent from the Soviet rear; 2) Soviet prisoners of war; 3) Jews who avoided the holocaust; 4) Lithuanian (and of other countries) inhabitants of other nationalities, most of whom suffered the German repressions. On the eve of the war (1940), in the USSR-occupied and annexed Lithuania, no prerequisites and conditions existed for the Soviet underground activity, the majority of the population did not support it, its participants maintained their existence only by repressions, coercion and violence. Directives for terrorist actions were given from the leading centres in the Soviet rear. Soviet partisans prepared unsuccessfully actions against the high-rank German occupational regime officers (General Commissioner in Lithuania Adrian von Renteln, Vilnius Command Commissioner Horst Wulff, etc.), the organizer of the local Lithuanian detachment Gen. Povilas Plechavičius. On the initiative of the Lithuanian national underground and supported by its participants, the Soviet partisans in March 1944 in the Švenčionys County killed two German leading economic executives (Fritz Ohl and Ernest Heinemann). The article, on the basis of indirect sources, makes a presumption that special Soviet underground groups at the end of April 1944 near Kaunas murdered the high-rank Orthodox Church clergyman Sergyi (Voskresenski).

Proposing the Importance of the "Compromise Ability" Component in the Institutional Dimension: A Study of the National Democratic Party (NasDem)

There is a debate about which dimension is most decisive in party institutionalization. Party institutionalization can first be seen from the increase in votes as an early indication. In the case of the 2014 to 2019 elections in Indonesia, the party that has seen the largest increase in votes is the NasDem Party, indicating that the party is the most institutionalized. This paper aims to examine the institutionalization of the NasDem Party. The method used is qualitative, by analyzing the empirical case of the NasDem Party. The result is that there is a dilemma in the debate on the concept of party institutionalization, and the stability of the NasDem Party's vote is relatively influenced by the organizational dimension, especially the strength of membership. Although the coherence of members seems problematic, the strength of members has contributed to the benefit of party votes. The "Ability to Compromise" component is important to be proposed as a prerequisite for balancing between dimensions of party institutionalization.

The institutionalisation of parliamentary party groups. Towards a concept

ABSTRACT Notable efforts have been made to apply the institutionalisation concept to legislatures, parties and party systems. In contrast, parliamentary party groups (PPGs) were either side-lined or bundled under the concept of institutionalised parliaments and parties, which implies some conceptual confusion. However, PPGs should be treated as distinct topic given their role in stabilising the parliamentary business in all modern assemblies. Encouraging research to close that gap, we introduce a framework to study the institutionalisation of PPGs for which we use illustrations from various polities. We suggest that highly institutionalised groups exhibit stable personnel, coherent legislative behaviour, structural differentiation, well-established procedural routines, and autonomy in terms of policy decision-making, leadership selection, and resources. Also, we examine PPGs as embedded institutions and provide a conceptual map for varying relationships with the institutionalisation of parliaments and parties. Finally, we point to a widely unexplored field for comparative research including investigations on democratisation.

Party System Institutionalization and Party Institutionalization : Concept, Measurement, and Implications to South Korea

Party System Institutionalization and Party Institutionalization : Concept, Measurement, and Implications to South Korea

Correlation between the Methods of Legal Regulation in the Political Party Legislation of Russia

The legal methods for regulating political party relations in Russia were analyzed using formal logical, systematic, institutional, and hermeneutic approaches. The Russian constitutional law employs the mixed method, which underpins the constitutionalization of political parties. In contrast, the prevailing imperative method emphasizes the administrative and legal foundations of the standards that define the rights and obligations of political parties. In turn, the interplay of the imperative and mixed methods in the Russian political party law has resulted in covert obligations for political parties, which are also their subjective rights. However, not all rights of political parties align with the concept of subjective rights as developed in constitutional and legal doctrine. The results obtained suggest that the current constitutional legislation in Russia is abstract, impeding a clear understanding of the rights and obligations of political parties. By exploring the doctrinal approaches, the strategies for recognizing the methods of legal regulation were singled out, depending on the interests protected by the analyzed legal standards. Thus, the specific methods of private and public law were identified, which, with the institution of political parties as an example, explain the complex nature of most legal standards. Taken together, these standards outline a complex variety of legal means to influence political party relations. Therefore, being crosssectoral, the political party standards facilitate the resolution of conflicts in law enforcement that arise in constitutional, party, electoral, and administrative legislation.

