ABSTRACT This article explores the impact of international party assistance and transnational networks on political parties in hybrid regimes, focusing on Georgia and Moldova. Using qualitative research, including interviews with party representatives and donor organisations, it argues that while such support sustains party operations, it also shifts accountability away from domestic constituencies toward international actors. In particular, opposition parties, often excluded from national media and policymaking, increasingly rely on European party networks for visibility and legitimacy. However, this reliance has limited grassroots engagement and weakens parties’ societal linkages. So while transnational alliances and party assistance provide vital resources and platforms for the exchange of ideas, they risk reinforcing donor-centric rather than citizen-centred accountability, threatening the long-term effectiveness of democracy promotion in hybrid regimes.

Although political parties are considered powerful players in almost all Western democraties, until recently the ‘brains behind the party’ remained to a large extent a blind spot. By focusing on political party think thanks (PPTTs), Britt Vande Walle’s PhD helps closing this gap. PPTTs are (unlike other think thanks) formally linked to a political party, and (unlike political staffers) they transcend specific party segments and enjoy more autonomy. This piece discusses how this topic was approached in Vande Walle’s PhD, it gives an overview of the main findings, it reflects on the contribution that is made to the literature, and formulates some suggestions for future research.

Barriers to evidence-based alcohol policies in France: Insights from interviews with parliament members.

Do political parties shape global risk? Evidence from United States presidential leadership and geopolitical volatility

The rise of digital media platforms has profoundly changed the landscape of political communication in general and election campaigning in particular. Political parties now rely heavily on social media usage to influence voters in both developed and emerging democracies. A growing body of literature has emphasized the role of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in political engagement by enabling candidates to directly reach out to voters, shaping public opinion through the sharing of political content, and influencing voting behavior. In this backdrop, the study investigates the use of Facebook and Twitter as a means of election campaigning during the 2024 General Elections of Pakistan over the three months preceding the election, from November 2, 2023, to February 2, 2024, by three major political parties: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Data was obtained from the official Facebook and Twitter accounts of these political parties regarding the number of posts and Tweets shared. Citizens’ engagement with social media posts was assessed by counting views, likes, comments, and shares or retweets. The findings indicate that PTI was considerably more active on Facebook and Twitter compared to PML-N and PPP, and its posts received the highest engagement on both platforms. PML-N posts on Facebook received less engagement than PPP, while on Twitter both parties received similar engagement. Overall, Twitter posts generated more engagement than Facebook posts across all parties. The results indicate that PTI used social networking sites more effectively as an instrument of election campaigning, successfully reaching voters and mobilizing electoral participation.

Abstract Digital technologies provide a novel environment for political activities and, more specifically, for interactions between citizens and political actors. The scholarly literature on these topics is flourishing. On the one hand, studies of political communication emphasise the changing nature of election campaigns and the reshaped relationship between leaders and supporters. On the other hand, the literature on political parties examines the organisational implications of such a digital shift in more detail. Against this backdrop, this study investigates the opinions and participatory attitudes of party members towards the new digital participation opportunities that their party organisations provide. To do so, we rely on original individual survey data. More specifically, we will use data derived from a survey administered to Partito Democratico members in Italy at the beginning of 2022 (approximately 4000 respondents). Precisely, we aim to identify the profiles of party members according to their (degree of) digital activities by controlling for variables such as length of membership, levels of intraparty activism, and evaluation of intraparty democracy. Moreover, we investigate the changing relationship between members and their party organisations in the new digital ecosystem.

Despite an increase in climate-driven natural disasters, Australia has been slow to adopt pro-climate policy, partially due to resistance on the political right. Measures of ideology beyond the left-right continuum, including conventionalism, dominance and anti-egalitarianism, predict climate change-related attitudes in several Anglophone nations. A consistent additional predictor is partisan affiliation with specific political parties. The aim of this study (N = 390) was to compare the associations of right-wing ideological beliefs and identification with major political parties (Liberal, Labor and Greens parties) with climate mitigation and adaptation policy support, to determine whether either or both underpin support for climate policy in the Australian context. Path analysis revealed that anti-egalitarianism (negatively) and Greens partisan identity (positively) predicted both forms of climate policy support, whereas Liberal partisan identity and conventionalism only (negatively) predicted support for mitigation but not adaptation policy. Neither dominance nor Labor partisan identity predicted either type of policy support. Results indicate that some partisan identifications sit alongside ideological beliefs as unique drivers of climate policy support. Applying a social identity framework, we suggest that climate policy shifts within political parties could lead some partisans to alter their support in line with these changes.

