Party Development Research Articles

An Identity Crisis for the Democrats?

Although Democrats reject the Republican Party’s exclusionary definition of America, they nonetheless struggle to articulate an alternative vision of national community capable of mobilizing a governing majority around a national program. I explore the challenge of national identity and national purpose for the Democratic Party—and the country—by finding sources for it in features of America’s creedal identity, but also in twentieth-century party developments and governing choices. Blurring the meaning of key terms of the party’s public philosophy and national liberal identity, embracing administrative expertise as well as party and interest pluralism, and relying on procedural solutions to escape value differences between coalitional partners, the history of choices made by the Democratic Party has left it ill-equipped to persuade voters that it has a singular, substantive vision of national community that acknowledges, and yet unites, citizens across their diverse concerns and aspirations.

Betting on the underdog: the influence of social networks on vote choice

AbstractPeople are commonly expected not to waste their vote on parties with small probabilities of being elected. Yet, many end up voting for underdogs. We argue that voters gauge the popular support for their preferred party from their social networks. When social networks function as echo chambers, a feature observed in real-life networks, voters overestimate underdogs’ chances of winning. We conduct voting experiments in which some treatment groups receive signals from a simulated network. We compare the effect of networks with a high degree of homogeneity against random networks. We find that homophilic networks increase the level of support for underdogs, which provides evidence to back up anecdotal claims that echo chambers foster the development of fringe parties.

ПОЛИТИКА ПОПУЛИСТОВ В ПЕРИОД ПАНДЕМИИ COVID-19

The purpose of the article is to identify the main measures of populists to combat the removal of COVID 19 on the example of the United States of America and Italy. The study analyzes populist leaders across the political spectrum coped with the COVID-19 outbreak. The observation shows how, in the example of the United States, Italy such as their optimistic bias and complacency, ambiguity and ignorance of science. The study analyzes the measures taken by the Italian government and the US President. The results of the research allow us to use its materials and theoretical results primarily in political science. They can also be used in the development of specialized courses on modern globalization processes, political leadership, party development, and multiculturalism policy.

Public Engineering of Party and Electoral Systems Development in the Russian Federation

The purpose of this article is to substantiate the key elements of public administration design of party and electoral systems development, namely, legislative, financial and communication technologies. The paper proves that qualitative, manageable, change in young democracy must inevitably be designed at the state level. Party and electoral systems are not only subject to spontaneous development, but can also be purposefully developed based on the goals and objectives of public administration. The key research issue in this paper is to identify factors that can hinder the processes of development and institutionalization of party and electoral systems in the Russian Federation. Theoretical basis of the study was formed by D. P. Quintal, G. Sartori, R. Taagepera, M. S. Shugart, K. Benoit and E. Laszlo. The application of political theories helped to prove the relevance of studying the party system as an important part of the political sphere, as well as to demonstrate the importance of the selected public engineering elements. The review of the practice of electoral and party institutes in the Russian Federation, based on theoretical analysis, helped to understand what are the features of state public engineering in this area. On the basis of the theoretical analysis, a number of conclusions were made about the validity of certain measures of state influence on the party and electoral systems. The public engineering for last half a century has gained special value from the point of view of development of political system as a whole and electoral system in particular. In the strategic plan, the public engineering of the development of the party and electoral system should be based on working with young people as a projective object of public management. The main factors that potentially have a negative impact on the development and institutionalization of party and electoral systems include the following: (1) the absence of a systematic approach to changes in legislation; (2) the absence of a comprehensive system of feedback from the electorate, which leads to sustainable absentism and may harm the very system of public engineering of party and electoral systems; (3) the unresolved problem of content management in the campaigns of political parties, as a result of which most campaigns are based on the promotion of leaders known to all, which is poorly aligned with the demand of young people for new political actors; (4) the lack of a comprehensive system of feedback from the electorate.

Модернизация политической системы современной России: развитие консервативных и национал-патриотических проектов

Modern conservative political and legal changes in the state system of Russia, enshrined in the amendments to the Constitution, determine the need to study and evaluate the directions and ways of further socio-political development of the country and society, which characterizes the relevance of the topic. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the search and evaluation of modern political forces, foundations and concepts that determined the general logic, ideology and vectors of modern political and legal changes in the country. The stud-ied national-patriotic and conservative concepts and political actors have created the basis for the mod-ernization of the state management system based on the search for a balance between protective ideas and liberalism. The paper analyzes the main amendments to the Constitution of Russia, as well as the conditions and factors of the functioning of the socio-political system in the country. The basic ideological approaches to ongoing political and legal changes in the state management system are also examined, the key vectors of modernization of the political system of Russia are studied. The study, based on methods of comparing and analyz-ing documents, describes the key areas of political and legal modernization of the country in the direc-tion of strengthening the positions of conservatism and national patriotism, which today creates the conditions for the development of protective con-cepts and conservative political parties and move-ments. Within the framework of systemic and pro-cess approaches, the potential of implementing na-tional-patriotic programs for the development of the state in conjunction with the liberal-democratic ba-sis for the functioning of the political system of the country has been investigated. The authors analyze the prospects for the modernization of the political system of the country towards national patriotism and conservatism, as well as recommendations on the formation of balanced conditions for the func-tioning of Russian socio-political system in condi-tions of external instability and the growth of for-eign challenges and threats.

