Political Parties Research Articles

Political parties' accountability to the public in Nepal: What factors affect it?

Political accountability is essential for maintaining trust and transparency in governance. However, the factors that influence political parties' accountability remain underexplored in Nepal. This paper examines the factors influencing citizens' perceptions of political parties' accountability in Nepal, utilizing data from the National Governance Survey 2017/18 (N=4191). A four-stage multiple cluster sampling technique was used to randomly select respondents from 43 out of 77 districts in Nepal. Data were collected between December 2017 and March 2018. Results from logistic regression analysis indicate that citizens' perceptions of political parties' honesty, transparency, adherence to rules, and corruption control significantly impact political parties' accountability. While citizen engagement in political discussions was positively associated with political parties' accountability, this factor did not demonstrate statistical significance. These findings highlight the importance of honesty, transparency, rule of law, and anti-corruption measures in fostering political parties' accountability. This study contributes to the literature on democratic governance and offers practical insights for authorities seeking to strengthen accountable political institutions in Nepal. The insights of this paper provide a roadmap for political parties to prioritize ethical conduct, proactive information sharing, regulatory compliance, and anti-graft efforts to build public trust and accountability.

The importance of political parties in shaping public governance

Since the emergence of humanity, governance relations have taken different forms in different eras and have been formed in different ways. As the world community became more modern, the ways of forming the administration became more democratized. Today, people's participation in the formation of state administration is carried out through free, democratic and transparent elections. We can observe that the characteristics of the electoral system are manifested in different ways in different countries of the world. Studying the importance of the political party institution in the formation of state administration through elections is one of the urgent tasks of modern political science. In our country, in recent years, the importance of civil society institutions, in particular political parties, has been increasing in shaping the system of public administration. As a result of reforms, political parties have become the main institutions that form the government, along with the presidential and parliamentary institutions, which has further increased its influence.

Introduction: Political Parties and Deliberative Democracy in Europe

Introduction: Political Parties and Deliberative Democracy in Europe

Dismiss, distort, distract, dismay

A territorial entity within the former USSR, currently a ‘buffer’ zone in Eastern Europe between Russia and the West, the Republic of Moldova is facing pressure from the Russian Federation whose purpose is to strengthen its (geopolitical) position in the Eurasian region. Due to this complicated legacy, the citizens of the Republic of Moldova are divided between pro-Russian and pro-European feelings, a division that creates a fertile ground for propaganda through which Russia and its supporters can easily ‘dismiss, distort, distract, and dismay’ part of the electorate, in an attempt to weaponize information in a ‘hybrid war’. Relations between Russia and Moldova have deteriorated further after the election by Moldovans of a pro-European government, as well as after Russia’s war in Ukraine, which instilled worries and fears in the Moldovan civil society. Building on this information, the purpose of this study is, on the one hand, to analyse how the pro-Russian Moldovan political parties and media outlets spread pro-Kremlin propaganda via media channels generally, and social media in particular, to support Russia in exerting its influence in the region, and, on the other hand, to see how the civil society–with the support of the pro-European Moldovan government–reacts to and fights against this disinformation campaign. To do so, by focusing on more recent events, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we shall carry out a qualitative analysis (content analysis and discourse analysis) of discourses, news, and posts shared on social media platforms in Moldova by pro-Russian political parties and media outlets with a view to identifying the key themes (narratives) of the pro-Kremlin propaganda in Moldova, and the discursive strategies used to reject negative comments (dismiss), to twist information to serve their interests (distort), to turn Moldovans’ attention to other aspects (distract), and to strongly discourage any attempts to work against Russia and its interests (dismay). Furthermore, we shall also look at the measures taken by Moldovan authorities and NGOs to combat disinformation and protect the civil society from pro-Russian propaganda.

The Trade Union Movement, 1850-1914

This article examines the role of trade unionism in the long nineteenth century and considers the drawbacks to standard approaches to this subject. Discussing the changed focus of much historical scholarship towards the history of trade unions, it re-examines the approach to trade union history that emphasizes the movement’s affinities with the Labour party. Moving away from a focus that stresses the institutional and hierarchical histories of individual trade unions, this article explores the new directions in trade union history, stressing the movement’s links with different political parties, recent research on strike action and the rediscovery of particular strikes and the role of transnationalism and emigration in shaping the attitudes and actions of the trade union movement more broadly. Moreover, it detects a renewed focus on the material culture and historical survivals of the trade union movement, and the role of objects like banners in preserving the memory and vigour of the movement in the nineteenth century.

