Alliance Party Research Articles

Dissecting the Modern Egyptian State

On 24 January 2015, Shaymaʾ al-Sabbagh, a thirty-two-year-old mother of one and a member of the Egyptian Socialist People's Alliance Party, was walking with flowers in hand alongside her colleagues in a preauthorized march to Tahrir Square to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the January Revolution. Suddenly the police opened fire at close range and within a few minutes Shaymaʾ dropped dead. Despite strong evidence implicating the police, who were present at the scene in overwhelming numbers, and despite the wide circulation on social media of a video clip showing a masked policeman aiming in Shaymaʾ's direction, the attorney general initially refused to arraign the police officer in question and instead decided to charge Shaymaʾ's colleagues. After a massive public outcry, the suspected police officer was finally arraigned (although his identity was never revealed); however, he was charged not with manslaughter or excessive use of force, but with the much lesser charge of “beating that results in death.” Most crucially, the official cause of Shaymaʾ's death was slimness. In a TV interview, Dr. Hisham ʿAbd al-Hamid, the spokesperson of the Egyptian Medical Forensics Authority (EMFA), said that the birdshot that hit Shaymaʾ “was not fatal given that it was fired more than eight meters away, but since she was too skinny, the birdshot was able to penetrate her body easily and ended up hitting the lung and the heart. This is a very rare case.”

Plus Ça Change: The 2014 Local Elections in Northern Ireland

The local government elections of 22 May 2014 in Northern Ireland were the first to be held under revised district boundaries, with 11 ‘super councils’ replacing the 26-council model used since 1973. Despite the structural reform, little changed in terms of political party support. Although they suffered some losses, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin remained firmly entrenched as the two dominant players at local government level in Northern Ireland. The Ulster Unionist Party enjoyed only a marginal increase in its vote share, while the Social Democratic and Labour Party recorded one of the worst electoral performances in its history. Elsewhere, the Traditional Unionist Voice enjoyed a ‘breakthrough’ election and the Alliance Party defied widely held predictions that it would suffer at the polls as a result of its role in the Union flag crisis. The campaign was overshadowed by both the concurrent European Parliament contest and several crises of power-sharing at Stormont. As a result, distinctly local government issues received scant and fleeting attention. The contest saw the lowest local election turnout in Northern Ireland's history, continuing a general trend of increasing voter apathy in the province.

Regional resilience and national party system change: India's 2014 general elections in context

For the first time in 30 years, a single national party has won a majority on its own in the Indian parliament, and does not depend on the support of regional party allies for a parliamentary majority. Yet it is too soon to pronounce the decline or marginalisation of regional parties in India's national political life. The aggregate performance of regional parties remained resilient in the 2014 elections, even marginally improving over 2009. This article considers whether the 2014 elections mark a critical break in the position of regional parties at the national level. The principal argument is that the 2014 elections do not reflect a fundamental alteration in the dynamics of political regionalisation. Rather they suggest a new phase in the impact of regionalisation on the party system at the national level. In a landscape of continually increasing voter choice, electoral outcomes at the national level have begun to narrow to favour a smaller range of parties since 2004. The number of parties able to achieve influence via participation in cabinet governance or coalition has begun to decline. Political fragmentation has not gone away, but its consequences for election outcomes have changed.

Neoliberal Forms of Capital and The Rise of Social Movement Partyism in Central America

Historical shifts in global economic formations shape the strategies of resistance movements in the global South. Neoliberal forms of economic development over the past thirty years in Central America have weakened traditional actors sponsoring popular mobilization such as labor unions and rural cooperatives. At the same time, the free market reforms produced new threats to economic livelihood and well-being throughout the region. The neoliberal measures that have generated the greatest levels of mass discontent include rising prices, privatization, labor flexibility laws, mining projects, and free trade. This article analyzes the role of emerging anti-neoliberal political parties in alliance with popular movements in Central America. Countries with already existing strong anti-systemic parties in the initial phases of the global turn to neoliberalism in the late twentieth century resulted in more efficacious manifestations of social movement partyism in the twenty-first century resisting free market globalization.

