Radical Parties Research Articles

Peripheralization Processes as a Contextual Source of Populist Vote Choices: Evidence from the Czech Republic and Eastern Germany

The existing research on contextual sources of support for populist parties has revolved around two factors: the unemployment rate and the size of immigrant groups. Conceived as residential characteristics, observation of these factors has been seen to increase support for radical parties in Western European countries. We identify different contextual (non-individual) drivers of support for populist parties in the post-communist Czech Republic (Czechia). Based on a large sample of voters ( n = 23,734), we identify the (contextual) effect of economic hardship and demographic decline on support for populist parties. We interpret these results as supporting the theory of regional peripheralization. This peripheralization has been identified to be particularly strong in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and has widened regional socio-economic disparities in this region. We show how these processes have affected voting behaviour and support for political parties. In a second step, we use a sample from eastern Germany ( n = 524) to test whether peripheralization affects support for populist parties in other post-communist regions. The results confirm the hypothesis also in the case of east Germany. Our study contributes to the debate by pointing out a novel mechanism that leads to increased support for radical and moderate populist parties.

Iraqi support for the cause of Tunisian independence in the United Nations

Iraq was not far from the developments of political events in the regions of the Maghreb. The political orientations of the monarchy in Iraq emphasized the support and support of all Arab countries to achieve their freedom and independence after World War II. Perhaps the political weight of Iraq at that time and its role in establishing the United Nations Organization helped him. adopting these positions. Tunisia is one of the Arab countries that was subjected to French colonialism, such as the worst forms of Western colonialism through the practices that France used to pursue towards the people of the country, as well as the exploitation of the wealth and capabilities of Tunisia to serve its interests, goals and aspirations. On the other hand, the Tunisian national movement was moving after the Second World War to show the extent of injustice and injustice. Tunisia is being exposed to by France, and Iraq had a major role in showing that injustice and supporting the Tunisian national movement represented by a group of Tunisian parties that appeared on the political scene at the time.

Populist radical parties, pariahs, and coalition bargaining delays

Most parliamentary democracies have seen a rise of populist radical parties during the past decades. Many countries have also experienced severely delayed government formation processes, with caretaker governments in office for extended periods of time. Are these delays related to the rise of radical parties? We argue that the rise of populist radical parties may prolong the bargaining process, due to the fact that these parties are often treated as pariahs by other parties during election campaigns, which creates a complex bargaining situation after the election. We evaluate this claim by studying 121 government formation processes in the German States from 1990 until 2021, using original data which includes statements made by parties during election campaigns. The findings show that a higher share of seats allocated to parties from the radical right and radical left results in an increasing amount of days until a new government is voted into office. We also find that when a party that has been characterized as being ‘non-coalitionable’ during the election campaign ends up among the negotiating parties, the government formation process is severely delayed. These findings suggest that the rise of populist radical parties may create severe challenges for parliamentary democracy.

Communism, Poetry: Communicating Vessels (Some Insubordinate Essays, 1999–2018)

Communism, Poetry: Communicating Vessels (Some Insubordinate Essays, 1999–2018)

Introduction

Introduction

Against parties? The Radicals between anti-partitocracy and reform, 1979–87

ABSTRACT Many historians and political scientists have seen the Italian Radicals as the ‘forerunners’ of the anti-partitocracy and anti-political battle, and some scholars have even referred to them as members of the populist family. Distancing itself from the latter definition, the article intends to focus on the emergence of the Radical Party’s (P.R.) anti-partitocracy battle, showing how it combined elements of ‘structural’ anti-politics with an attempt to promote ‘another’ kind of politics and party organization. In the second half of the 1970s, their criticism of parties and the political system shifted from the latter meaning to the first, a shift connected with the perception, from 1978–79, of a ‘blocked system’ and with the evolution of the Radicals’ political project. From 1984–85 they sought to find ways out of the impasse in which were the political system and their own anti-partitocratic critique. This way out took the form of promoting an electoral reform (one-round single-member majority system) and attempting to create a ‘third pole’ (between Christian Democracy and the Communist Party) with the other lay parties.