ABSTRACT As political parties around the world experiment with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in election campaigns, concerns about deception and manipulation are rising. This article examines how the public reacts to different uses of AI in elections and the potential consequences for party evaluations and regulatory preferences. Across three preregistered studies with over 7600 American respondents, we identify three categories of AI use: campaign operations, voter outreach, and deception. While people generally dislike AI in campaigns, they are especially critical of deceptive uses, which they perceive as norm violations. However, parties engaging in AI-enabled deception face no significant drop in favorability, neither with supporters, opponents, nor independents. Instead, deceptive AI use increases public support for stricter AI regulation, including calls for an outright ban on AI development. These findings indicate that public disapproval of deceptive uses of AI does not directly translate into incentives for parties to forgo them, at least in the polarized political environment of the US.

Why is discrimination morally wrong, and how does political partisanship shape moral judgments of discrimination? Several theories locate the distinctive moral wrongness of discrimination in its disrespectfulness. However, such theories disagree on whether disrespect derives from the deliberation of the discriminating agent, or from the expressive content of the discriminatory act. In a preregistered vignette-based experiment (N = 1019), we tested the extent to which people are sensitive to deliberation and expressive content in their moral judgments of gender-based workplace discrimination, and whether this sensitivity is moderated by political partisanship. Results suggest that while all participants are sensitive to expressive disrespect, only Independents and Republicans are sensitive to the difference between high and low deliberation-based disrespect.

ABSTRACT Political instrumentalisation of ethnic identity remains a principal driver of insecurity in the East African Community. This article compares Tanzania’s nation-building trajectory with the persistence of instability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), exemplified by the M23 rebellion. Using qualitative comparative-historical analysis and process tracing, it draws on secondary scholarship, archival sources, and triangulated datasets (ACLED, UNHCR, and the Worldwide Governance Indicators). We combine social identity theory and ethnic conflict theory to examine how institutional design and implementation shape incentives for ethnic mobilisation and state resilience. Three mechanisms help explain Tanzania’s relative cohesion: a nationally integrating Kiswahili language policy; legal regulation of political parties that limits ethnic outbidding; and subnational governance arrangements that reinforce civic nationalism. In the DRC, partial and uneven adoption of comparable reforms – amid insecurity and weak administrative capacity – has enabled politicised identity claims to be converted into armed entrepreneurship and rebellion. The analysis shows that ethnic diversity alone does not predict insecurity; instead, institutional incentives, state capacity, and implementation conditions determine whether identity-based grievances escalate into organised violence. The article concludes with policy implications for fragile, resource-rich states pursuing sustainable peacebuilding and regional stability in line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 across the wider region.

For decades, the issue of Dalit landlessness has been made an important subject of debate in academic and political arena in Nepal where the specific problem of Dalit landless is perceived that the result of a conspiracy by the Hindu state based on the doctrines of pollution and purity. Land is taken as a dominant productive resource in agricultural society, and it determines the power, prestige, and property status of every individual and family which is considered a means of empowerment, economic strengthening, employment, and dignity in Nepalese society. In Nepal, fundamentally, the problem of acute landlessness is especially attached to the Dalit community, where millions of Dalits have been excluded from access of land rights due to the state's unscientific land distribution policy and practices. Based on a survey of Dalit household respondents, this study explores how the caste system influences the status of land ownership and how it accesses and controls the socioeconomic power structures in Nepalese society. This study also examines how the root cause of landlessness has forced millions of Dalits to tackle several issues, such as food insecurity, extreme poverty, illiteracy, and social isolation at own their society. The state brought many policies and programs and formed many land-related commissions and committees for the purpose of justifiable land distribution to the landless Dalit and non-Dalit family and scientific land reform program in the democratic period, the Panchayat (party-less regime), and after the restoration of democracy, from 1990 to onwards. Unfortunately, neither the state nor the political parties seem honest and responsible for the implementation of those constitutional and legal policies and programs yet. As second-class citizens, around half of the Dalit population have been living in Nepal as squatters, Haruwa, Charuwa, Haliya, Khaliya, etc., in a purely landless and nearly landless condition. Ultimately, they have an emerging distrust of both political parties and the state, which is a possible cause for increasing tension between the state and the Dalit community.

