Party Change Research Articles

Reframing Women: Gender and Film in Aotearoa New Zealand 1999–2014

AbstractWhen my book Reframing Women: A history of New Zealand cinema (Harper Collins) was published in 2000 New Zealand women's film was flourishing. There had been an explosion of filmmaking following the upsurge of twentieth century feminism in the 1970s beginning with the international women's year film Some of My Best Friends are Women (1975) and the subsequent production of nine feminist documentary films. The energy generated by these films and the international feminist history projects that uncovered the formerly invisible contribution of women across every sphere of creative was contagious. There was a feeling of optimism that anything was possible. Women were using the camera to focus the lens on themselves and their issues. Between 1980 and 1990 dramas and features dealing with gender issues increased dramatically while the formerly marginalised were gaining access to the technology to explore sexuality and identity politics. There were powerful films about identity by Maori, Pacific, Asian, Yugoslavian, Greek … and increasing experimentation with film form.Since 2000 women have lost ground and film production and experimentation has declined, knocked back by the backlash against feminism, by recession and fiscal cutbacks caused by the global financial meltdown of 2008–9 and a change in political parties to a conservative, misogynist, right wing, capitalist government. I propose to investigate the situation and the changes in the film climate with reference to the global situation through a series of interviews with key creatives: leading feminist film director Gaylene Preston, academic documentary film director Annie Goldson, feature film directors Christine Jeffs (Rain and Sylvia about Sylvia Plath) and Fiona Samuel (Bliss about the life of Katherine Mansfield), the Greek feminist academic film director Athina Tsoulis, Maori screenwriter Riwia Brown (Once Were Warriors), Samoan director Justine Simei-Barton, Indian academic Schuchi Kotari and the cinematographer Mairi Gunn, along with a younger feminist director Brita McVeigh.The paper will compare my historical findings in reframing women with the current situation in a blend of history, current opinion and analysis and reflection.

BALSAVIMO POKYČIAI LIETUVOS SAVIVALDYBIŲ TARYBŲ RINKIMUOSE: MAKROLYGMENS ANALIZĖ

Straipsnyje pateikiamas balsavimo Lietuvos savivaldybių tarybų rinkimuose tyrimas, kuriame makrolygiu gilinamasi į rinkimų rezultatus ir jų priežastis. Remiantis statistine dviejų laikotarpių (1997–2000 m. ir 2002–2007 m.) duomenų analize, siekiama paaiškinti balsavimo už savivaldoje ir nacionalinėje vyriausybėje dominuojančias partijas (du atskiri analizės atvejai) pokyčius, lyginant su prieš tai buvusiais rinkimais. Pagrindinės straipsnio hipotezės remiasi ekonominio balsavimo teorija: tikrinama, ar blogėjanti /gerėjanti ekonomikos būklė turi įtakos šių partijų gautiems balsams savivaldos tarybų rinkimuose. Papildomai tikrinamos su politiniais ir instituciniais veiksniais susijusios hipotezės: siekiama nustatyti, ar priklausomybė nacionalinei vyriausybei (tik savivaldoje dominuojančių partijų atveju), rinkiminio aktyvumo ir fragmentacijos kaita turi reikšmės partijų gautų balsų pokyčiams. Aptinkama, kad nedarbo lygio kaitos veiksnys padeda paaiškinti savivaldoje dominuojančių partijų gautų balsų pokyčius ekonominės būklės gerėjimo laikotarpiu, tačiau nėra reikšmingas jai blogėjant. Nacionalinėje valdžioje dominuojanti partija savivaldos rinkimuose yra vienareikšmiškai baudžiama blogėjant ekonominei situacijai, tačiau ekonomikai gerėjant tos partijos gautų balsų vidutinis pokytis neišsiskiria. TS-LKD 1997–2000 m. ir LSDP 2002–2007 m. gautų balsų pokyčių dispersiją politiniai instituciniai veiksniai (visų pirma, rinkiminio aktyvumo kaita) padeda paaiškinti geriau nei ekonominiai.

