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21. Italy's Unruly Rulers

Author:
Riccardo Alcaro and Nathalie Tocci
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
A coalition government that is largely, if not entirely, alien to mainstream party politics has run Italy since June 2018. The coalition is made up of the League, a right-wing anti-immigration party, and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle, M5S), which refuses to categorize itself as either left or right wing. While the two parties did not campaign on a joint agenda, and actually competed in the March 2018 election, a number of important commonalities are present, particularly if one looks at party politics not through the horizontal “left-right” prism but through a vertical “open-closed” one.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Elections, Political Parties, European Parliament, and Domestic Policy
Political Geography:
Europe, Italy, and European Union

22. The JDP’s Changing Discursive Strategies towards Israel: Rhetoric vs. Reality

Author:
Gencer Özcan
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Justice and Development Party [JDP] governments’ policies towards Israel were informed by the priorities that the party’s power strategies entailed. In a stark contrast to the friendly policies in its first term in power, the JDP began to employ different discursive strategies based on an anti-Israeli rhetoric since 2009. Geared to bolster the party’s prestige at home and abroad, the new rhetoric seemed to have addressed to the changing priorities of the party leadership. However, the new strategies led to the emergence of a widening gap between the anti-Israeli rhetoric and subtle efforts that the JDP paid to maintain its relations with Israel. Revisiting the last 15 years, the article tries to answer the question as to how Turkey’s relations with Israel were adjusted to meet necessities of miscellaneous power strategies that the JDP leadership pursued.
Topic:
International Relations, Politics, Arab Spring, and Political Parties
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, and Israel

23. Latin America’s Shifting Politics: Mexico’s Party System Under Stress

Author:
Kenneth F. Greene and Mariano Sanchez-Talanquer
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Democracy
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
On 1 July 2018, leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) won a decisive victory in Mexico’s presidential election, while a coalition led by AMLO’s National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) claimed majorities in both houses of Congress. AMLO’s calls for change resonated with voters frustrated by chronic poverty and inequality, rising violence, and corruption, and his win has called into question the stability of Mexico’s party system. Yet AMLO, who strove to assemble a “big tent” coalition, is ultimately more a product of the system than a disruptive outsider. Moreover, clear programmatic differences among Mexico’s major parties persist, as do the institutional advantages they enjoy. It is thus most probable that MORENA’s ascent augurs a recomposition of the party system rather than a process of partisan dealignment.
Topic:
Poverty, Elections, Democracy, Inequality, and Political Parties
Political Geography:
Latin America, North America, and Mexico

24. Lebanon’s 2017 Parliamentary Election Law

Author:
International Foundation for Electoral Systems
Publication Date:
05-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Foundation for Electoral Systems
Abstract:
A new Lebanese government was established in December 2016 and enacted a new election law in 2017. The new law will be in force for parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on May 6, 2018, the first since June 2009. The law’s passage is a significant achievement when considering the fragmented, complex and shifting nature of Lebanon’s politics, which is dominated by two major political and electoral alliances and overlaid by regional rivalries. The new law, however, is not likely to change the political landscape or bring an end to confessionalism in politics, which remains the overall goal in the country’s Constitution. To help you understand this important electoral law, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) provides a briefing paper on Lebanon’s 2017 Parliamentary Election Law. The paper provides an analysis of the new election law in comparison to the 2008 election law.
Topic:
Law, Elections, Democracy, and Political Parties
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

25. Communist Parties In Russia, Ukraine and Moldova: Struggling with popular demands

Author:
Jussi Lassila and Ryhor Nizhnikau
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The appeal of left-leaning ideas is on the rise in Russia, Ukraine and Moldova. Nonetheless, the main left-wing parties, particularly the communists, remain stuck in the past and at odds with the interests of the electorate. The communists have gradually transformed from opposition forces and political competitors into conformists of the ruling elites. This new function dictates their key interest in maintaining the stability of the system, which also leads to growing dissent among the parties’ members. Embeddedness in the existing political system is preventing the Left from self-reforming and impeding their transformation into modern national social-democratic projects. Yet Moldova has shown that in the new political context old ‘Leninists’ can reinvent themselves and become the most popular political project in the country.
Topic:
Communism, Political stability, Political Parties, and Participation
Political Geography:
Europe and Moldova

26. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Long Premiership and the Rise of the New Political Center: Is there a Qualitative Change in the Israeli Party System?