Abstract Voters’ political awareness is considered to be the important element which determines public engagement with politics, participation and active citizenship. It orient towards the political events, campaign, political parties, elections and its related mechanism and activities, etc. and serve as a primary step towards political socialization in a society. The present study explores on the facets of political awareness among the voters in the 16_Yachuli assembly constituency in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. We employed a multi-stage stratified random sampling to ensure fair representation of sample at all levels i.e., constituency, polling station, and voter respondents. The study is partly empirical and partly descriptive. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Structured questionnaires were employed to gather information on voters’ level of awareness. Personal interviews with adult respondents were conducted. Our results indicate that while voters were well aware and familiar of the EVM (100%), voting age in India (86%), NOTA provision in the EVM (72%), their elected representatives (MLA, CM, MP, PM), ruling party(s)/government in state and centre (92%), conduct of free and fairly election (88%); many of them were not familiar or aware of VVPAT (35%), and none of them were aware of the ECI norms of maximum expense limit during the elections at both parliamentary and assembly election. The study suggests that more sensitization initiatives are required in order to promote awareness among the voters in the study area specifically and in Arunachal Pradesh in general. Keywords: Arunachal Pradesh, voters’ awareness, EVM, VVPAT, ECI

The article examines barriers and challenges women face in active political participation within major political parties in Zimbabwe, focusing on the policies and mechanisms that inhibit their involvement while offering recommendations for improvement. Data was collected through interviews and focus groups with 20 purposively and conveniently sampled participants from Harare and Bulawayo, along with critical documentary analysis. The data was analysed methodically using qualitative exploratory and descriptive methods, employing thematic analysis to identify and interpret patterns within the qualitative data. Grounded in intersectionality theory, this research highlights the varied identities and experiences of women, challenging the notion of a homogeneous group. The findings reveal entrenched patriarchal policies and a first past-the-post electoral system that collectively disadvantages women, particularly in decision-making roles. Although proportional representation offers potential benefits for increasing women's political representation, the study shows that systemic barriers such as discriminatory laws, gender stereotypes, and cultural norms continue to undermine these opportunities. Women candidates often face intense scrutiny and discrimination based on their marital status, further complicating their political engagement. This article calls on governments and political parties to promote women's participation and implement more robust gender-sensitive policies, alongside supporting women's economic empowerment, to enable independent decision-making and foster genuine political involvement.

The electoral system in Zimbabwe following independence is the main topic of this essay. Furthermore, it is crucial to consider the numerous stakeholders that directly influence Zimbabwe's electoral processes, such as political parties, political institutions and electoral bodies, as well as any other election-related concerns. The study is qualitative and is based on data that may be found online, in official papers, articles, and laws. Document review is used to gather the data, and document analysis is used to evaluate it further. The results verify that the general conduct of elections has been enhanced by the implementation of electronic voting technology, such as biometric voter registration, in Zimbabwe. To enhance the context of EVTs and preserve election integrity, the essay suggests maintaining the biometric voter registration (BVR) system and gradually integrating other information and communication technologies (ICTs) in other election-related domains.

Abstract With the increasing digitalization of contemporary society, political parties have been growingly relying on the internet for campaigning, with social media platforms becoming a major tool for political advertising. In principle, this would also hold for political parties at the European level, whose online activity may contribute to increasing their visibility, garnering legitimacy in the public eye, improving the truly European dimension of European Parliament elections, and indeed “contribute to forming a European awareness and to expressing the political will of the citizens of the Union,” as expressed in the Treaties. In this paper we focus on the Europarties’ campaigning strategies on social media. We built an original dataset collecting the online sponsored contents published by Europarties on Facebook and Instagram during the 2019 and the 2024 European Parliament election campaigns and analyzed the extent to which they relied on these tools, highlighting cross-party differences as well as transnational targeting strategies. By empirically addressing these questions, the paper opens new avenues for research on transnationalization of the European public sphere through social media advertising strategies.