Two Decades of Women's Affirmative Action in Indonesia: Some Reflections and Recommendations

Democracy essentially requires equal rights between men and women. Both men and women should have equal opportunity to participate in public affairs such as politics. However, women’s political participation remains low compared to men. Women face many obstacles in expressing their political views, particularly in electoral politics. To address the issue, the government has adopted affirmative action by setting a gender quota to enhance women’s political representation. However, the quota does not automatically increase women’s electability parliament. Indonesia is an example of this case. Women’s political representation has never exceeded 30% since the introduction of direct elections. We used a qualitative method for this study. We found that four reasons cause the issue – women’s socio-political capital, the weakness of party institutionalization, the strict political competition among candidates, and voters’ pragmatic behavior during elections. We concluded that there should be severe attempts from various parties – government, political party, and civil society – to increase women’s political representation. Our study matters for mainstreaming gender equality and pushing democracy more substantively. Keywords: affirmative policy, Indonesia, women’s political representation.

Democratization or Extra-Constitutionalism: Ideas for Limiting the Term of Office for Chairmen of Political Parties in Indonesia

One aspect of the internal democratization of political parties that is not working is the lack of regeneration of political party leaders. This phenomenon presents oligarchic party practices and gives rise to a very elitist and feudalistic culture since political parties are controlled by the general chairman. This research is qualitative research with normative juridical methods using legal, conceptual, philosophical, and doctrinal approaches. This research is library research that examines and explores regulatory documents, books, journals, and other scientific works that are relevant to the topic of discussion. This article aims to provide new thinking in building internal institutions of democratic political parties. The results of data collection were analyzed in depth and then presented descriptively analytically. The conclusion of the article shows that by limiting the term of office of the general chairman of a political party, party internalization becomes more open. This idea advances party organizations that prioritize healthy competition. The terms of office need to be regulated in the political party law and do not need to be regulated in the political party's articles of association and bylaws for the sake of uniformity and legal certainty. The term of office of a political party leader is limited to 1 (one) period, namely five years, and a maximum of 2 (two) periods, namely ten years, if re-elected as general chairman at the political party conference forum and chairman election.

Weak party system institutionalization and autocratization: evidence from Tunisia

ABSTRACT Why do party systems remain weak in transitioning countries in ways that can hamper the democratization process? We answer this question through a case study of Tunisia, which was the only success story of the Arab uprisings. Tunisia has experienced a process of autocratization since President Saied's presidential coup in 2021. Utilizing a historical institutionalist framework, we conducted interviews with 15 leaders from the major political parties. We find that, in contrast to conventional wisdom, the strong party institutionalization under authoritarian rule did not lead to an institutionalized party system after authoritarian rule ended. We attribute this dynamic to the inability of regime-successor parties to institutionalize, perpetuating democratic vulnerabilities inherited from authoritarian rule. We also find that too-powerful civil societies can be detrimental to transitions. The labour union, UGTT, acted as a de facto veto player and limited the ability of cabinets to implement reforms. Furthermore, leftist parties could not benefit from the UGTT's base. The 2011 revolution was a critical juncture that could have facilitated the establishment of an institutionalized party system. However, the political elite's institutional choices put additional challenges on parties. The weakness of the party system in turn contributed to President Saied's self-coup and dismantling of Tunisia's democratic institutions.

Tanah tak Bertuan: Volatilitas dan Stabilitas Elektoral di Jawa Barat Pasca Ode Baru

The changing power of political parties is one of the most important phenomena studied in democratic political systems. It can shed light on the extent to which political parties are connected to voters, the strengthening or weakening of party institutionalisation, the influence of personalities in politics, the influence of electoral and party institutional design, and so on. Studies on political party change (electoral volatility and stability) have been conducted comparatively, and some studies are conducted by looking at the national context of Indonesia. However, while studies have been conducted on these issues at the local level, they remain overlooked. This article fills this gap by presenting a description and analysis of electoral volatility and stability in West Java in the post-New Order era. Using the theoretical framework of electoral volatility and stability as well as the theory of party system institutionalisation (PSI), this study proposes three findings: high party turnover; higher electoral volatility in West Java compared to national electoral volatility; more competitive political party competition at the district/city level in West Java. The findings on electoral volatility, stability and competition are influenced by the restrictions of political party regulations, which have an impact on the decreasing number of political parties in elections, the personalisation of politics and the presidentialisation of politics, as well as the historical roots of the old-established parties that have been entrenched since the New Order era.

