National Party Research Articles

Verbal Alchemy: Decoding Political Power Play in India through Rhetoric

This paper analyzes how language shapes political power dynamics in India's complex linguistic landscape. It scrutinizes rhetorical techniques used by national and regional political parties across the ideological spectrum, including euphemisms, doublespeak, code-switching, shifting political correctness, and debates around language policy. Case studies exemplify how such linguistic tools frame policies, assert regional identities, signal social reform orientations, justify controversial actions, and expand appeal across constituencies. The analysis reveals how language is intricately tied to messaging, positioning, and electoral machinery of Indian parties. Examining political rhetoric and linguistic conflicts provides vital perspective on the deeper regional tensions, social reform commitments, and power structures underlying Indian politics.

New Zealand: Political Developments and Data in 2023

AbstractThe year 2023 was a year of substantial change in Aotearoa New Zealand. After the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern early in the year, new Labour Prime Minister Chris Hipkins struggled with opposition to his policy agenda, ministerial scandals and an acknowledged cost‐of‐living crisis. At the October 2023 general election, Labour's nationwide vote almost halved relative to its high point in the 2020 elections, and it performed especially poorly in Auckland where there was lingering resentment about the effects of multiple, prolonged COVID‐19 lockdowns. After protracted negotiations, a three‐way coalition government of the National Party, ACT New Zealand and New Zealand First was formed, with Christopher Luxon as Prime Minister. The shift in policy direction and tone from the Ardern and Hipkins eras was both striking and immediate. Before year's end, the coalition government had repealed several of Labour's flagship policy reforms and priorities, including in areas such as co‐governance, public health, environmental regulations, water governance and justice.

A Man's World? The Descriptive Representation of Women Inside Europarties

AbstractMen are over‐represented in the majority of national political parties. This article makes a significant contribution to the analysis of women's representation inside ‘Europarties’ that operate at the European level. It draws on new data, including interviews with Europarties' representatives. We focus on women's representation in party leadership positions, including Spitzenkandidat:innen. We show that more women have become part of Europarties' leaderships in recent years, but that overall, men remain over‐represented, especially in right‐wing parties. We explain this development by focusing on the role of gender quotas and women's organisations in enhancing women's representation. Whereas gender quotas have increased women's presence in leadership bodies, women's organisations have not. Drawing on feminist institutionalism, we also analyse some of the informal norms and practices that have (dis)empowered women. We argue that without statutory gender quotas for governing bodies, as well as formal and transparent decision‐making processes, women risk being excluded from leadership positions.

Institutions or ideology? Cross-party and cross-country analysis of factors contributing to the election of women to the European Parliament

Abstract The article examines the key factors influencing women’s electoral success in European Parliament (EP) elections. We present a new conceptual approach and a novel model that simultaneously incorporates trends in party characteristics, institutional and socio-economic factors and cross-country trends in women’s representation. The model provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationships between party-level and Member State-level factors and the election of women to the EP. The study is based on an original dataset of 450 observations on national political parties from all Member States, spanning four European elections from 2004 to 2019. Our results show that party characteristics such as incumbency rates, party size and ideological orientations (i.e. the party’s position on the GAL-TAN scale or its attitude towards European integration) play a key role in shaping women’s representation. This article provides novel insights into the unique features of Central and Eastern Europe, elucidating divergent patterns of women’s electoral prospects in conservative and progressive parties in Western democracies and Central and Eastern European post-communist EU Member States.

The Creation of State Anniversaries: James VI and I and the Politics of Thanksgiving

Abstract Religious anniversaries ordered by the state—by the monarch, royal council or parliament—were observed in England and Ireland from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. These have been studied chiefly as occasions for special sermons and popular festivities, the expression of English or Irish Protestant national identity, or the pursuit of party controversies. But examination of both the original establishment of state anniversaries by James VI and I, with three appointed during the short period from 1600 to 1605, and the principal documents published for these occasions, the orders and the forms of prayer, brings different perspectives. The anniversaries were British in scope. The first was originally ordered in Scotland, where James developed a politics of thanksgiving that he subsequently re-applied in England and Wales, with anniversaries which were later duplicated in Ireland. The king’s immediate purposes were to assist the management of political and ecclesiastical difficulties, and to advance a closer union of his Scottish and English kingdoms. His long-term aim was to increase the authority and the godly claims of the Stuart dynasty. This promotion of a divine-right British monarchy remained central to the special English and Irish church services which were conducted each year during the following centuries. In so far as the anniversaries came to be concerned with national identities or party causes, these were in tension with the texts and meanings of their religious services.