ABSTRACT Local government in Australia has become a frontline for ‘fringe’ politics. Once confined to protest and disruption, far-right, anti-government, and conspiratorial actors are now contesting and winning council seats. This article offers the first systematic study of this phenomenon by mapping fringe candidates in the 2024 New South Wales and Victorian local elections. We identify 252 candidates across the two states (3.83% in NSW; 4.70% in VIC), with almost one-in-four elected and a concentration in metropolitan councils. These actors can be grouped into four sub-types: political party candidates, freedom movement activists, community groups, and unaligned individuals. While party-based mobilisation dominated in NSW, post-lockdown ‘freedom’ activism was more influential in Victoria. Despite diverse origins, campaigns converged around recurring themes, above all the rhetoric of going ‘Back to Basics’. We argue this ostensibly pragmatic language masks reactionary agendas, blurring mainstream–fringe boundaries and reshaping local democracy from within.

Purpose This study aims to examine the risks faced by electoral officials in electoral violence hotspot areas in Nigeria and to empirically explore the political factors that increases the likelihood of their being targeted in balloting spaces. Design/methodology/approach The study chronicles the experiences of electoral officials who were targets of political hoodlums seeking to disrupt elections. The author utilized in-depth interviews and mini focus group discussions to elicit information on the dangers faced by the study participants in violent hotspots. Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission were purposively sampled. Data analysis considered thematic approaches. The paper also draws from a diverse set of secondary sources selected to address different aspects of the discussion. Scholarly sources are used to address how the relationship between electoral violence and electoral officials have been discursively framed in academic scholarship. Similarly, policy and journalistic sources are utilized to triangulate the primary data and clarify election-related events within specific periods. Findings The findings highlighted the pervasiveness of political thugs or hoodlums in voting and ballot collation spaces, as well as the inadequacy of state security agents to protect election officials. Close electoral races among two major political parties in a political context where violence is both leverageable and commodified increases the likelihood of violent skirmishes in balloting spaces, which impacts the safety of electoral officials. The findings equally align with previous studies that link off-cycle elections in Nigeria to high incidents of violence compared to general elections. Research limitations/implications This study acknowledges two primary limitations. Firstly, the restricted participant pool may not capture the full spectrum of experiences, thus potentially limiting the generalizability of findings beyond Rivers State’s 2016 re-run elections. Secondly, lack of inclusion of Nigeria Police Force perspectives due to the adverse political climate in the country in the period of fieldwork impacts the richness of the primary data. While this omission affects data comprehensiveness, insights were partially supplemented by existing secondary research on related themes. Consequently, the findings are context-specific. Originality/value The findings in this study expand the theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between violence and off-cycle elections in Nigeria, as well as their related impact on electoral officials.

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the representativeness of Italian parties and the party system during the 2022 general election by examining policy congruence between political parties and their potential voters. Using original Voting Advice Application (VAA) data from Navigatore Politico, the study assesses both collective representation (overall alignment between the party system and the electorate) and dyadic representation (correspondence between individual parties and their supporters). Factor analysis reveals that Italian politics is increasingly shaped by identity and value-based conflicts rather than traditional left/right or materialist/post-materialist dimensions, with a primary cleavage emerging between domestic/national and supranational/international orientations. The collective representation analysis shows significant misalignment between party platforms and voter preferences, particularly on European integration issues where parties demonstrate lower polarization than voters. Dyadic representation varies considerably across parties, with most maintaining reasonable congruence with their supporters, though notable exceptions exist. These findings demonstrate the complexity of contemporary Italian political representation and suggest an evolution from Inglehart’s materialist framework towards more identity-oriented and securitarian concerns.