Issue trade‐offs and the politics of representation: Experimental evidence from four European democracies

AbstractThe politics of representation has become increasingly complex in recent years. Amid weakening traditional political cleavages, the emergence of new political divides and mounting anti‐elitism that have helped the rise of radical populist parties, voters face significant cross‐pressures when casting their ballots. Despite a wealth of studies on the role of issue preferences in voting behaviour, there are still many unknowns when it comes to understanding how voters trade off competing issue preferences against each other. Studying issue trade‐offs is also important against the backdrop of the well‐documented preferences of radical left and right voters for redistribution and restrictive immigration policies, respectively. To investigate the strength of issue preferences among radical left, radical right and mainstream party voters and the willingness to compromise on their most important issues, we conducted a conjoint survey experiment with 2,000 participants in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The voting scenario in the experiment featured proposals on salient political issues and different (non)populist stances on political representation. The results from the cross‐country study, as well as a large replication study with a sample of 4,000 German respondents, show that voters of radical right parties are willing to accept large trade‐offs regarding their other issue preferences as long as their preference for restrictive immigration policies is fulfilled. Differently, radical left, Green and mainstream party voters have a more variegated range of issue preferences, some of them so strong that they are not traded off for their preferred redistribution and European Union integration positions, respectively. The findings shed light on trade‐offs related to emerging issues such as climate change and the distinct logics behind support for radical parties. They also have implications for the electoral prospects of mainstream and radical parties when trying to reposition themselves in the diversifying issue space of contemporary democracies. As such, understanding how voters navigate issue cross‐pressures helps to explain the broader dynamics that are (re)configuring political conflict and voting behaviour in Europe.

Tweeting apart: Democratic backsliding, new party cleavage and changing media ownership in Turkey

Turkey plunges headlong into democratic backsliding under Erdoğan’s presidency. The country was a forerunner in the decline of democratic standards in a decade from 2010 to 2020. In the first part of the article, we investigate how this democratic erosion suspends Turkey’s long-standing traditional party cleavage between religious conservatism and secularism. By tracing individuals who follow the members of the Turkish parliament on Twitter, we attach the deputies to their followers with the help of correspondence analysis. We illustrate that, as the ethnic identity divide remains significant, democracy-authoritarianism cleavage becomes the main party split that brings the supporters of an ideologically diverse group of opposition parties closer. In the second part, we conceptualize the democracy-authoritarianism divide as the main cleavage in Turkish party politics after 2017 to shed light on how the AKP’s different tactics of capturing traditional media generated a partisan media landscape.

Turning a blind eye on the black sheep: when are voters loyal to corrupt politicians?

When do voters turn a blind eye on corrupt politicians? Recent research suggests that voters might be willing to support corrupt politicians due to a lack of a ‘viable and clean alternative,’ i.e., voters prefer supporting a corrupt politician when the alternative is to support a politician who takes a fundamentally different policy stance. Following this argument, it has also been argued that especially corrupt politicians from radical parties are less likely to be punished by their voters as these voters are more hostile toward other parties. In other words, voters of radical parties are more likely to lack viable alternatives. Based on a survey experiment conducted in Germany, we put these hypotheses to an empirical test. We find evidence for the expected patterns. Supporters of radical parties are indeed less likely to switch their vote to a different party. However, our experiment also shows that this is because voters of radical parties are more likely to lack a viable alternative. When supporters of radical parties evaluate a clean alternative favorable, they are just as likely as voters of mainstream parties to switch away from the corrupt candidate. Finally, we show how strengths of partisan attachment affect voting for corrupt candidates.

Scrutiny and policymaking in local councils: how parties use council tools

ABSTRACT In recent years, political scientists have gained greater understanding of how national parliamentary parties use their parliamentary tools: that is under what conditions they submit parliamentary questions or amendments to legislation. We know surprisingly little about how local councillors use the tools at their disposal: under what conditions do these local councillors submit questions to the local executive? When do they submit amendments to local ordinances? We examine to what extent the use of amendments and questions reflects differences between local party groups’ ideologies in terms of anti-elitism and the left-right dimension, and differences between coalition and opposition parties. On the basis of an analysis 454 local council groups in 53 Dutch municipalities we find considerable evidence for differences in the use of council tools between coalition and opposition parties.

Eternal Friends or Jubilant Brexiteers? The Impact of Brexit on UK MEPs' Parliamentary Work in the European Parliament

AbstractThe aim of this article is to analyse the impact of Brexit on UK MEPs' parliamentary work in the European Parliament. The UK MEPs enjoyed full rights of MEPs, yet Brexit made their terms short and fixed. Furthermore, the Brexit process constituted a highly emotionally charged moment for politicians' parliamentary work. The article is based on a unique dataset of 130 MEP and political staff interviews and a parliamentary ethnography conducted in Brussels and Strasbourg in 2018–2020 at the time of Brexit. The empirical findings include the identification of four ways that MEPs and staff constructed the work of the outgoing UK MEPs: The Full MEP; The Scrupulous Brexit Scrutineer; The Eternal Friend; and The Jubilant Brexiteer. The empirical analysis provides a rich and nuanced account of the UK MEPs' parliamentary work differentiated by their political party and political group background.