COMMUNIST PARTY’S REGIONAL CONFERENCE AND REGIONAL COMMITTEE AS INSTITUTIONS OF REGIONAL POWER OF THE LATE SOVIET ERA (based on the material of the Upper Volga regions)

The article analyses the social characteristics of key regional structures of the Communist Party power and the features of their composition. The study focuses on the Party institutions of regional power in the late USSR: the regional Party conference, the regional committee of the Party, the bureau of the regional committee of the Party. Considerable attention is paid in the article to the historiography of the issue of regional power in the USSR. The methodological framework of the study consisted of an institutional approach, a combination of source analysis and the oral history paradigm, the principles of historicism and systematicity. The theoretical basis of the article is based on the network approach to institutions of power (ideas of Aleksandr Konovalov, Viktor Mokhov, Oleg Khlevniuk, Yoram Gorlizki). The central concept of the study is the concept of “regional leadership network”. The “ administrative market theory” is of an auxiliary nature. Acording to Simon Kordonskiy. The basis of the corpus of sources for the article was unpublished material from archives of Russia’s regions (Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Yaroslavl). A significant part of the sources consisted of oral history evidence – semi-structured interviews conducted personally by the author. The article concludes that contradictory trends had been growing in regional Party institutions of power. It is noted that there was an active inclusion of broad sections of the population in regional authorities, based on the values of Soviet democracy. However, actual decision-making was in the hands of the Party nomenclature clique, headed by the first secretary of the regional Party committee. It is emphasised that the real institutional centre for making management decisions at the regional level of government in the USSR was the Bureau of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party. A general increase in the educational level of the Party conference delegates and members of the regional committee of the Party is noted.

Sistem Proporsional Terbuka Bukan Akar Politik Uang Dalam Pemilu

The influence of an open proportional representation system with a majority vote does not explain the rise of money politics and political corruption after the election period. Systemically, the influence of the electoral system is aimed more at establishing a stable party system and modeling coalition models to produce a model of political balance in managing relations between the Government and Parliament. Meanwhile, the quality of the implementation of the electoral system is actually determined by the quality of the institutionalization of political parties, including the tendency of the type of party. Money politics is the result of the poor quality of political institutions in a type of party that only focuses on electoral interests.

Do populists practise what they preach? Intra-party democracy in populist parties

Populist parties are often described as highly centralised and personalistic, with low levels of party institutionalisation. However, there have been few empirical studies to assess the features of decision-making processes within this party family. This study aims to address this gap by examining the extent to which the internal distribution of power varies within populist parties. The Political Party Database is used to systematically compare Eastern and Western European parties in terms of intra-party democracy and the powers given to party leaders. The results suggest that although populist parties differ from non-populist parties in that they grant more power to their leaders, they are less likely to rely on plebiscitary and deliberative decision-making processes. In addition, the findings reveal that while the degree of leadership centralisation and plebiscitary decision making varies by region and ideological background, there are no differences between older and new populist parties.

Bugarska vanjska politika i priznanje Bosne i Hercegovine

This paper explains that Bulgaria took the responsibility to be the only country to recognise the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina already in January 1992, with the deep conviction that only in this way equality could be achieved between all former Yugoslav republics, and specifically for Bosnia and Herzegovina – the impending tragedy could be prevented. The chronological framework of the article presents Bulgarian foreign policy from the mid-1980s to the international recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s statehood in April 1992. In the early 1990s Bulgaria had a special interest and a specific concern regarding the process of rethinking the existing relations between the detached republics in the multinational Yugoslav federation. When negotiations on the future of Yugoslavia ended in failure in the spring of 1991, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry developed a new approach in relations with Yugoslavia. The emphasis shifted from contacts with the leadership of the federation to contacts with the leaderships of the republics. As soon as Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence on June 25, 1991, the official Bulgarian position followed that of the European Community (EC), which had initially advocated the preservation of the Yugoslav federation. At the same time, Sofia expressed its principled view that the individual Yugoslav republics were free to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination. Already during the early autumn of 1991, Sofia officially received guests at government level from Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia. After them, Bulgaria’s attention turned to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bulgarian ambassador in Belgrade visited Sarajevo on 22 and 23 October 1991. He held an impressive number of meetings covering the whole spectrum of state and party institutions. At the end of 1991 Bulgaria was preparing to establish full relations with the Yugoslav republics. It was ready to recognise their independence, but it had stated an official position that it would synchronise concrete steps in this respect with the moves of the EC. The positions of Turkey and Greece were also important for Bulgaria. On January 13, 1992, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry decided to include Bosnia and Herzegovina „in a package” with the other Yugoslav republics to be recognised as independent states. The Bulgarian government’s decision was officially announced on 15 January 1992. Some Bulgarian politicians had some concerns about Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had not even yet held a referendum on secession from Yugoslavia. The opinion of the Bulgarian Prime Minister Philip Dimitrov was decisive: „It was more beneficial for me to look incompetent in constitutional and legal terms on the issue of Bosnia than to create a mess for me and be one of the people who encouraged Milosevic to enter Bosnia”. Although it claimed that it was relying on the criteria adopted by the EC, Bulgaria actually went much further than the EC, which only recognised Slovenia and Croatia. Sofia’s recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina was symbolically important because it came in a moment of rising extreme internal conflict when the whole of Europe was silent and hesitant how to react.