The impact of political campaigning in social media during the campaign period of the Russian presidential election in 2024

Every year, the number of users of social networks is growing, representing not only a growth of communication between users and obtaining the necessary information, but also a political communication space growth. Over the past ten years, political parties have been increasing their presence on social media and broadcasting their political agenda. Currently, it is problematic to assess the effectiveness of communication on users of social networks with a political agenda. It is not clear what place political campaigning occupies on social networks against the background of other types of campaigning, including campaigning in the media. The hypothesis of the study is the statement that political campaigning on social networks influences the decision of the voter in the presidential elections of the Russian Federation. The research methodology includes: the method of content analysis, comparative analysis, as well as the method of comparison and the method of secondary data analysis. The aim of the work is to obtain data on the impact of the social media community of Russian presidential candidates during the election campaign in the 2024 elections. The objectives of the research are to study the political communication in the social networks of presidential candidates and the impact on the decision-making of the voter for whom to cast their vote on election day. The study is conducted during the campaign period from February 17 to March 15, 2024. The novelty of the work is to obtain specific data, on the basis of which a conclusion was drawn about the effectiveness of political campaigning on social networks in federal elections in Russia, as a result of which the hypothesis about the impact of political communication on social networks during the campaigning period was not confirmed.

Security Challenges and The Role of Opposition Political Parties in Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria

Security Challenges and The Role of Opposition Political Parties in Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria

<b><span>The Formation of a Unified Theory of Political Organizations: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Analysis, Design, and Improvement of Political Parties</span></b>

<b><span>The Formation of a Unified Theory of Political Organizations: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Analysis, Design, and Improvement of Political Parties</span></b>

Do women commemorate women? How gender and ideology affect decisions on naming female streets

Do women commemorate women? How gender and ideology affect decisions on naming female streets

How is holistic river water governance possible in China?- the case of river chief system in Hunan Province

ABSTRACT There has been debates on whether China’s environmental governance is authoritarian, which has raised doubts about whether China’s environmental governance can achieve a holistic governance model. To resolve the dispute, a thorough analysis was conducted using content analysis and manual coding of the Hunan Province River Chief System case. Field investigations were conducted from 2019 to 2022, during which 46 in-depth interviews were conducted with government officials involved in RCS. By analysing data from two rural counties and two urban areas, three key mechanisms for achieving holistic governance have been identified:1) cross departmental and cross jurisdictional integration; 2) Extensive information sharing and public participation; 3) two-way collaborative governance driven by goal alignment and accountability measures. This study also identified factors that promote holistic governance: 1) The strength of the CPC plays a key leading role; 2) Coordination and interaction of maintaining political party power, public participation, and bureaucratic accountability; 3)The accountability system embedded in the target system and performance evaluation is a key success factor; 4) Combination of voluntary and coercive tools to achieve governance goals. Research has shown that China adopts a state led environmental governance model. This study enriches the literature on authoritarian environmentalism and holistic governance.

The impact of political ideologies on renewable energy adoption

Due to the growing urgency of climate change, renewable energy technologies have become an increasingly popular source of energy. However, differing perceptions on the urgency of climate change along political party lines may result in variable rates of adoption of these renewable energy technologies. This study explores the hypothesis that Republican states are less inclined to adopt renewable energy technologies than Democratic states. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed overall renewable energy production across two Democratic states (Washington and California) and two Republican states (Texas and Florida). We investigated correlations between the energy production of each state and used t-tests to assess statistical significance. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, we concluded that there was no observable correlation between political ideologies and renewable energy adoption. In fact, Texas, a Republican state, showed the fastest renewable energy production growth rate and produced the most wind energy compared to California, Washington, and Florida. Our findings suggested that factors beyond party lines likely influence state-level decisions regarding renewable energy sources. Understanding these factors is critical to create policies to combat climate change and drive renewable energy adoption worldwide.

