Comparative Party Politics in the 21st Century

Abstract

Like Rock and Roll, political parties have been declared dead more times than one cares to remember. As early as 1830 Lord Holland declared that ‘Party seems to be no more’. However, despite this long-standing view political parties are still centre stage in modern democracies, and indeed many authoritarian regimes. It is still very much the case that national politics, be it in democracies or dictatorships, is dominated by political parties. From the venerable old party institutions in West European Democracies to Zanu PF in Zimbabwe and the many Middle Eastern forms of the Ba'ath Party, parties seem to be alive like never before. Nevertheless, parties, in whatever political system they operate, are facing challenges they have not yet been able to fully master, challenges which may change the way we think about political parties and indeed politics as such. These challenges include popular concern over the financial relationship between the state and parties, the relationship between the good of the individual MP and the party as a whole, the under-representation of women and the struggle of pluralistic party politics in emerging democracies. This panel examines some of these challenges in a comparative perspective. The panel contains papers that reflect the wide range of issues where parties play a role and indeed the vigour of party politics research. The four papers address central themes in modern party politics from party financing in Germany and pork barrelling in Ireland and Australia to the struggle to ensure the parliamentary representation of women in France and the severely under-researched case of party politics in emerging post-conflict societies. These papers are proof, if such was needed, that the party is far from over.

Title	Details
Political Party Development in Post-Conflict Societies: Does War Have a Noticeable Effect on Parties and Party Systems?	View Paper Details
Cartel party financing in Germany	View Paper Details
Partisan Pork Barrel in Strong Party Systems	View Paper Details
Putting the ‘party’ into ‘parity’: a new model for understanding the implementation of compulsory quotas	View Paper Details