Hezbollah and the Internet in the Twenty-First Century

Hezbollah is a significant power in Lebanon that operates as a Shiite political party and militant group. With Iranian support, Hezbollah has created a so-called resistance society from the Shiites neglected by the government that is based on three pillars: military infrastructure, a large-scale network of civilian institutions with the aim of improvement of the well-being of the Shiite population, and a media empire that has an essential role in disseminating the political messages and ideology of Hezbollah and Iran in Lebanon, the Middle East, and other parts of the world, using the full spectrum of media and new technologies, including Internet presence, to shape public opinion, gain supporters and sympathizers, fundraise, and wage information warfare against Israel and the Western World. This article sheds light on Hezbollah’s Internet activity and demonstrates Hezbollah’s cyberespionage campaign through two examples, describing its “Fake News” media camps and the possible connection between Hezbollah and money counterfeiting and selling on the Dark Web.

With status decline in sight, voters turn radical right: how do experience and expectation of status decline shape electoral behaviour?

AbstractWe distinguish between the experience and expectation of subjective status decline in relation to electoral behaviour. Studies often link support for radical parties, especially radical right ones, to voters’ experience of status decline. A few other studies argue that voters’ expectation of status decline also triggers radical right support. Without precise measures of both perceptions, it has been difficult to distinguish which (or both) is most relevant for radical right support in Western Europe and the USA. Using survey data from 2018 (n = 4,076) and 2020 (n = 2,106) in Finland, we could precisely measure and distinguish between voters’ experience and expectation of status decline. Descriptively, voters who have experienced status decline have low income, whereas voters who expect status decline have (lower)middle income. Using multivariate analyses, we find that voters who expect status decline consistently prefer radical right parties more than voters who expect status improvement. However, there is no robust evidence of radical right support among voters who have experienced status decline. These findings suggest that the expectation, not experience, of status decline drives radical right support. If these expectations trigger radical right support in Nordic welfare states, they may be even more pertinent in less comprehensive welfare states.

Политика памяти о гражданской войне в документах современных испанских партий (2007–2021)

Introduction. The topic of the article is relevant, since the memory of the Civil War of 1936–1939 is an important factor of political processes in modern Spain, including the positioning and discourse of political parties. Methods and materials. The purpose of the article is to determine the semantic dominants of the construction of the memory policy by the political parties of Spain in 2007–2021. The research is carried out on the basis of social constructivism, the concepts of historical memory of P. Nora and A. Assman, and discourse analysis. A secondary analysis of the results of sociological surveys was conducted. Analysis and results. The article reveals the political orientation of the “Act on Historical Memory” of 2007 and the proposals of political parties on its reform. It is proved that the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party is interested in reviewing the policy of memory, deepening its anti-Francoist content. The left-wing parties – “Unidas Podemos” and “Mas Pais”, as well as the Catalan parties, most radically advocate the adoption of a new law on historical memory, honoring the victims of the war. The centerright forces-the People’s Party and “Ciudadanos” (“Citizens”) to limit the effect of the 2007 Act, portraying the parties to the conflict – Republicans and nationalists – as equally responsible for the violence. The right-wing radical party “Vox” openly considers itself the successor of Francoism and its unitarian program, placing all the blame on the Republicans. The activity of parties of Catalonia and the Basque Country in the field of constructing historical memory is evaluated, the trends of contrasting the memory of the Civil War in public opinion throughout Spain, as well as Catalonia and the Basque Country are shown. Conclusion. In general, the policy of remembering the Civil War for 2018–2021 has become much more important for public opinion, which is explained by the current political competition.

Into the unknown: Empirical UBI trials as social Europe’s risk insurance

In this article, we conduct a case study of EU-level debates on universal basic income (UBI) trials, as part of which we examine core contributions in the Conference on the Future of Europe, the election manifestos produced by European party groups, as well as European Parliament debates since 2009. The results indicate that parties and politicians are far more hesitant than citizens to demand UBI, while also relying proportionally more on proposing trials rather than policies. Interpreting the results, we develop a conceptual framework designed to better understand how political decisionmakers at the EU level can deal with the uncertainties involved in European social policymaking. We argue that these actors face legal, political, and suitability risks when proposing policies that would integrate the EU’s social dimension. Unlike in national settings, the potential to pursue various strategies of risk reduction is limited at the EU level. However, we argue that empirical trials of social policies are particularly well-suited to insuring politicians at the EU level against risks. This insurance function is based not only on the scope of empirical trials to reduce uncertainties about policy outcomes, but also on the fact that they are inherently non-binding. By simply proposing empirical trials, actors can influence agendas, benefit from public demands, or reduce public pressure without having to take on the risks associated with implementing a fully-fledged policy proposal. We conclude that empirical trials can be understood as buffers against risks that might be used strategically by politicians, and which have the potential to break stalemates in the future development of a “Social Europe”.