Public Functions of Political Parties in the United Kingdom

Public Functions of Political Parties in the United Kingdom

Attitudes towards National Election of 2024: A Pre-Election Study of People Living in Dinajpur Sadar, Bangladesh

This paper reports attitudes and behaviors regarding the 2024 national election in Bangladesh as described by Dinajpur Sadar voters, using a mixed-methods approach with quantitative and qualitative data. A representative sample of 120 respondents-including a variety of professions and relatively fair gender representation-offers insight into electoral engagement, trust in political institutions, and their principal concerns. Local economic issues in job creation and stability of income appear as critical in shaping political preferences. While 58.33% of those surveyed would still trust political parties to represent public interests, a notable percentage of 41.67% can be seen as skeptical, reflecting political polarization. Youth disengagement is a clear concern: over half show low enthusiasm for participation. Misinformation has remained an issue: up to 23.3% reported seeing misleading election-related information online. Moderate confidence in election officials contrasts with a pervasive sense of uncertainty about electoral fairness, with 55-60% suspecting potential corruption. According to the findings, the economic issue, facilitation of transparency, and particular programs for the youth and women should be implemented to inspire more civic engagements. The findings pave the way towards strategies to build trust, combat misinformation, and strengthen democratic engagement in Dinajpur Sadar.

The New Politics of Education and the Pursuit of a Diverse Democracy

The increasingly partisan politics of education make it vital to conceptualize why and to empirically assess how current partisan pressures threaten public schools’ efforts to educate toward a diverse democracy. We examine these dynamics, drawing on a survey of a large and diverse sample of high school principals, weighted to reflect national demographics, conducted in summer 2022. We find that high schools in purple contexts are particularly likely to experience parent and community pushback related to education toward a diverse democracy and that schools in purple and red communities are less likely to provide support for this priority. By mapping this terrain, the study informs our understanding of the new partisan politics of education, priorities for future research, and, ultimately, directions for strategic action on the part of key stakeholders.

Gender and strategic Political: Opportunities and Challenges for Women and Youth in Political Parties in East Nusa Tenggara Indonesia 2019

Objective: The general purpose of this study is to portray participation related to opportunities and accessibility of women and youth to strategic political positions such as structural positions and decision-making processes in political parties in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Indonesia. The main question that this study seeks to answer is what are the empirical conditions of women and youth in political parties within the framework of these opportunities and accessibility. This study, in answering the research question, focuses on the challenges and obstacles faced and the ideal conditions expected by women and youth related to opportunities and access to strategic positions in political parties. Theoretical Framework: The involvement of women in political parties has actually been regulated in the law - Law No. 2/2011 on Political Parties - which contains a clause that the establishment and formation of political parties must include 30 percent of women's representation. In addition, political parties as participants must meet the minimum requirements of 30 percent of women's representation in the management of political parties at the central level, and include at least 30 percent of female legislative candidates during elections. Meanwhile, youth are regulated in Law No. 40 of 2009 concerning Youth, which relates to the interests of youth categorization and space for participation in development, including political development. In NTT, although political parties have tried to provide ample space by regulation, the number of women and youth who hold structural positions and are involved in strategic decision-making processes is still not optimal. Methods: The methodology adopted for this study utilized a qualitative approach by addressing the case of NTT. Data collection was conducted purposively through focus group discussions (FGDs) and indepth interviews. The analysis used descriptive analysis techniques. FGDs or focus group discussions involved a number of key informants from large parties (PDIP, Golkar), medium parties (Nasdem, PKB, Demokrat, Gerindra), and small parties (Hanura, PPP, PSI). The FGDs were divided into 3 discussion clusters. Discussion 1 was conducted with political party elites and members of the NTT DPRD. Discussions involved researchers, political observers, CSO activists and journalists. Discussion 3 focused on marginalized political groups of women and youth in political parties. Results and Discussion: The results show that these findings explain that the existence of women and youth in strategic positions in political parties in NTT today is not achieved through routes that prioritize the identity of women and youth but is built on old traditions under the determination of political elites, the majority of whom are men and the elderly. At that point, women and youth who succeed in obtaining strategic positions in political parties try to maintain their positions in the same way as their predecessors. In line with this, the involvement of women and youth in the process of making strategic political decisions is still a problem in a number of political parties in NTT. Research Implications: Women and youth face various barriers and challenges in accessing important positions and strategic decision-making processes in political parties. These obstacles and challenges, based on field findings, can be identified from economic capacity, social and political knowledge and skills to the environment inside and outside political parties in the form of feudalistic and patriarchal political cultures that continue to be reproduced. Broadly speaking, the obstacles and challenges of women and youth in political parties in NTT can be categorized as cultural and structural, which are internal and external. Originality/Value: This study contributes to research related to the study of gender, women and youth in obtaining challenges. This research thus has its own significance in the map of studies of women and youth in political parties. If previous studies looked at it through the lens of elections, then this study looks at it through the opportunities and accessibility of women and youth to strategic positions within political parties such as structural positions and involvement in the decision-making process.