Party crashers? Modeling genuinely new party development paths in Western Europe

Western Europe has recently experienced the emergence of successful new parties, but while single parties or countries have been extensively studied, insufficient attention has been devoted to this phenomenon from a comparative and long-term perspective. By relying on an original data set covering 20 countries and 344 parliamentary elections, this article presents the first analysis of West European ‘genuinely new parties’ (GNPs) across time, countries and party families. We hypothesize that the parties differ not only in terms of their short- and long-term success but have a range of distinct development paths. Through a latent growth model, we provide a classification of GNPs in terms of their breakthrough and initial performance. According to the specific trajectory followed by new parties in the first five elections they contest, the model suggests five different classes of new parties in Western Europe: ‘explosive’, ‘meteoric’, ‘contender’, ‘flat’ and ‘flop’. The article discusses the implications of these findings also regarding the ability of the model to produce estimates and predictions about the future electoral performances of GNPs.

Electoral System, Ethnic Parties, and Party System Stability in Myanmar

Party system stability is core to new democracies. In Myanmar’s 2015 general elections, more than 90 political parties competed but only 11 won seats. Will the proliferation of parties undermine Myanmar’s party system stability? Given its single-member plurality electoral system and ethno-geographically segregated electoral landscape, what kind of ethnic parties are likely to be electable? This paper addresses these questions by examining how Myanmar’s electoral system affects the electability of small ethnic parties and party system stability. Specifically, we compare the mechanical and psychological effects of the electoral system on ethnic parties and voters since the creation of an ethnically segregated geographical landscape after 2008. For mechanical effects, we compare the degree of disproportionality, extra or ‘bonus’ seats, and how malapportionment affects small ethnic parties. For psychological effects, we examine how electoral experiences shape voting behavior and ethnic party strategy. Our findings, based on limited electoral data and recent party developments, indicate that, in addition to the mechanical effects of electoral institutions, the electoral success of ethnic parties are dependent on the geographic distribution of seats, concentration of voter support, strategic fielding of candidates in underpopulated constituencies, and co-ordination with other parties to prevent vote splitting.

Российское черносотенство и его место в прошлом и настоящем европейских популистских партий и движений

The history of the prerevolutionary Russian Black Hundreds movement is an integral part of the general European history of populist parties and movements, especially of the far-right type. However, the European context of the Black Hundreds is not reflected in Russian and foreign historiography. This absence of a broader context for the study of the Black Hundreds constitutes a huge blank spot in our understanding of this complex and often contradictory political phenomenon. This article examines the groundbreaking possibilities of studying the Black Hundreds phenomenon in a European context of the history of populist parties and movements. A comparative approach to the study of the Black Hundreds movement would help us to understand many complexities of its history. By doing a comparative analysis of the Black Hundreds with other European far-right populist movements, we can trace elements of similarities and differences and determine elements of Russian uniqueness. The comparative approach helps us to avoid incorrect conclusions about the essence of the Black Hundreds movements. Incorrect conclusions include identifying the Black Hundreds with traditionalist counter-revolutionary movements from the time of the French and other democratic revolutions between 1770 and 1850 or with fascism, National Socialism and related ideologies in the 20th century. Instead, in many ways, the Black Hundreds movements were the forerunners of today’s mass European far-right populist parties and movements and even centrist and leftist populist parties. Populist parties are protest movements against traditional parties across the political spectrum. It is time to explore the Black Hundreds movement as part of the history of populism. Also through the comparative approach, one can determine the place of the Black Hundreds in the European-wide context of the history of European revolutionary, antirevolutionary, and counterrevolutionary movements, nationalism, the consolidation of ethnic and political nations, questions about the identity of individuals, strata, and societies, and the development of nationalist, separatist, autonomist, and regionalist parties and movements. Studying the Black Hundreds in a broad context has a huge current relevance and helps us to sort through the elements of mythmaking in the history of the Black Hundred phenomenon from its origins to the present day.

