Paul D. Webb

Thomas Poguntke

Susan E. Scarrow

Political party organizations play large roles in democracies, yet their organizations differ widely, and their statutes change much more frequently than constitutions or electoral laws. How do these differences, and these frequent changes, affect the operation of democracy? This book seeks to answer these questions by presenting a comprehensive overview of the state of party organization in nineteen contemporary democracies. Using a unique new data collection, the book's chapters test propositions about the reasons for variation and similarities across party organizations. They find more evidence of within-country similarity than of cross-national patterns based on party ideology. After exploring parties' organizational differences, the remaining chapters investigate the impact of these differences. The volume considers a wide range of theories about how party organization may affect political life, including the impact of party rules on the selection of female candidates, the links between party decision processes and the stability of party programmes, the connection between party finance sources and public trust in political parties, and whether the strength of parties' extra-parliamentary organization affects the behaviour of their elected legislators. Collectively these chapters help to advance comparative studies of elections and representation by inserting party institutions and party agency more firmly into the centre of such studies. Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu. The series is edited by Emilie van Haute, Professor of Political Science, Université libre de Bruxelles; Ferdinand Müller-Rommel, Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University; and Susan Scarrow, Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Houston.

Representation, Participation, and Power

Organizing Political Parties

Martin Morlok

Ewgenij Sokolov

Die Parteigeprägtheit unserer politischen Ordnung erfährt in Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft ganz unterschiedliche Bewertungen, die von Lobpreisung bis hin zu schärfster Kritik reichen. Die starke Stellung politischer Parteien im politischen System sowie die staatliche Finanzierung werden ihren tatsächlichen Leistungen häufig kritisch betont. In einer interdisziplinären Sicht werden daher die Legitimation politischer Parteien sowie die rechtliche und tatsächliche Unterscheidbarkeit von Partei und Fraktion untersucht. Insbesondere Finanzierungsfragen, aber auch die Möglichkeit des freien Mandats bilden Spannungslagen. Ob und wie Parteien ihrer Repräsentationsaufgabe gerecht werden, wird auch unter Berücksichtigung empirischer Daten analysiert. Eine entscheidende Rolle spielt die verfassungsrechtlich geforderte innerparteiliche Demokratie. Alte und neue Partizipationsformen und -verfahren werden fachübergreifend in den Blick genommen. Mit Beiträgen von Hans Herbert von Arnim, Werner J. Patzelt, Sophie Schönberger, Hans Hugo Klein, Julian Krüper, Sebastian Roßner, Klaus Detterbeck, Oskar Niedermayer, Norbert Lammert.

Parteienstaat - Parteiendemokratie

Sigrid Rossteutscher

Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck

Sonja Zmerli

Democracies are transforming worldwide, but at the same time political inequality is increasing. This development threatens to leave growing portions of mass publics effectively ‘outside’ the political process. This volume brings together leading authorities in the field of democratic citizenship and participation to address pertinent questions concerning the quality of the democratic political process at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Analysing causes and consequences of recent developments in democratic governance and citizenship, it contributes new and original research to the ongoing debate on the crisis of representative democracy. The contributors deal with a broad range of issues including aspects of democratic citizenship and citizens' perceptions of system performance, political inequality and the democratic impact of participatory innovations. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students in democratization studies, democratic citizenship, comparative politics, political sociology and political participation.

Essays in honour of Jan W. van Deth

Citizenship and Democracy in an Era of Crisis

Philipp Harfst

Ina Kubbe

Parties, governments and elites are at the core of the study of democracy. The traditional view is that parties as collective actors play a paramount role in the democratic process. However, this classical perspective has been challenged by political actors, observers of modern democracy as well as political scientists. Modern political parties assume different roles, contemporary leaders can more heavily influence politics, governments face new constraints and new collective bodies continue to form, propose new ways of participation and policy making, and attract citizens and activists. In the light of these observations, the comparative study of democracy faces a number of important and still largely unsolved questions that the present volume will address.

The Comparative Study of Democracy

Parties, Governments and Elites

Political party organizations play large roles in democracies, yet their organizations differ widely, and their statutes change much more frequently than constitutions or electoral laws. How do these differences, and these frequent changes, affect the operation of democracy? This book seeks to answer these questions by presenting a comprehensive overview of the state of party organization in nineteen contemporary democracies. Using a unique new data collection, the book's chapters test propositions about the reasons for variation and similarities across party organizations. They find more evidence of within-country similarity than of cross-national patterns based on party ideology. After exploring parties' organizational differences, the remaining chapters investigate the impact of these differences. The volume considers a wide range of theories about how party organization may affect political life, including the impact of party rules on the selection of female candidates, the links between party decision processes and the stability of party programmes, the connection between party finance sources and public trust in political parties, and whether the strength of parties' extra-parliamentary organization affects the behaviour of their elected legislators. Collectively these chapters help to advance comparative studies of elections and representation by inserting party institutions and party agency more firmly into the centre of such studies. Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu. The series is edited by Emilie van Haute, Professor of Political Science, Universite libre de Bruxelles; Ferdinand Muller-Rommel, Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University; and Susan Scarrow, Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Houston.

Ferdinand Muller-Rommel

By the late 1990s Green parties had entered national governments in five Western European countries - Finland, Italy, Germany, France and Belgium. This book aims to provide an understanding of the differences and similarities of Green parties in coalition governments.

Thomas Poguntke

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