Author: John Gaffney Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1134876165 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 359
Book Description
A major textbook for comparative courses on European politics and for courses on the European Union, providing a panoramic survey of the political parties of Europe.
Author: Kris Deschouwer Publisher: ASP / VUBPRESS / UPA ISBN: 9054874368 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 297
Book Description
The essays in this examination analyze the consequences of globalization and offer a thorough analysis of the changes in the way international politics must be understood in light of such globalization. Capturing the morphing nature of politics both within and beyond the state, this volume details the centrifugal migration of politics away from state-based institutions--which occurs in an upward fashion toward the international level, and endows decentralized and private actors with policy making powers. The resulting picture is that of a central state that continues to guide politics, but needs to be complemented with attention to the sub- and the supranational tiers of government.
Author: Luke March Publisher: Manchester University Press ISBN: 1526133938 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 195
Book Description
With the stability of the European Union under threat and tensions between the national and supranational increasing, what will happen to the EU party system? For the internationalist European left, European integration and the role of transnational parties represent a central contention and concern. In May 2004, the European radical left, representing parties to the left of social democracy and the Green party family, created the transnational European Left Party (EL), uniting parties like the German Die Linke, Italian Rifondazione Comunista and Greek Syriza. In 2009, the EL fought the European Parliament elections on the basis of a common manifesto, emerging over the last decade as an apparently stable actor at EU level. As the first detailed study of the EL this book analyses the role of the party in European politics and the politics of the European radical left. What challenges will the EL have to overcome in order for it to become a significant force for the creation of a genuine, democratic European polity? To what degree has the EL enabled an increase in the electoral or policy influence of the radical left in Europe? Written by two of the foremost experts on the European left, this book is essential reading to those interested in how the left has fared in post-crisis Europe.
Author: Berthold Rittberger Publisher: OUP Oxford ISBN: 0191534269 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
Why have the national governments of EU member states successively endowed the European Parliament with supervisory, budgetary, and legislative powers over the past fifty years? Building Europe's Parliament sheds new light on this pivotal issue, and provides a major contribution to the study of the European Parliament. Rittberger develops a theory of delegation to representative institutions in international politics which combines elements of democratic theory and different strands of institutionalist theory. To test the plausibility of his theory, Rittberger draws on extensive archival material and offers theory-guided, in-depth case studies of three landmark decisions in the history of the European Parliament: the creation of the Common Assembly of the ECSC in 1951 and the concomitant acquisition of supervisory powers vis-à-vis the quasi-executive High Authority; the delegation of budgetary powers following the signing of the Treaty of Luxembourg in 1970; and the delegation of legislative powers resulting from the adoption of the Single European Act signed in 1986. This is followed by the charting of more recent key developments, culminating in the adoption of the Constitutional Treaty in 2004. The book provides a welcome addition to the literature on institutional design by reflecting on the conditions under which governments opt for the creation and empowerment of parliamentary institutions in international politics. It also makes a valuable contribution to the application of democratic theory to the study of the European Union by demonstrating that political elites shared the view that the new supranational polity which emerged from the debris of World War II suffered from 'democratic deficit' since its inception, thus disproving the claim that the lamented 'democratic deficit' is a recent phenomenon.
Author: Daniel Schmidt Publisher: GRIN Verlag ISBN: 3638050572 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 17
Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 2,0, University of Twente (Political Institute ), 26 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction The European Union (EU) has been a very heterogeneous building since the start. The difficult task is forming a party system which fits the different national parties in coalitions that are able to produce results. With the now 25 members this seems even more problematic, since the states of Eastern Europe have a tradition that differs significantly from the countries in Northern and Western Europe. It is, therefore, necessary to prove if party cohesion on the European level exists. If members of European Parliament (EP) would only vote on national interest, party coalitions would not serve their purpose. There needs to be cohesion towards the coalition in order to establish real European elections instead of second order national elections. In order to achieve this it is also necessary to be able to have a public opinion that can be organized into majorities (Beetham/Lord, 2001:77). The questions, therefore, remain if the EU is able to establish even more members in its middle. It might be the case that new members would decline the party cohesion even further and that would make It even more difficult to establish true European elections. In this paper, special emphasis will be on the role of Turkey and the adoptability into the party system. The leading hypotheses will be that the cleavages lines which are important for Turkish voters are too different in order to adopt to leading European ideas. A sup-question is also if the Eastern European countries have yet performed this step. The paper will start with a normative frame that points out how an ideal democracy could work on the European level. Because of shortage of space this can not be discussed in total depth, but the presented ideas will serve as a framework. After the theoretical part, the focus will be on the European system as it works today. Special emphasis will be on the party coalitions and their impact on the voting behaviour of members of parliament (MEP). It is essential to describe why national parties have agreed to work together and what political solutions they prefer. Since there are seven coalitions in the EP today, not all can be fully analysed. Therefore, the two biggest groups (EVP-ED and SPE) will mainly be the focus, since they hold over 60% of the seats. The next part will analyse the Turkish system and what kind of issues are deciding for Turkish voters. The history of democracy will be the starting point of this analysis before the present situation will be the focus. The conclusion will, therefore, be based on the question if Turkey’s party system can adapt to the EU, and, thus, the entry of Turkey into the EU is feasible taking these conditions into account.
Author: P. Lewis Publisher: Springer ISBN: 0230596657 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 260
Book Description
This book examines the influence of the EU on party politics in the ten 'new' EU countries from a variety of perspectives and using a range of empirical sources. The book thus makes an original and distinctive contribution both to contemporary EU studies and to the literature on CE party systems and party development.
Author: Mette Elise Jolly Publisher: OUP Oxford ISBN: 0191526584 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 276
Book Description
The European Union is frequently accused of having a 'democratic deficit'. Many commentators argue that this could be remedied by increasing the powers of the European Parliament relative to those of the Council and the Commission. The fact that the European Parliament is the only EU institution whose members are directly elected leads to the assumption that it is also the most legitimate. The author argues that this position is based on the flawed assumption that the nature of the European citizenry is similar to those of the member states. In other words, the position assumes that the union has a demos, or a people, who are prepared to accept majority outcomes even when finding themselves in the minority. In this book the author argues that this is not the case and that the most severe dimension of the democracy problem is not procedural, but socio-psychological. The fact that the EU does not have a people means that establishing an EU-wide democracy based on analogies to domestic political systems is likely to lead to a further loss of democratic legitimacy. The EU can rely on output legitimacy in policy areas which do not require pan-European solidarity and identity and in which policy-making at EU-level increases efficiency and thereby benefits all citizens. However, policy areas which require high levels of solidarity or a common identity should either remain fully within the nation states, or be subject to intergovernmental rather than supranational decision-making at EU-level.
Author: Kurt Richard Luther Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: 9780199253227 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 428
Book Description
The scope and intensity of the challenges currently faced by western European political parties is exceptionally large, threatening the viability of the manner in which they have traditionally operated and causing them to seek new behaviours and strategies. This volume brings together some of the foremost scholars of European party politics, whose evaluation of political parties in 'the new Europe' is organised under four broad headings: Parties as Corporate Actors; Parties and Society; Parties and the State and Parties Beyond the Nation State. Each contributor not only provides a concise, critical review of the theoretical and methodological 'state of the art' in respect of a specific aspect, but also reviews the latest empirical findings in that area.
Author: Amie Kreppel
Author: John Gaffney
Author: Kris Deschouwer
Author: Luke March
Author: Berthold Rittberger
Author: Daniel Schmidt
Author: P. Lewis
Author: Karl Magnus Johansson
Author: Mette Elise Jolly
Author: Kurt Richard Luther