Conservatism and ideology

1. Introduction: Conservatism and ideology Matthew Johnson 2. What does it take to be a true conservative? Martin Beckstein Reply Identifying true conservatives: a reply to Beckstein Joseph V. Femia 3. The conservative minimum: historical and transcendent subject Dogancan Ozsel Reply From David Hume to Sarah Palin? The troubled search for common features of political 'conservatism': a reply to Ozsel Stuart McAnulla 4. The unconscious Indianization of 'Western' conservatism - is Indian conservatism a universal model? Bjorn Goldstein Reply Comment on Goldstein and conservatism in India and elsewhere Kieron O'Hara 5. 'The weaker-willed, the craven-hearted': the decline of One Nation Conservatism Peter Dorey and Mark Garnett Reply The demise of the One Nation tradition Richard Hayton 6. Neoliberalism, conservative politics, and 'social recapitalization' Edward Ashbee Reply Neoliberalism, conservative politics and 'social recapitalization': a reply Andrew Gamble 7. The rhetoric of neoliberalism in the politics of crisis Andrew Scott Crines Reply The rhetoric of neoliberalism in the politics of crisis: a reply to Andrew Scott Crines Peter Dorey 8. Government open data and transparency: Oakeshott, civil association and the general will Kieron O'Hara Reply Government open data and transparency: Oakeshott, civil association and the general will: a reply to O'Hara Mark Garnett 9. Book Review Symposium: Reconstructing conservatism? The Conservative Party in Opposition, 1997-2010, By Richard Hayton Review by Mark Garnett Reconstruction or repackaging? A review Murray Stewart Leith Reply: The strange survival of Tory conservatism Richard Hayton 10. Book Review Symposium: The Conservatives since 1945: The Drivers of Party Change, By Tim Bale Review by David M. Walker Review by Jim Buller Reply by Tim Bale

Leadership Elections: What is at Stake for Parties? A Comparison of the British Labour Party and the Parti Socialiste: Table 1

In recent decades many European political parties have broadened the selectorate for the party leadership, often clashing in so doing with their own tradition of decision-making. The article argues that in order to understand what is at stake in the staging of these contests we need to go beyond the classic literature on party change and party organisation and recast such reform through an anthropological lens. We can then explore how rules, practices and narratives constrain internal competition whilst retaining a focus on their strategic use by actors. Rather than see such reform as inspired by a search for organisational efficacy, this approach suggests that we consider leadership selection as a ritual. The conjecture is explored further and developed by comparing the 2010 Labour leadership election and the 2011 Socialist presidential primary.

The irrelevance and (new) relevance of religion in Australian elections

This article assesses religion and voting in Australia since 1987 and examines how Tony Abbott's status as Liberal leader corresponded with changes in leader evaluations and voting, and with significant changes in Australian parties and the electorate. Religious attendance became associated more strongly with Liberal voting in 2010. Catholics voted Liberal significantly more from 2010, in significantly higher numbers they viewed the Liberal leader more positively in 2013, and they viewed the Labor leader significantly less so. Evaluations of Abbott were structured by attitudes about abortion and same-sex marriage, whereas evaluations of Kevin Rudd were not. The article discusses how these results are not unique to Australia, but fit patterns observed with centre-right parties in other western democracies.本文考察了1987年以来的宗教和投票，并研究了托尼·阿伯特作为自由党党首如何应对在党首评价及投票方面的变化，以及澳大利亚政党和选举上的重大变化。宗教的参与和2010年的自由党投票关系密切。而自2010年起，天主教徒明显地更多投自由党的票；2013年更多天主教徒对自由党领导人做正面评价；他们对工党领导人评价就要低得多。对阿伯特的评价主要取决于堕胎和同性结婚问题，而对陆克文的评价则不是这样。本文讨论了为什么这样的结果并不是澳大利亚的独特现象，其他中右翼当政的西方民主国家也是这样。

National Political Parties and EU Policy Developments: The Case of Greece Prior to the Crisis

Greece’s membership in the European Union (EU) and EU policies became key issues in the elections that took place during economic crisis, namely the May and June 2012 legislative and the May 2014 European elections. As the crisis was, and continues to be, an extraordinary period for both Greece and the EU as a whole, the key question concerns whether, due to their ongoing impact on national legislation, EU policy developments have affected national party positions during normal times of integration. However, we know little about Greek party preferences for EU involvement in policy-making and whether EU policy developments affected party competition before the crisis. The present article thus studies party positioning in the policy space during the decades prior to the crisis (1993–2006) using an original survey inquiring Greek party politicians about the crucial policy areas of agriculture and migration, as well as foreign and security affairs. The study reveals differences across Greek parties as well as within parties over time and discusses these findings in the context of the broader debate of party (organizational and policy) change in response to European integration. Besides contributing to this scholarly debate—a literature where, thus far, the Greek case is largely absent—this study enhances our understanding of Europeanization effects on Greek party politics.