Legal Study of the Role of Political Parties in Making Regional Regulations in the Regional People's Representative Council of Purbalingga Regency

Countries that have democratic systems really need political parties as a forum for everyone to express their opinions, either as representatives of the people and also as a medium for peaceful political leadership. The role of political parties is a crucial element in determining the direction of a country's policies. In reality, there are often challenges such as the attraction of political interests, the fragmentation of party coalitions, and the influence of local political forces that play a role in influencing the final policy outcome. Therefore, it becomes interesting to understand how the role of political parties is related to the making of local regulations through their representatives in the DPRD. By using juridical normative research methods, it can be concluded that political parties play an important role in the concept of negotiations that occur during the process of making local regulations so that these regulations remain in accordance with the aspirations of the people and do not conflict with Pancasila.

The reality of representation in Europe: the mode of leader selection in political parties

ABSTRACT Political parties's choices of who leads them can have a major bearing on politics. Recent research shows that selection procedures exhibit considerable variation, even among parties in broadly comparable European parliamentary democracies. The most common analytical approach is to focus on the ‘official story’ – that is, what the parties’ statutes say that they do when selecting a leader. This, in turn, implies a heavy emphasis on the final stage of the selection procedure, in which the decision about who will lead the party is made by the ‘selectorate’. Yet this, the ‘official story’, is only a part of the process, and quite often not even the most important part. In this article, we seek to make the classification of selection processes more manageable and meaningful. We propose a typology of the ‘mode’ of selection, in which the emphasis is on the management of competition for the leader's position before the decision reaches the selectorate. We identify five modes of competition: open, enclosed, filtered, enclosed and filtered, and managed.

한국 정당 심벌마크의 연대기 - 빈약한 의미화 과정 속의 진화

This study examines the spatial and historical contexts of political visual symbols, focusing on how party logos acquire meaning through chance and design. A literature review was conducted alongside in-depth interviews with PR officers of domestic political parties. In the West, as ideological divides between parties became entrenched, objects, plants, and animals evolved as visual symbols of political parties, each securing unique narratives and universal appeal that gained public acceptance. In Korea, however, frequent, election-driven changes in party logos, stemming from unstable party politics since democratization, have hindered public acceptance. The evolution has occurred within a context of sparse signification, reflecting a crisis in representative democracy. Beyond mere design elements, party symbol marks should strengthen party identity and public engagement, contributing to democratic development. This study provides a basis for future researches on the design, strategy, and impact of political symbols.

Rise of the New Middle Class in Nepalese Politics and Its Relevance to Global Politics

The study is focused on the evolution of the middle class in Nepal from a political perspective. It is an interdisciplinary and mixed method of study. The new middle class in this study is defined in a multi-disciplinary approach specific to education, consciousness, and activeness. The study argues new middle class in Nepal is raised in politics for the fulfillment of the issues and interests of a new generation that are missed by the established political parties. It further argues it is raised with a specific time, and context favored by its size and issues. Their unique issues of politics and tools of democratization favour to be an alternative political party but to be tested in their practices. The objective of the study is to shed light on the rise of the new middle class in Nepalese politics and its significance in global politics. The study is based on secondary sources and document analysis as well as non participant observation methods is used. It concludes that emerging parties can be an alternative agency of the new middle class if the new groups come together on common departure, agency, and issues with loyalty on their agenda and practices consistently.

Linguistic Appeals in Political Discourse: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of 2023 Presidential Election Billboards and Posters in Nigeria

<p><em>In the wake of the campaign for the 2023 Presidential election in Nigeria, several political parties were shown to rely on linguistic appeals as a tool for political discourse in their campaign. This has sparked a paradigm shift in the role of linguistics in political discourse. This study examines the linguistic strategies used in political discourse to appeal to voters through a multimodal discourse analysis of campaign posters and billboards. The study utilises a qualitative research design. Data for the study were collected from Vanguard Newspapers and Punch Newspapers. Using Kress and Van Leeuwen's multimodal framework, the study explores how political candidates' use of language, visuals, slogans, colours and other meaning-making resources enhance political discourse, as evident in their posters and billboards. Findings from the study provide valuable insights into the power of linguistics in political campaigns and the potential for language to shape public perception and influence election outcomes. Thus, the findings underscore the significance of verbal and visual multimodal modes, illustrating their effectiveness in conveying nuanced meanings associated with diverse political parties and candidates. The posters and billboards showcase party affiliations and employ diverse elements to strategically communicate messages to the public, showcasing the intricate interplay between linguistic and visual components in political discourse.</em></p>