Using social media to communicate competence, ordinariness, and authenticity in political leadership

Abstract Understanding how political leaders use social media during election campaigns is a growing area of research, with existing literature focussing on single-election examinations of platform usage (Smith 2021). This paper instead conducts a longitudinal examination of political leadership on Twitter/X at the 2015, 2017, and 2019 UK general elections, focussing on the different ways in which leaders portray their competence, ordinariness, and authenticity. In analysing 2,694 posts during the short campaign period by the various leaders of the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish National Party, enables the examination of both changing social media behaviours and individual constructions of leadership under the same party label.

Electoral Politics and Voting Behavior in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: A Comparative Analysis of ANP Vote Bank in 2008 and 2013

This paper endeavors to identify the level of difference in electoral politics of Awami National Party on account of vote bank received in general elections 2008 and 2013. The elections act as a bridge between political elites and common people, between polity and society, between individuals and state and democratic governance. The data collected for research with the objective is to compare the results of ANP in 2008 and 2013 general elections and were comparatively analyzed on the basis of certain reasons due to which ANP vote bank led towards downfall as compare to PTI in KP region. The unresolved socio-economic issues of common man, party mismanagement, politics of kinship and ethno-national feelings of ANP impacted the electoral results of the party inversely in 2013 election despite of political achievements post 2008 election and so voters opted for other options in elections of 2013.

An Opera of Convenience: Musical Diplomacy and Nationalist Politics at the Barcelona Premiere of Amaya in 1934

ABSTRACT This article analyses the political background surrounding the 1934 Barcelona premiere of the opera Amaya (1920) by the Basque composer Jesús Guridi (1886–1961). During the Second Spanish Republic, amid escalating political tensions between Basque and Catalan nationalist parties and the central government in Madrid, the premiere of Amaya at the Gran Teatre del Liceu presents significant points for historiographical discussion. By interpreting the interactions between Basque and Catalan nationalists as diplomatic exchanges, this essay assesses the role conferred on musical practices in fostering solidarity and self-legitimation among sub-state actors. Drawing on archival documentation and press sources, this study provides a detailed overview of the internal mechanisms that facilitated the premiere of Amaya, with a particular focus on the strategies employed by sub-state agents to garner public recognition, musical agency, and political legitimacy.

Populist alone, but harmless together? Analysing inter- and transnational populism of EP parties ID and ECR on Facebook

Right-wing populist parties are highly successful in online communication and have made electoral gains in a wide range of European countries. In the European Parliament, until the recent European elections in 2024, the majority of them were distributed between the two party alliances and parliamentary groups Identity and Democracy (ID) and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). To analyse their communicative strategies, we collected all Facebook posts of the party and parliamentary group accounts of ID and ECR ( N = 616) within one year (08/21–08/22). Subsequently, structural topic modelling (STM), sentiment analysis and manual content analysis were applied to determine their communication strategies. Overall, the results indicate that ECR and ID are communicating rather moderately online. However, while ECR differs significantly from its national member parties, ID seems to reproduce right-wing populist narratives. Overall, this paper argues for a stronger focus on European party alliances, not only national parties, when researching right-wing populist communication in the EU.

The European Conservatives and Reformists Group: Cooperation or Opposition in Europe’s Parliament?

ABSTRACT The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group has emerged as an important player in European Parliament (EP) decision-making. Drawing on about 1,300 EP plenary votes from July 2019 to June 2022, we demonstrate that the ECR group has played an active and often cooperative role in the politics of the EP, albeit not in the policy areas where its national conservative and soft Eurosceptic ideology comes to prominence, such as women’s rights or institutional affairs. We complement the quantitative analysis with an in-depth investigation of the group’s position on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Our investigation shows that the ECR group’s unified stance against migration has often failed to translate into cohesive legislative actions by its national party delegations, aligning instead with national interests as defined by these parties.

Series: Sustainability. Making oral care more sustainable; where do we stand and where are we going? An overview of the situation in and around the Netherlands

With the Paris climate goals in prospect and the latest IPCC reports in mind, it is urgent and necessary that the healthcare sector also looks at how to limit global warming. Healthcare is a major producer of greenhouse gasses, air pollution and waste. In addition, it uses a lot of raw materials and energy. Both the World Health Organization, the World Dental Federation and national parties are trying to draw up an agenda based on goals to make the healthcare sector more sustainable. English research shows that the largest emissions in oral care are caused by travel, purchasing and use of materials and energy use in practice. Based on these topics, steps can be taken to become more sustainable. The e-book 'Sustainable oral healthcare practice' provides a good starting point for this.

Solidarity across the Americas: The Puerto Rican nationalist party and anti-imperialism

Solidarity across the Americas: The Puerto Rican nationalist party and anti-imperialism

Establishing Bandung as a Center of Nationalism: R. A. A. Wiranatakusumah V's Political Policies Amidst the Independence Movement

This study aims to analyze the political policies of R.A.A. Wiranatakusumah V in establishing Bandung as a center of nationalism amidst Indonesia's independence movement. This research uses a literature study method with a historical approach to explore Wiranatakusumah V's role as the Regent of Bandung, including his response to significant events such as the founding of the Indonesian National Party (PNI) and Bung Karno's trial by the Dutch Colonial Landraad. The findings indicate that R.A.A. Wiranatakusumah V's policies successfully made Bandung a region that welcomed the national movement while maintaining harmony between indigenous and colonial groups. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of how inclusive and nationalist political policies can shape a city's identity as a center of the national movement. The study also offers lessons for the younger generation on the importance of leadership that can unite various societal elements in the struggle for independence.