Special Rights in the Malaysian Constitution and the Framers' Dilemma, 1956–57

The provision for Malay special privileges in the federal constitution raised considerable debate among the framers and the political community in Malaya (now Malaysia) during the drafting of the constitution in 1956–57. Article 153, which provides certain preferences to Malays in the award of business licences, scholarships and employment in the public service, was an unusual provision as it conflicted with the principle of equality enshrined in the constitution. Yet, there was general acknowledgment among the political organisations that the Malays badly needed assistance to address their economic backwardness. The dilemma the framers faced was in reconciling how these safeguards could be framed without negating the principle of equality in Article 8 and the constitutional rights of the non-Malays. Article 153 has been a source of much debate over the last 50 years. Earlier studies have not been able to examine the classified primary constitutional documents to ascertain fully the intentions of the framers. This article, drawing mainly from declassified primary constitutional documents and Alliance Party papers, analyses the evolution of the article through the various drafting stages. It shows that Article 153 was intended by the framers, particularly the Alliance Party, as a temporary and transitional provision with an unwritten understanding that there would be a review of the special privileges after independence and their discontinuance after a certain number of years.

Alkotmányozási eljárások Magyarországon (1989-2011)

In my research paper I study the Hungarian constitutional processes. The subjects of my analysis are three periods, namely the change of the political system in 1989, the constitutional attempts from 1994 to 1998, and the constitutional process between 2010 and 2011.
 The processes are examined on the basis of the two notions: “legality” and “legitimacy”. Under the concept “formal legality”, I mean the legal validity of the constitutional process; i.e. whether the constitutional process takes place in accordance with the current legislation. The concept of “legitimacy” has two aspects. On the one hand, empirical legitimacy investigates whether the citizens de facto accept the constitution and value it as respectable independently of the normative motives of its acceptance. On the other hand, normative legitimacy examines whether the constitution is based on justifiable principles and whether it might be considered as legally binding.
 The constitutional process in 1989 - aimed at establishing a democratic transition – took place within round-table discussions of the representatives of the old system and the strengthened opposition. As a result of the radical changes, the democratic Constitution was established in Hungary and the multi-party system also developed. The outcome of the discussions was the general supervision of the Constitution. Formally, there was only an amendment to the Constitution in 1989; however, as regard its content, a completely new norm was established.
 Since the change of the political system in 1989, the idea of creating a new constitution emerges again and again in the Hungarian public life. In the course of the elections in 2010, a party alliance (in which both parties represented the same political line) reached the required two-thirds majority in the Parliament, and aimed at establishing a new constitution. The result of the constitutional process is a completely new constitution (both the form and the content of the previous constitution were changed).
 All things considered, it can be stated that the amendment to the Constitution in 1989 was accepted lawfully by the Parliament of the old system, i.e. the constitutional process was legal, and in a normative sense, a legitimate Constitution was created. In 2011, the Fundamental Law of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyarország Alaptörvénye) was adopted on the basis of the procedure determined by the Constitution in 1989, i.e. the constitutional process was legal, though; the present research paper highlights some elements of the constitutional process that might be criticized. At present, the legitimacy of the Fundamental Law of Hungary is controversial from both sociological and normative perspectives.

Kenya’s Decade of Experiments with Political Party Alliances and Coalitions: Motivations, Impact and Prospects

This article explains the causes, factors and motivations influencing the formation (the survival and the collapse) of pre-electoral alliances and coalition governments in Kenya. It also looks at the consequences of alliances and coalitions for national cohesion and the party system. The paper demonstrates that alliances and coalitions contribute to national cohesion in Kenya by bringing together polarised political parties and ethnic groups and ensuring a more equitable sharing of national resources. Conversely it argues that while party alliances and coalitions do contribute to a degree of national cohesion their disintegration may, in certain circumstances, undo the progress achieved in building national cohesion. Finally the study shows that party alliances and coalitions tend to weaken smaller parties and the party system in favour of the larger parties.

The Causes of Political Party Alliances and Coalitions and Their Effects on National Cohesion in India

Electoral politics in India has long been considered a challenge for comparative politics; from the distinctiveness of the transition and consolidation of democracy and through the understanding of the way in which the socio-economic complexities of such a heterogeneous society have adapted to and interacted with the institutions of parliamentary politics. Since the 1990s India has experienced the conjunction of a period of complex electoral fractionalisation with considerable and sustained economic growth. This has confounded expectations that the political context that is most conducive to economic development is one of strong and stable government. Rather, the contemporary experience of Indian development has occurred against the backdrop of a dynamic and regionalised party system, with coherence provided by a weakened central executive which has had to limit direct control over economic and social policy. To some extent this has been achieved because of an institutional structure of governance which has responded to the evolution of popular politics, providing a framework of governance which has reflected some of the national diversity and filled some of the power vacuums left unfilled by the fiercely competitive but often corrupt and inefficient party political system. However, a major factor has been the way in which electoral alliances and government coalitions have become an accepted feature of Indian democratic politics, forcing acceptance that compromise, power-sharing, and recognition of diversity are essential elements of successful government.