Analysis of Elite Contestation and Political Base of the GOLKAR Party during the 2014-2016 Joko Widodo Administration

This study aims to examine the elite contestation and political base of the GOLKAR Party during the 2014-2016 Joko Widodo administration. From this analysis, the following novelties are observed. Firstly, elite contestation often evaluates the power struggle only, although it is presently analyzed with its socio-political base. Secondly, the existing study of elite cooperation and competition prioritizes the experience of liberal democracies in the Western tradition, requiring elite autonomy from the state. In this case, the elites in the GOLKAR competition and cooperation are interrelated with the state. Thirdly, elite theory is presently used with contestation in political party organizations despite relevant implementation not being performed after tracing and exploring bibliometrics with the VOSviewer application. These three studies show that only strong party institutions and elite adaptation are required in the new system during a political transition. In the qualitative study, the elites successfully build networks and cooperate with government elites and organizations, which also possess the popularity, leadership, reputation, and capital to succeed in contestation using quantitative data.

Ideological polarization in roll call votes in constitutional conventions: The case of Chile in 2021–2

Abstract What factors account for polarization in constitutional conventions comprised of party members and many independents without prior legislative experience? Using the 4,669 roll call votes in the 155-member constitutional convention in Chile (2021–2), comprised of more independents than party members, we explore the determinants of ideological polarization. Relying on absolute values for the WNominate scores, we find that party members are less polarized than independents and that prior legislative experience does not impact polarization. In institutionalized party systems that allow independents to compete with party members on a level playing field, a larger presence of independents in legislatures might help increase ideological polarization while a larger number of party members helps reduce ideological polarization in roll call votes.

The temporary and partial personalization of political parties in India: A comparison of Indira Gandhi's INC and Narendra Modi's BJP

AbstractObjectiveWe analyze the extent to which the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were personalized during the tenures of India's two most famous populist prime ministers, Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi, respectively.MethodsWe use findings from contemporary Indian historiography and journalism, as well as academic secondary sources, to analyze the degree of personalization in both the INC and the BJP based on three separate dimensions of party institutionalization: internal institutionalization, external institutionalization, and objective durability.ResultsWe find evidence of partial personalization in both the INC and the BJP. To the extent that personalization took place in both cases, it involved an informal and temporary concentration of power in the hands of one leader. Both parties' formal structures remained largely constant and both parties remained valued as institutions by both voters and party members.ConclusionIndira Gandhi and Narendra Modi both became two of India's most powerful prime ministers through charismatic populist appeals and cults of personality. While meaningful and important, these outward appearances still give a somewhat misleading image of the degree to which their respective parties underwent personalization during their tenures. Both the BJP and the INC saw a temporary and personal personalization during their time in office while remaining institutionalized parties with objective durability even after their charismatic leaders leave office.

Implementasi Fungsi Pendidikan Politik Oleh Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan Di Kabupaten Purworejo Menurut Undang-Undang Nomor 2 Tahun 2011 Tentang Perubahan Atas Undang-Undang Nomor 2 Tahun 2008 Tentang Partai Partai Politik

A political party is an institution that is necessary in the democratic world; if you have chosen a democratic system to regulate the life of the nation and state, one of the essential instruments in democracy is the institution of political parties. Political education is a significant activity in a nation based on democracy because democracy and the democratization process require absolute conditions for political public education; how the function of political education by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle in Purworejo Regency is by Law Number 2 of 2011 concerning Amendments to Law Number 2 of 2008 concerning Political Parties. This study aims to analyze the implementation of norms related to the function of political education by DPC PDI Perjuangan in Purworejo Regency. This research uses an empirical approach. This study uses a qualitative descriptive analysis method with a case approach. The data used in this study are primary data obtained directly by researchers in the field through respondents through observation, interviews, and questionnaire distribution, as well as secondary data, namely data obtained or obtained from information or knowledge obtained indirectly, including official documents, books, and research results in the form of reports. The data collection techniques used in this study are field studies and literature studies. The result of this study is that there are seven political education activities carried out by PDI Perjuangan Purworejo Regency, namely, political education through socialization, political education through social, political education through art and culture, political education through religion, political education through party wing organizations, political education through seminars, political education through party schools.