Internal party democracy in former rebel parties

Intraparty democracy is considered an important feature of former rebel movements’ adaptation to democracy more generally. What conditions intraparty democracy in former rebel parties? This article traces internal debates about and organizational adaptation to intraparty democracy in Partai Aceh (Indonesia) and Fretilin (East Timor), paying specific attention to the interaction between party leaderships and the wider rebel organization. Leaning on theories of party change and organization, the article finds that even in the presence of formal procedures that prescribe inclusive decision-making, the nature and persistence of decentralized wartime command structures and relative strength and dependence on these networks limits intraparty democracy.

How personal parties change: party organisation and (in)discipline in Italy (1994–2013)

The rise of personal parties is one of the most relevant and innovative political phenomena to emerge from the Italian Second Republic. During the 1990s, Forza Italia presented a new type of party political organisation where personalisation, professionalisation and centralisation represented the keys to success that led Silvio Berlusconi to three general election victories, and that were soon variously taken up by both the centre–right and centre–left coalitions. Yet, two decades after Berlusconi entered politics, the personalisation of politics is showing another face, being no longer confined to party leadership, but affecting the party at all levels. Italian political parties seem to be split into a large number of components headed by sub-leaders. With the complicity of the new electoral system, a process of personalistic atomisation has threatened the cohesiveness – and sometimes the very survival – of Italy’s most consolidated political organisations. In this article, after an analysis of the evolution of personal parties in the Italian context, attention will be paid to some indicators of intra-party individualism, such as the proliferation of parliamentary groups, frequent party switching and indiscipline in carrying out legislative activities. The analysis of leadership-driven transformations occurring in party structures (the so-called party in central office) will be combined with an investigation of what is happening in representative institutions (the party in public office).

“Ideas about Interests”: Explaining the Changing Partisan Politics of Education

In recent years, the American political parties have shifted their positions on elementary and secondary education policy, both relative to each other and to their own past positions. Established explanations for party issue position-taking privilege the influence of groups in the parties' coalitions; yet in this case, both parties have taken positions opposed by important components of their bases. We develop a general framework for understanding party issue position adoption and change that highlights the role of issue definition—the considerations, values, and goals associated with a policy debate at any one time. This framework helps us to explain the participation and preferences of groups regarding an issue; the perceived ideological fit and strategic benefits of issue positions for parties; and how parties negotiate and manage issue conflict within their coalition. We apply that framework to the case of education policy, showing how education issue definition has changed over time—from a focus on resources and equality to an emphasis on values and excellence—and how those changes have been consequential for each party's changing, and converging, positions on education policy. We conclude by discussing the potential application of our model of party issue positioning to other issues in American politics.

Majority Party Change and Committee Jurisdictions in State Legislatures

Committee jurisdictions are important in legislative organization, but the reorganization of jurisdictions has received scant attention, particularly in state legislatures, where the fluidity of committee organization allows us to examine rationales for change. In this article, I examine whether new majorities use jurisdiction reorganization for agenda-control purposes. Examining 39 state legislatures between 2003 and 2012, I test whether committee patterns are less stable in legislative sessions under new majorities and the extent to which reorganization reflects party priorities. I find that new majority parties eliminate committees that reflect the other party's policy priorities and create committees that reflect their priorities.

Da “constituinte soberana” a “conciliação política sobre as bases das reformas”: O Partido Liberal em Pernambuco e o gabinete Paraná de 1853

After the Praieira Rebellion, the liberals of Pernambuco had to face the challenge of reorganizing their party. The task to define the opposition parties strategies of action led them to an intense and warm debate in the press, where two subjects dominated the political quarrels: the fight to convoke a constituent assembly and the electoral abstention. The change of the opposition parties on this subject just happened after the electoral reform made by the cabinet of conciliation (1853-1856) in 1855. The analysis of the resistance and the “praieiros” support to the policies of this cabinet are the main objective of the present work.