Some Preliminary Conclusions on the Causes and Consequences of Political Party Alliances and Coalitions in Africa

The papers brought together in this issue of the Journal of African Elections were presented at EISA's Eighth Symposium, held in Johannesburg in September 2013. At this event academic specialists joined politicians and electoral officials from a wide range of settings within and outside Africa to reflect on the experiences of forming political party alliances and coalitions and governing through them. Their contributions to the symposium addressed five key questions: How do we define electoral alliances or coalitions? Which circumstances favour their formation? Why do parties form coalitions? What have been their effects? And, finally, which are the key issues that future researchers should address? This concluding essay brings together the main insights that were generated by the presentations and the discussions they prompted.

Alliances, Coalitions and the Political System in Lesotho 2007-2012

This paper assesses political party alliances and coalitions in Lesotho, focusing on their causes and their consequences for party systems, democratic consolidation, national cohesion and state governability. We agree with Kapa (2008) that formation of the pre-2007 alliances can be explained in terms of office-seeking theory in that the political elite used alliances to access and retain power. These alliances altered the country's party system, leading to conflict between parties inside and outside Parliament, as well as effectively changing the mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system into a parallel one, thereby violating the spirit of the system. However, the phenomenon did not change state governability; it effectively perpetuated the one-party dominance of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and threatened national cohesion. The post-2012 coalition, on the other hand, was a product of a hung parliament produced by the elections. The impact of the coalition on the party system, state governability and democratic consolidation is yet to be determined as the coalition phenomenon is still new. However, state governability has been marked by a generally very slow pace of policy implementation and the party system has been both polarised and reconfigured while national cohesion has been strengthened. The major challenge for political leaders is to manage the coalition arrangement for the good of the country, which we strongly feel they must, since it seems that coalition governments are very likely to be a permanent feature of Lesotho politics.

Causes and Impact of Party Alliances and Coalitions on The Party System and National Cohesion In South Africa

South Africa's first decade of democracy, 1994-2004, delivered a high volume of governing and opposition alliances and coalitions in South Africa. These alliances and coalitions catalysed the party system and facilitated the consolidation of ANC power. Simultaneously, alliances in this decade triggered the main opposition party, the DA, which continued to dominate opposition politics numerically through Election 2014. The second decade of democracy, 2004-2014, was characterised by continued ANC dominance, yet, instead of the ANC unremittingly usurping parties, it became subject to splits. Some of the split-offs emerged to become opposition parties. Others fused into alliances with either the ANC or existing opposition parties. This article takes stock of the development during these two decades and looks ahead to budding new alliances that may thrive in conditions of lessened ANC dominance.

An introduction to the Politics of Party Alliances and Coalitions in Socially-divided Africa

There is a gradual emergence of a body of knowledge about the factors that stimulate the formation, survival and disintegration of party alliances and coalitions in Africa. What is relatively less known is the impact of these alliances and coalitions on various aspects of political and governance systems in African countries. This article is a modest step towards explaining the effects of party alliances and coalitions on national cohesion and party systems in Africa's socially-divided states.

Seeing beyond the datasets: the unexploited structure of electoral and institutional data

We propose relational data modeling as a tool for replacing the ad hoc and uncoordinated approaches commonly used throughout the social sciences to gather, store, and disseminate data. We demonstrate relational data modeling using global electoral and political institutional data. We define a relational data model as a map of concepts, their attributes, and the relationships between concepts developed using a formal language and according to a set of rules. To demonstrate the methodology, we design a simple relational data model of six concepts: countries, parties, elections, districts, institutions, and election results. Furthermore, we introduce a data model to solve the particularly vexing issue of party discontinuity (party splits, mergers, and alliances). We show how the solution facilitates computational tasks, such as the calculation of core measures of political phenomena (ex: electoral volatility). Ultimately, a relational data approach will play a central role in collective investments to develop advanced data capabilities, and thereby advance the accuracy, pace, and transparency of scholarship in the social sciences.