Author:
Artur Skorek
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
Israel’s party system has been characterized by the bipolar rivalry between the left-wing and right-wing blocks since the late 1970s. In recent years we could have seen at least two trends that seem to diverge from this model. For the last 9 years the Likud party has formed three successive governments which has made Benjamin Netanyahu the longest continuously serving prime minister in the history of Israel. Another new occurrence is the preservation of a significant representation of the center parties for four Knesset terms in the row. The aim of the paper is to verify whether Israel’s party system has departed from the two-blocs bipolar model. Based on the empirical data (election results, government formation, party’s political platforms) it examines whether the parties’ rivalry in the years 2009–2018 differed qualitatively from the previous period. To answer this question the pa- per investigates three hypotheses. First – Likud has become a dominant party in Israel. Sec- ond – a dominant and stable Israeli right-wing parties’ bloc has formed. Third – an enduring and relevant center sector has emerged in Israel’s party system.
Topic:
Leadership, Conservatism, Political Parties, Party System, and Multi Party System
Political Geography:
Middle East and Israel

27. Keeping Parties Together? The Evolution of Israel’s Anti-Defection Law

Author:
Csaba Nikolenyi
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
In 1991, the Knesset passed a package of legislation with the aim of preventing the rampant party switching and defections by elected representatives. At the time of its adop- tion, the so-called anti-defection law was supported by an all-party consensus. Although the legislation has remained in effect, its apparent continuity conceals the way in which it has become transformed from what was at first an “efficient” institution to a “redistributive” one (Tsebelis 1990). In this paper, I review the development of the Israeli anti-defection law and argue that whereas at the initial moment of its adoption the anti-defection law was consid- ered to benefit all parties in the system, over time it has become an instrument in the hands of the governing coalition to manipulate divisions and engineer further defections among the opposition in order to shore up its often fragile legislative base.
Topic:
Domestic politics, Legislation, and Political Parties
Political Geography:
Middle East and Israel

28. The Born Frees as Assertive Citizens? Student Protests and Democratic Prospects in South Africa

Author:
Dagmar Kusa
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
Massive student protests in South Africa in the past few years, largest since the times of the anti-apartheid struggles, raised several questions for political scientists. Are we witnessing a generational change? Or are they a sign of a broader global shift towards “asser- tive citizenship” present in advanced democracies and democratizing countries? To answer these questions, this paper examines the levels of political support and nature of political participation among the young generation. The paper also points out that generational change is not immediately visible in public opinion polls but is a process of a gradual narrative construction. Protests brought with them a challenge to the founding narrative of a united Rainbow Nation and reconciliation with the past, leading to a fracture in democratic stability. For the democratic project to suc- ceed, it is essential that the national project in South Africa does not fall apart.
Topic:
Apartheid, Political Parties, Participation, Transition, and Identity
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

29. Members of Polish Political Parties in the Process of Inter-Electoral Campaigning

Author:
Anna Paczesniak and Maria Winclawska
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The character and role of membership in political parties have been varied in time (van Haute, 2011; Scarrow, 2015; Gauja, 2017), just as the parties themselves, their or- ganizations and functions in political systems (e.g. Duverger, 1976; Kirkheimer, 1966; Mair, Katz, 1997; Katz, Mair, 2009). There are researchers suggesting that the importance of mem- bers for political parties and in campaigning has declined substantially. But does it mean that they have become irrelevant in this aspect? In the paper we look at the process of inter-electoral campaigning from the perspective of the rank-and-files of Polish political parties. There are three research questions in this article: (1) Do the rank-and-file members of Polish political parties see the functions of modern political parties in the aspect of permanent communication? (2) Do they engage in the parties’ inter-electoral campaigns? (3) Do the assessments of party functions and per- formances, or the view about the role of the grassroots, correlate with the members’ engage- ment in the campaigns of the parties? The data analyzed in the paper were taken from the research conducted in the project „Political parties and their social environment. An Analysis of the Organization and Com- munications Activities of Polish Political Parties”1. The analysis is based on the quantitative data (PAPI and CAWI) of the members of six Polish political parties (n=2,488).
Topic:
Elections, Domestic politics, Political Parties, and Multi Party System
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, Poland, and Central Europe

30. Political and Doctrinal Sources and Valuable Framework of the Political Islam in the Context of Political Ideologies

Author:
Nikola Gjorshoski
Publication Date:
02-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
The relation between religion and politics is a field of mutual interaction, as well as source and promoter of many historical, current, and probably future political movements, parties, and organizations. Political Islam represents the old-new dimension in the spectrum of contemporary political ideologies with specific characteristic and own socio-political worldview which pretend to penetrate into countries with Muslim inhabitants. The authors analyze those value’s elements, their first term, and modern interpretation, as well as their indicators for change. Level and dynamic of society’s development in many cases are determinate in political ideologies and Political Islam tries to present itself in this light with the affirmation of its/own postulates of organization and regulation on socio-political living. This paper in addition to analyzing those values’ framework logically offers and reviews of political doctrine sources which concept Political Islam in the whole of its time-space aspects.
Topic:
Islam, Politics, Religion, Ideology, Islamism, and Political Parties
Political Geography:
Middle East, North Africa, and Global Focus