Electoral systems have a great impact on the position of Kurdistan political parties in the elected councils (the Iraqi Council of Representatives, the Kurdistan Parliament, and the Provincial Councils). These systems are considered the backbone of any election; therefore, proposing and approving them within the framework of electoral laws is a very sensitive, precise, and important task. The existence of each of these systems in a country differs from another, depending on its historical, political or social milieu. In developed countries, these systems are stabilized to a great extent, and each of them and it partners in the electoral process have become accustomed to it and have been connected to each other. While in countries that are in a transitional phase, such electoral systems are instable and are under constant changes, where such changes lead to the instability of results of the election processes, and the other way round. In the Post-Saddam era since 2003, Iraq has in the last twenty years adopted six electoral systems, including amended systems. Those changes and amendments of the electoral systems have impacted negatively on the position of Kurdistan political parties among the Iraqi Arab Political Parties in subsequent elections, especially in the Iraqi Council of Representatives (CoR). Such impact is similarly felt in the Kurdistan Parliament, but to a lesser degree for two reasons: fewer changes have been made to the electoral systems in Kurdistan Region of Iraq-KRI, and secondly, the tolerance of the Kurdistan political parties towards (ethnic and religious) coexistence and diversity (Pluralism). عێراقی دوای (٢٠٠٣) یەکێکە لەو وڵاتانەی لە ماوەی (٢٢) بیست و دووساڵ ساڵ (٦) شەش جۆر سیستەمی بە هەموارەکانەوە تیادا پیادەکراوە، ئەم گۆڕانکاری و هەموارەی سیستەمەکانی هەڵبژاردن بە پلەی یەکەم کاریگەری نەرێنی کردۆتە سەر پێگەی پارتە سیاسیەکانی کوردستان و هەڵبژاردن لە دوای هەڵبژاردن بە تاییبەت لە ئەنجومەنی نوێنەرانی عێراق پێگەیانی لاواز کردووە بەرامبەر بە پێگەی پارتە سیاسیە عەرەبە عێراقیەکان، ئەو کاریەگەرییە بە هەمان شێوە لە پەڕلەمانی کوردستان بەدی دەکرێت بەڵام بە ئەندازەی کەمتر بەهۆی کەمتر گۆڕین لە سیستەمەکانی هەڵبژاردن لە لایەک و تێگەیشتنی پارتە کوردستانیەکان بۆ پێکەوە ژیانی فڕەی لە لایەکی تر. لە لایەکی تر ئەگەر سەیری دەستوری عێراق بکەین دەبینین بۆ هەر (١٠٠) سەدهەزار کەسێک کورسیێکی ئەنجومەنی نوێنەرانی دیاریکردووە ( دەستوری عێراق، ٢٠٠٥، م. ٤٩/ا)، وە لامان ڕوونە لە ڕێکەوتی ( ٢٠، ٢١/ ١١/ ٢٠٢٤) سەرژمێری گشتی لە عێراق ئەنجامدرا، بۆیە بە دڵنیایەوە لە خولەکانی داهاتوو گۆڕانکاری لە کورسیەکانی ئەنجومەنی نوێنەرانی عێراق دەکرێت و داتاکانی ئەو سەرژمێریە دەبنە بنەما، لەبەرئەوە دەبینین بە هەمان شێوە گۆڕانکاری لە کورسیەکانی ئەنجومەن کاریگەری دەبێت لەسەر پێگەی پارتەکانی کوردستان بە تاییبەت لە ناوچە کوردستانیەکانی دەرەوەی ئیدارەی هەرێمی کوردستان.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the deepening editorial schism between domestic (Anadolu Agency, TRT) and international (BBC Turkish, DW Turkish, Sputnik Turkey) public media in Turkey’s competitive authoritarian context, tracking their divergence across four consecutive elections (June 2015, November 2015, June 2018, May 2023). Drawing from a corpus of 1.5 million tweets, we employ a mixed-methods analysis on 22,739 campaign-related tweets to examine three dimensions: media visibility of political parties, thematic framing patterns, and discursive positioning of political actors. Our findings reveal a statistically significant and stark dichotomy. Domestic public media exhibit an extreme pro-incumbent bias, allocating over 92% of visibility to the ruling party by 2023, while confining opposition parties to narrow thematic frames and portraying them predominantly as passive objects of government criticism. Conversely, international public media maintain a relative editorial balance, providing opposition parties with substantive visibility, diverse thematic coverage, and discursive agency as active political subjects. This systematic comparison provides robust empirical evidence of the partisan capture of Turkey’s domestic public media, documenting their transformation from public forums into a state apparatus. Furthermore, it demonstrates how international public media have evolved to function as a surrogate public sphere, filling the void in a highly polarized and restrictive media environment.