REGIONINIO IR STRATEGINIO BENDRADARBIAVIMO APRAIŠKOS LENKIJOS PARLAMENTINIŲ PARTIJŲ POLITINĖSE PROGRAMOSE

This article analyses programs of Poland Parliamentary political parties, which exclude vectors of foreign politics in the context of regional collaboration. The most important concept in this article is analysis of political parties and their ideologies, which show their importance in forming foreign politics in Poland. Priority areas of foreign politics in Poland are presented in the text.Analysis was conducted using analysing programs (2011) of Parliamentary parties such as Civic Platform, Law and Justice, Democratic Left Alliance and Polish People Party. The case of Palikot’s movement is absent in the article due to the fact that the vector of foreign politics is not excluded in its program. The main priorities of Poland’s foreign politics, its position in forming and performing the politics are analysed in the text. The focus of it is on how these priorities are presented in the programs of Parliamentary parties.There are two types of vectors which are useful in forming foreign politics: inner (e.g., features of party system or influence of other political subjects) and outer (relations between foreign politics in Poland and other countries, power of negotiation, ability to arrange coalitions). The role of Poland’s political parties in foreign politics is not clearly marked: it depends on various circumstances, most often on the composition of government. Identity, value system, election strategies: these are the basic concepts which influence the role of ideology in forming foreign politics. The main aim of ideology, however, is to adapt to new conditions of political arena. Ideology is not a dominant factor in forming the identity of political parties in Poland. Partial system in Poland is characterised as having weak base of experience and having a tendency to strengthen the role of the leader despite the fact that this role is restricted by political parties and ideology. On the other hand, despite the fact that ideology is becoming less dominant in forming political decisions, it is still important in political discourse. An assumption can be made that political system in Poland is marked by the weakness of partial ideology.Priorities of foreign politics in programs of various political parties in Poland are similar. Pro-European tendencies are reflected in the rhetorics of Civic Platform and Democratical Left Alliance. Economical factor is the most important in Law and Justice and Polish People Party programs. Transatlantic relations between Poland and NATO are important in programs of Civic Platform and Law and Justice. Agriculture in Poland and its problems are important factor mentioned in the programs of all analysed parties. Good relations with neighbour states are the priority factor in programs of all analysed parties, but Civic Platform and Democratic Left Alliance prefer it the most. Relations of Poland and developing countries as well as separate regions is also an important concept in programs of political parties. Ethnic minority of Poland and its problems in foreign countries is the core concept in the programs of Law and Justice and Polish People Party.Priority concepts of foreign politics in the programs (2011) of political parties in Poland are presented in the article. Position of these programs correlates with the official strategy of foreign politics in Poland. Poland wants to strengthen its position in political unions in order to create common perspective of European integration. What is more, Poland seeks to have good relations with NATO and to present itself as a reliable ally in transatlantic context. Moreover, Poland emphasizes the importance of collaboration with Ukraine and other Eastern European countries as well as collaboration with Southern Caucasus countries. In order to strengthen its position in foreign politics, Poland collaborates with Western countries, countries of Vysegrad group and it also encourages partnership with Eastern countries. Economical collaboration is one of the priority concepts; economical collaboration with Germany is the most successful one so far. Relations with diaspora and those citizens of Poland origin, who live in foreign countries, encourage closer relations with neighbour states, which have the highest concentration of Poles.

Defending the monarchy: The Malay rulers and the making of the Malayan constitution, 1956-1957

The nine Malay rulers in Malaya faced considerable challenges to their status and position at the end of the Second World War. The Malayan Union scheme introduced in 1946 by the Colonial Office deprived them of most of their powers. But after massive protests by the Malays much of the powers of the rulers were restored. The framing of the Malayan independence constitution between 1956 and 1957 pitted the institution of monarchy against the forces of nationalism. The dominant Alliance Party and most of the other parties wanted the rulers to be constitutional monarchs with limited powers under the new constitution. Some scholars have suggested that this reflected the demise of the institution of monarchy against the forces of nationalism. This article challenges this view. This article shows through a close examination and analysis of the primary constitutional records that the rulers fought a pitched battle to safeguard their position and status from further erosion in the new constitution. The article argues that the rulers were not only able to prevent further erosion of their constitutional powers but were in fact able to enhance their position considerably and give the Conference of Rulers a new lease of life in the 1957 federal constitution.