Marxism before Marxism: Nikolaj Sieber and the birth of Russian social-democracy

The Swiss-Russian economist Nikolaj Sieber was one of the first who wrote about Marx in Russia. In this article we reconstruct the development of his thought by mobilising evidence about the intellectual and political context he lived in. We document his involvement within the Ukrainian national movement of the 1870 s and argue that this closeness was consistent with his take on the capitalist evolution of the Russian Empire. We discuss his importance in the Russian debates on the future of the peasant commune and of Russia and conclude that his interpretation of Marx and capitalism was crucial for the development of the Russian social-democratic party.

A survey on android security: development and deployment hindrance and best practices

Android OS is the most popular mobile OS for the past few years. Vulnerabilities arise with respect to the increasing functionality of Android OS, impolitic app development practices of developers, end-user incautious and interestingly remediation for the vulnerabilities has been introduced frequently as well. To mitigate security risk factor Google has been updated, deprecated and restricted many system level APIs for 3 rd party developers. Considering the consequences, this paper provides a wide overview of Android’s system level app development, privacy issues, and guideline for the developers about what measure they should consider while developing apps. We also discussed the historical development of Android OS and the end-users role to maintain privacy and to minimize security risks.

Особенности партийного строительства среди дисперсных этносов на Дону, Кубани и в Черноморье в 1920-1930-е гг.

The article examines the basic trends and mechanisms of party development among national minorities of the Don, Kuban and Black Sea regions in the 1920-1930s. The author reveals specificity of the process of nominating disperse ethnic groups’ representatives for posts in local party bodies. Comparative analysis of this process in the national communities is conducted. It is shown that the national minority regions were among the leaders in terms of party development among disperse ethnic groups. However, even in these regions, party development was relatively slow in comparison with other forms of integration.

The Unintended Consequences of Democracy Promotion: International Organizations and Democratic Backsliding

Since the end of the Cold War, international organizations (IOs) have engaged in unprecedented levels of democracy promotion, and research overwhelmingly links them to positive democratic outcomes. However, this increased emphasis on democracy has more recently been accompanied by rampant illiberalism and a sharp rise in cases of democratic backsliding in new democracies. What explains democratic backsliding in an age of unparalleled international support for democracy? Backsliding occurs when democratic institutions are weakened or eroded by elected officials, resulting in an illiberal or diminished form of democracy. I argue that IOs that support democracy unintentionally make backsliding more likely by neglecting to promote democratic institutions other than executives and elections, increasing executive power, and limiting states’ domestic policy options, which stunts institutional development. I find membership in IOs associated with democracy promotion makes backsliding more likely, decreases checks on executive power, and limits domestic policy options and party development in new democracies.

China-Africa Economic Ties: Where Agenda 2063 and Belt and Road Initiative Converged and Diverged?

In recent years, China-Africa economic cooperation uncovered diverse economic potentials in many African countries. As part of its consolidation plans, the African Union in 2013 unveiled “Agenda 2063: The Africa we want”. The same year, China lunched its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to promote “Community of Common Destiny for Mankind”. In this paper, we identify and highlight some points of convergence and divergence between the two initiatives building upon information from official documents issued by governments and the perception of experts both in the private and public sectors of China and Africa. We argue that countries’ diversity, projects’ life span, institutional and governance inefficiencies and minimal role of African countries in the BRI are some of the key challenges. However, based on the logical appraisal of the plans and their priorities, we argued that China-Africa economic ties promote mutual benefits in the areas of Industrialization, infrastructure and financial integration. Impliedly, we suggest raising the status of Africa and its role in the BRI towards inclusive and sustainable development of both parties.

ЛЕВОРАДИКАЛЬНЫЕ ПАРТИИ И ДВИЖЕНИЯ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ ГРЕЦИИ

The purpose of this article is to trace the development and interaction of protest movements and radical left parties in Greece in 2008-2019. The beginning of the 21st century was marked by an outburst of social protest actions in a number of Western European countries, on the background of which left-wing radical parties strengthened and achieved certain electoral successes. The Greek SYRIZA became a vivid example of such a successful development, confirming the relevance of the study of left-wing radical movements and parties. The research methodology is based on the analysis of the transformation of SYRIZA's political rhetoric from the moment of its inception and after coming to power. Research results: firstly, the global financial crisis paved the way for SYRIZA's success in forming the first parliamentary coalition, in which the radical left party was the senior partner. Secondly, SYRIZA was successful through its productive collaboration with social movements, adapting its programming to meet the needs identified by protesters. Thirdly, despite its left-wing radical rhetoric, especially at the early stage of its existence, SYRIZA was able to adapt to the existing political system. Such a transformation of SYRIZA after coming to power demonstrates its desire not to destroy, but to rebuild the political system.

НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ВОПРОС В ПРОГРАММАХ РУСИНСКИХ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ПАРТИЙ В ПОДКАРПАТСКОЙ РУСИ (1918–1938 гг.)

The article focuses on the national issue in the programs of Rusin political parties during the Transcarpathian stay in the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938). The author claims that the main requirement of most of political parties was the autonomy of Subcarpathian Rus. The refusal of the Czechoslovak authorities to comply with this demand led to an aggravation of the political situation in the region. The two most powerful ideological trends were Ukrainophilism and Russophilia. The multiethnicity of the Transcarpathian population contributed to the development of parties of other national minorities – Hungarian, Polish, Roma, and Jewish. The statewide parties were also popular in the region – the Communist and Czechoslovak Social Democratic. These two parties were among those few in the interwar Czechoslovakia that were built on the ideological rather than national basis. The highest number of parties during the period when Transcarpathia was part of Czechoslovakia was 30. Most of them emerged after 1918, while the process of formation of the overwhelming majority of Czech and Slovak parties took place in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. Thus, these were new political parties at the initial stage of their development and without a clear organizational structure.

Independent MPs, Political Party Legislation and Electoral Politics in Solomon Islands

Independent MPs have always determined formation of government in Solomon Islands. In an effort to limit the critical influence of independent MPs in forming governments, which has been a problem after almost all elections since 1974, the National Parliament of Solomon Islands debated and passed the Political Parties Integrity Act (PPIA) in 2014. The PPIA promises to limit the influence of independent MPs and prescribes how political parties are to be administered. It is also intended to establish fairer gender representation in Parliament. We noted with interest that most MPs who debated and passed the PPIA went on and contested as independent candidates. In this paper, we look at the 2014 and 2019 election results to assess the impacts, effectiveness, and weaknesses of the PPIA. We also explain why it may have failed, and highlight factors that determine voter behaviour, election outcomes, and government formation in the country. Lessons learnt from the loopholes and weaknesses of the PPIA and electoral politics more generally are then used to suggest ways forward for political party development, inclusiveness, integrity, and stability in Solomon Islands.

PARTY AS A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INSTITUTE

PARTY AS A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INSTITUTE

Euro Skepticism and Right Wing Populism

Euro Scepticism and Right Wing Populism are two similar phenomena in recent times because new parties are constantly coming up with new challenges. It was observed that multiple crises took place in European context, which had a major influence on the development of new parties in both Euro Scepticism and Right Wing Populism. This research aimed to investigate the reasons behind downfall of Euro Scepticism and Right Wing Populism parties. For that reason, critical literature review method was adopted to investigate the influence of debt crisis and refugee crisis on the parties. The results were based on research articles lying in the last 5 period. The results obtained show that this cleavage is running in inclusive and exclusive European cosmopolite, which is the main reason behind this lack of votes. Keywords: Eurosceptism, right wing populism DOI : 10.7176/IAGS/78-03 Publication date: December 31 st 2019

The Outlooks of Using the European Populists Experience in the Development of Political Parties in the Post-Soviet Space

The study features prospects for the implementation of European experience in the development of political parties in the post-Soviet states. The methodology of the study is based on a combination of descriptive analysis with case study. The article shed light on the fact that the experience of European populists can be successfully employed in the post-Soviet countries, but to a limited degree. First, a favorable environment for its application is present in states where there is no vertical power structure that help elites to integrate, and establishment groups have a substantial resource potential and can politically challenge respective opponents’ control over key political institutions. Accordingly, it can be employed at the regional level, in depressed areas that are not essential to the stability of the political system and have long been governed ineffectively. Bearing in mind ways and means of the European populists, it can be concluded that in order to avoid sanctions their experience can be successfully applied by those groups within the non-mainstream opposition that are exploited by the factions of the ruling establishment to organize attacks on competitors.

Democratization, party systems, and the endogenous roots of Ghanaian clientelism

ABSTRACTGhana provides an interesting case of a democratic developing country in which clientelism is pervasive yet vote buying is rare. Drawing on fieldwork and recent scholarship, and situated within the comparative frame that animates this special issue, I characterize clientelism in Ghana as party-centred, with resources from the public sector and privately-held commodities, and with significant factionalism within major (party) networks. Building on secondary sources, I explain how the historical development of party and electoral institutions – especially during a period of democratization in the 1990s – enabled Ghana’s two main parties to be so central in clientelist politics. Elections are won by either of two quasi-ethnic parties, so campaigns centre around maximizing turnout of likely voters as voters have limited ability to exit their party. Thus, where democratization leads to a strong party system, limited voter mobility may limit individual vote buying. The theoretical implication is that historical moments of institutional creation, rather than the mere institutions themselves, may prove consequential for the varieties of clientelism that endure.