European Economic Crisis and Policy Changes of Parliament and Political Parties in European Countries

본 논문에서는 서유럽 국가에서 진행되었던 복지국가에서 신자유주의 세계화 체제로의 전환이 새로운 외부요소라고 할 수 있는 글로벌 경제위기라는 조건과 여건에서 어떻게 반응하고 해결하려고 하는지 의회와 정당을 중심으로 살펴보고자 한다. 신자유주의 세계화 이후 서유럽 국가에서 나타난 일반적인 현상과 가설은 정당과 의회의 약화라는 현상으로, 이는 기존 서유럽 정당 연구의 핵심적 의제였던 계급정당의 쇠퇴와는 다소 역설적인 방향과 내용이다. 결국 이와 같은 상황에서 서유럽 대부분의 국가들이 채택하고 있는 복지와 노동정책은 체제 전환과 메커니즘 변화의 가장 중요한 요소이자 변수로 설정할 수 있는 것이다. 이와 같은 이율배반적인 글로벌 경제위기에 대응하고 있는 서유럽 의회와 정당정치를 설명하기 위해 본 연구에서는 새로운 서유럽 주요 국가에서의 의회와 정당정치 변화를 추적하고 변화의 모습을 분석하고자 한다.<BR> 연구의 출발점은 이러한 복지국가의 전환이 가져온 신자유주의 세계화 체제라는 사실에 기인하지만, 이후 전개된 정치적인 양상이 이념적 간극이 비교적 크다고 할 수 있는 이념 정당 간의 연합정치의 확장과 이를 토대로 총선에서 승리 한 뒤 구성된 좌우연정과 같은 현상은 기존의 정당정치의 틀이나 분석에서는 설명하기 어려운 현상인 것이다. 결국 이념을 극복하게 된 정책이라는 요소, 특히 복지와 노동을 중심으로 정당 간 연합이 가능할 수 있었던 요인은 의회중심제 국가이건 대통령제 국가이건 의회와 정당의 기능과 역할에 대한 새로운 접근이 필요하다는 점을 환기시켰다. 이는 전환기의 세계경제체제 안에서 글로벌 경제위기에 그 어느 국가보다 민감하게 반응할 수밖에 없는 대한민국의 입장에서도 중요한 연구 영역인 것이다.

Пластичность мышечной системы в условиях белковой сенсибилизации. Участие холинергических и пуринергических механизмов

The authors investigated the involvement of the adenosine triphosphate (ATF) in the mechanisms of plasticity in the striated muscle in condition of protein sensitization. Contractile function and non-quantum secretion of the acetylcholine in the endplate zone were studied in isolated skeletal muscles of mouse legs (musculus soleus and musculus extensor digitorum longus) and strips musculus diaphragm. The authors studied the soleus and diaphragm dynamics of the force vector of muscle contraction after effects of exogenous adenosine triphosphate correlated with changes non-quantum secretion of acetylcholine in all the experimental models. However, the extent of these changes in sensitized animals is less pronounced than in the controls. It is suggested that adenosine is a party change mechanisms and functional properties soleus and diaphragm at the protein sensitization. The basis of the development of resistance, stability to long as the external stress, and at the initial stages of the experimental allergic these muscles are dependent adenosine mechanisms regulating their sensitivity to acetylcholine. These processes provide a reduction in respiratory muscle fatigue in hypoxia that occurs in asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and broncho-spastic syndrome, as well in increase their performance during prolonged physical activity. The reasons for changes in the force reduction extensor digitorum longus at a protein sensitization doesn’t associated with the mechanisms of muscle excitation mediated by adenosine triphosphate.

Why mainstream parties change policy on migration: A UK case study – The Conservative Party, immigration and asylum, 1960–2010

We use a detailed study of the reasons behind significant changes in Conservative Party immigration policy over a half a century to see if they can be explained by the three most commonly cited drivers of party change. We find that electoral ‘shocks’ matter but that leaders matter most, while factional turnover is less important than is often thought. We also conclude that any theory of party policy change also needs to take more seriously (a) the requirement on parties to react to events in the ‘real world’, particularly when they are in government and (b) the fact that, in a competitive democracy, politicians are ideologically and instrumentally motivated to continuously monitor and then to reflect public (and party) feeling, and that this may be every bit as important as the periodic signals that they are sent at elections. This accords with recent cross-national research on parties’ policy changes – research which suggests that election results are less likely to trigger changes than are shifts in public opinion. That said, we also observe significant shifts occurring even when there is broad consonance rather than a marked contrast or mismatch between the electorate’s and the party’s preferences.