The Closet in the Party: The Young Socialist Alliance, the Socialist Workers Party, and Homosexuality, 1962 – 1970

During the 1960s, the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) and Socialist Workers Party (SWP) were highly active in the movement against the Vietnam War and other social movements in the United States. Between 1962 and 1970, their leaderships sought to exclude homosexuality from their ranks. Using all available documentation, oral history, and correspondence, this article reconstructs for the first time how SWP and YSA members attracted to others of the same sex were either pushed out of the movement or compelled to circumvent the policy by building closets. By drawing on recent scholarship on the “straight state” in the United States, it explains that these socialist groups moved to bar same-sex sexuality because the state had incited both security concerns (fears that the government would pressure arrested homosexuals to become federal informants) and cultural anxiety (fears that “bohemian” styles would alienate American working-class recruits from socialism). It compares YSA and SWP policy to those of other leftist and working-class parties and organizations, including the Communist Party and Maoist and New Left organizations. After coming under strong external criticism by the gay and women's liberation movements, the YSA and SWP abandoned their antigay membership restriction in 1970. They therefore exemplify both the institutional suppression of homosexuality at midcentury and the transformations in civic and political culture generated by the gay liberation movement.

O Rio de Janeiro e o Estado Nacional (1946-2010)

This article argues that the political heft of a specific state (Rio de Janeiro) within the Federative Republic of Brazil has to do with how state party politics relates to the national party politics. The article assesses the decline in Rio's role in national politics before and after transfer of the national capital to Brasilia in 1960 and the fusion of Guanabara with the former state of Rio de Janeiro in 1975. The article draws on previously unpublished data and proposes two hypotheses: (1) the share of cabinet posts held by politicians from Rio de Janeiro is largely a function of the state's relative weight in the main governing parties' delegations in the Chamber of Deputies and (2) that the strengthening of the Federal government since the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution prompted Rio to adjust to the party alliances forged by the various Presidents, thereby contributing to a relatively recovery of the state's national political influence in the first decade of the 21st century. Finally, the article provides a normative reflection on the consequences, for Brazil, of Rio de Janeiro's political and economic decline.

Pamięć społeczna i polityka historyczna w programach polskich partii politycznych

The transformation of the political system in Poland after the negotiations of the‘Round Table’ resulted in an increased interest in modern history, accompanied by a desire to reckon with the past, in particular with the period of communist rule after 1944. Since the 1990s, government authorities and political parties have made a natural move to legitimize the democratic political system in the area of social memory and historical policy. This process has been initiated by constitutional changes, coupled with a truly spontaneous social movement to change national symbols, names of streets and squares, patrons of schools and universities, institutions and manufacturing plants rooted in the overthrown system of communist Poland. The humanities, in particular historiography, have taken steps to reassess attitudes to Polish and global history. The issues of social memory, national identity and historical policy have been reflected in the ideologies and platforms of various political parties. The issue of social (national) memory has become entangled in political disputes and a struggle for ‘control of the past’, of interpretations of history, the value of patriotism and, by extension, of the electorate, has been waged mainly by the Law and Justice (PiS), Civic Platform (PO), and the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) parties. This paper analyzes and describes the most influential political movements in Poland in the early 21st century as regards their attitude to collective memory and the concept of historical policy. These attitudes are presented in terms of the conservative, liberal, critical and totalitarian ‘models of historical policy’. The study implies that the conservative and liberal models predominate, clearly influenced by the ideology of Christian democracy and national tendencies. The attitude of conservative parties in particular is characterized by disrespect for academic findings and interpretations of history, a frequently ad hoc approach to facts and assessments of the past, which follows from a desire to find the in-depth historical legitimization of the status of a given party in society and to dominate the electorate.

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, a Corporate Perspective

Best-in-class systems have evolved among alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) producers, specialty pharmacies and the Alpha-1 Foundation and AlphaNet patient groups. The Genetic Alliance, NORD and other independent parties have recognized the benefits regarding public policy, patient advocacy, medical research, medication adherence, patient identification and health outcomes. Driving the next quantum leap in disease state management for Alpha-1 patients will require strong leadership from both industry and patient groups. Six initiatives are suggested that will sustain best-in-class approaches to identify, treat and even cure Alpha-1 patients.

Minority parties and the changing politics of criminal justice

Over the past 15 years the political landscape of the United Kingdom has changed beyond recognition. Since the 2010 general election, the United Kingdom has a coalition government which includes Liberal Democrats. Following devolution, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have all experienced coalition government. Currently the Scottish National Party is in government in Edinburgh whilst the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein form a government in Belfast. On the day of writing (27 November), the Alliance Party, the Democratic Unionist Party, the Green Party, Plaid Cymru, Respect, the Scottish Nationalist Party, Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic and Labour Party hold Westminster seats, along with three independent MPs. The Westminster ‘first past the post’ voting system means that two parties with considerable popular support in the 2010 general election – the British National Party (with 564,331 votes) and the UK Independence Party (with 919,546 votes) – are excluded. Both are represented in the Eu...