Solidarity Across the Americas: The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and Anti-Imperialism by Margaret M. Power (review)

Solidarity Across the Americas: The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and Anti-Imperialism by Margaret M. Power (review)

Solidarity across the Americas: The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and Anti-imperialism

Solidarity across the Americas: The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and Anti-imperialism

Health Insurance, Medicine, and Society in Taiwan: Chinese Authoritarianism, Taiwanese Ethnicities, and Global Actuarial Science

This article explores the history of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang KMT) government’s expansion of health insurance in Taiwan from 1950 to the 2010s through the lens of ethnicity, politics and medicine. I argue that the KMT party-state’s expansion of health insurance privileged government employees who were the core supporters of the ruling party. By comparing the history of the insurance programs for government employees and laborers, the article makes the case that KMT provided better coverage, lower premiums, and less medical gatekeeping for Chinese waisheng government employees who fled to Taiwan with the KMT than for ordinary Taiwanese bensheng laborers. Global actuarial science experts from the United Nations International Labor Organization also buttressed such a discriminatory process. This China-centered approach towards universalizing healthcare on the island became increasingly challenged by provincial legislators, labor activists, and the emerging political opposition that promoted local Taiwanese concerns on healthcare equity and access. This article concludes that this dual process of KMT’s population management and leveraging of United Nations actuarial expertise as the Republic of China became symbolic of the bio-geopolitics that animated the history and development of health insurance in Taiwan.

Platform politics in Latin America: Equalizers, normalizers, laggards, and marginals

How has the adoption of internet-based platform politics impacted Latin American party systems? This paper fills an important gap by creating novel categories and tracing patterns for understanding how political parties of 18 Central and South American countries practice politics online. Our work is informed by the equalization versus normalization debate between that sees the Internet as either consolidating institutional parties’ strength or giving strategic advantage to new and smaller parties. Our analysis takes a four-step approach to address the initial question. First, we conceptualize platform politics in a Latin American context and generate hypotheses. Second, we create a dataset to map online and offline national party systems across Latin America. Third, we introduce four categories (equalizers, normalizers, laggards, marginals) to capture different parties’ online positioning. Last, we explore platform politics by comparing four parties belonging to the different categories – FMLN in El Salvador, Novo in Brazil, PPC in Peru, and MORENA in Mexico – and showing how they use social media to overcome their structural limits. Overall, this work finds great regional variation to extend the validity of the cyclical nature of equalization and normalization to the Latin American context.

Malta: Political Developments and Data in 2023

AbstractThe year in politics was marked by the exposure of a number of scandals, chief among which concerned the privatisation of three public hospitals. Polls still continued to give the governing Labour Party a strong lead over the opposition Nationalist Party, which showed little sign of recovery. The economy performed well, but inflation hit people's spending power, and sustained growth continued to be reflected in overcrowding and congestion. The abortion debate closed in an anti‐climax. A brighter picture emerged in foreign relations as Malta took its place in the UN Security Council and was chosen to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

All Change. Again

The Spring of 2024 saw further political turmoil in Holyrood. The Bute House Agreement between the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Scottish Greens came to an abrupt end, and resulted in the subsequent resignation of Humza Yousaf as leader of the SNP and, thus, as Scotland’s First Minister. This editorial essay surveys the events contributing to the crisis and considers the prospects of a minority Scottish Government led by the SNP’s John Swinney.

Transnational intra-party dynamics on European democratic reforms

One of the core elements of the European Union's (EU) democratic deficit is the lack of a genuine supranational political competition. Some processes were intended to mitigate these effects, such as the introduction of the Spitzenkandidaten (SK) and the possibility of creating Transnational Lists (TL) for European Parliament (EP) elections. These processes would be accompanied by a strengthening of the role of the European political parties (henceforth, Europarties) as the only transnational party federations capable of mobilising their national members in decisions beyond the EP. Europarties would thus be able to promote transnational candidates to the European institutions and become true political parties at the EU-level. However, Europarties are heterogeneous organisations of national parties, where ideological dynamics of these transnational parties can be subject to party dissidence, with differentiated positions on European democracy during EU elections. By adopting a principal-agent model of party organisation, the aim of this research is to analyse what effects did Europarty internal dynamics have had on the creation of a common position on the SK and TL. Based on evidence from Europarties, we suggest that supranational intra-party dissidence is low regarding EU democratic reforms.