The Conservatives since 1945: The Drivers of Party Change, by Tim Bale

The Conservatives since 1945: The Drivers of Party Change, by Tim Bale

Measuring the Extent of Party Institutionalisation: The Case of a Populist Entrepreneur Party

The consensus among Finnish commentators is that the True Finn Party (PS), which grew dramatically to become the second largest electoral party in 2011, is an institutionalised party – that is, it is ‘here to stay’. Although led for virtually the whole of its 19-year existence by Timo Soini, the PS, unlike say Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Popolo Della Libertà, is not viewed as a ‘personal party’ in which its expected lifespan is dependent on the political lifespan of its founder-leader. But how institutionalised really is it and when can a party be said to be institutionalised? Building on the syndrome of properties widely ascribed to the process in the literature, the theoretical contribution of this article is to provide a composite definition and the first systematic operationalisation of the notion of party institutionalisation. The empirical section measures the extent of party institutionalisation using the populist-entrepreneur True Finn Party as a test case whilst the concluding discussion considers the wider question of the conceptual utility of institutionalisation for the analysis of party change.

¿Son posibles las alternativas políticas? La estatización partidaria en Argentina

Considering that one of the most significant aspects of the changes in contemporary democratic life has been the dilution of traditional party loyalties. This article argues that, in Argentina, this process hinders the installation and survival in time of new party organizations, to which the institutional constraints of its political system are added. This has led to profound organizational changes in political parties, which have grown from being representative agencies to government agencies, and where leaders that hold elective positions of an executive nature are the ones who concentrate the economic and symbolic resources.

Book Review: Britain and Ireland: The Conservatives since 1945: The Drivers of Party Change

Book Review: Britain and Ireland: The Conservatives since 1945: The Drivers of Party Change

Harmonisation of Civil Procedure and Its Interaction with Substantive Private Law

This contribution deals with the interaction between procedural law and substantive private law in the context of a partially harmonised but mainly unharmonised substantive law. It also discusses civil proceedings dealing with matters not exclusively governed by domestic law. Procedural law should take into account that the applicable private law is often drafted or developed having regard to different rules of procedure (foreign private law) or without taking into consideration the existing rules of civil procedure. The author illustrates more specifically the possible problems with regard to (1) procedural rules concerning the availability of and access to procedures and the powers of courts, (2) the protection of defendants and (3) a change of parties or their rights under substantive law during the course of the proceedings.

Labor repertoires, neoliberal regimes and US hegemony: what ‘deviant’ Italy tells us of OECD unions’ paths to power

This paper notes the tendency of ‘social movement unionism’ scholarship on both sides of the Atlantic to focus on and prescribe the citizen repertoire as the single most important repertoire of labor for challenging neoliberal globalization. Consistent with liberal conceptions of civil society and theories of participatory democracy, it implicitly dismisses political unionism as a path to labor’s revitalization. It also assumes epochal change and confines neoliberalism to the post-Washington Consensus era. Deviant case analysis of Italian labor’s use oftworepertoires (the citizen and the labor repertoire) and of its two regimes of capitalism (in succession, a post-WWII neoliberal regime and a post-1970 corporatist regime) over the course of the ‘American Century’ gives pause to both these contentions. This study relates labor’s citizen repertoire to the era of US hegemony that promotes changes in party-government that tend to reproduce the image of the archetypically neoliberal American polity: a polity that is devoid of ‘labor’ as a recognized category of the political community, is low in social rights, and, relatedly, is devoid of a party of labor. In this neoliberal political order, labor is perennially locked into the category of ‘citizen’ and reliant on the citizen repertoire. By contrast, the survival of parties of labor in non-US polities during the post-war wave of neoliberalism permitted union movements a routeawayfrom labor-decategorizing orders – political unionism. Now, in the post-Washington Consensus wave of neoliberal regime change, that route is more onerous owing to Third Way changes in parties of labor. The major challenge for labor movements that have experienced regime change to a neoliberal polity is in directing their efforts and even their new citizen repertoire to the task of recapturing parties of labor or to creating new ones – or risk long-term US-style labor decategorization.