Face Threatening Acts in Political Discourse: A Case of the Building Bridges Initiative in Kenya

Cut-throat competitions have, in recent times, characterised Kenyan politics. Political contestants use language in these competitions. How well these politicians package and sell their agenda depends on their choice of words and complementary paralinguistic features. Political contenders fend off opposition through utterances hence making politics largely a game of words. In a multiparty and multi-ethnic state like Kenya, every political party and ethnic group always have differing interests at a given time, often sparking bitter exchanges between politicians from different camps. Individuals, activists, activist groups, and commissions have often accused the political class of hate speech and insensitive language. This study, alive to the aforementioned, is an attempt at a pragmatic examination of the verbal communication of the Kenyan political class as they differ in ideas over a highly contested matter of national political interest, in this case, the Building Bridges Initiative (henceforth BBI). The study benefits from Brown's and Levinson's (1987) Politeness. Austin's (1962) Speech Acts Theory complements politeness theory. The study adopts an analytical research design of the discourse of five politicians purposively sampled from two events where the matters of BBI issues were the main agenda of discussion. Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) were elicited and explained analytically from the speaker's talks. A descriptive qualitative research technique is used in the analysis of data. The study finds that the political class in Kenya employs both positive and negative FTAs proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987) to achieve means to their ends. This study concludes that several FTAs are employed in political discourse in Kenya, and these FTAs reinforce the effectiveness of communication on such platforms.

Shadows as leaders? The amendment success of shadow rapporteurs in the European Parliament

In light of secluded decision-making and early agreements, a binding mandate for the European Parliament’s negotiation team is essential to prevent agency loss in trilogue negotiations. In this article, I investigate the influence of the often-overlooked shadow rapporteurs on this mandate. Shadow rapporteurs are their party group’s representatives and act as checks on the rapporteur. Drawing on novel insights from network analysis, I expect shadow rapporteurs and their stance on EU integration to affect the success of amendments they are sponsoring. I draw on a novel dataset of 1524 committee amendments and employ three-level multinomial logistic regression to test these expectations. I find shadow rapporteurs to be influential policy leaders who successfully shape the committee report and, therefore, mitigate the risk of agency loss in potential trilogues. Shadow rapporteurs can successfully check the rapporteur and thereby influence the content of EU legislation.

Working class economic insecurity and voting for radical right and radical left parties

The radical right's rise is widely assumed to go hand-in-hand with increasing economic insecurity, as manual workers are considered typical radical right voters. We question whether economic insecurity actually drives working class members to vote for radical parties, both right and left. Using European Social Survey data from 12 Western European countries (2002–2014), we tested whether less secure employment links to vote for such parties. We did this by distinguishing people in permanent employment from those in the same social class but not in permanent employment. Our outcome was surprising: whereas perceived job insecurity correlated with radical right voting, actual economic insecurity in terms of temporary employment was not associated with greater likelihood of voting for a radical right party among the working class. Instead, it was the radical left for which we found indications that it appealed more to groups of people in such an insecure economic position.

Blockchain-based secure data transmission for internet of underwater things

Internet of Things (IoTs) is an integrated network collection of heterogeneous objects which enable seamless integration between systems, humans, devices, and various other things, to support pervasive computing for smart systems. IoT-driven systems and sensors continuously ingest data resulting in an increased volume and velocity of information which can lead to critical concerns such as security of the data and scalability of the system. The Internet of Underwater Things (IoUTs) is a specific genre of IoTs in which data related to oceanic ecosystems is continuously sensed through underwater sensors. IoUT has emerged as an innovative paradigm to support smart oceans. However, there are several critical challenges which IoUT system designers must consider such as (1) scalability of the system to handle large volumes of oceanic data and (2) security of data that is transmitted from IoT sensors deployed underwater. Blockchain as a newly emerged technology and an enabling platform allows decentralized and secure transmission of data among a wide group of untrustworthy parties. This research aims to exploit blockchain technology to secure IoUT data transmission by exploiting Interplanetary File System (IPFS) method. Additionally, this study also addresses the system’s scalability in two aspects, (1) scalability, and (2) security. We used a case study-based approach and performed experiments to evaluate the proposed solution’s usability and efficiency in terms of query response (i.e., performance), and algorithmic execution (i.e., efficiency). The proposed solution unifies blockchain technologies to secure IoT-driven systems and provides guidelines to engineer and develop next-generation of robust and secure blockchain-aided distributed IoT systems.

Institutional roots of international alliances: Party groupings and position similarity at global climate negotiations

Institutional roots of international alliances: Party groupings and position similarity at global climate negotiations