Political Oppositions in Western Democracies
Political Oppositions in Western Democracies

Author: Robert A. Dahl

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1966-03-11

Total Pages: 488

ISBN-13: 9780300094787

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The idea that the opposition has a right to organize and to appeal for votes against the government in elections and in parliament is one of the most important milestones in the development of democratic institutions. Mr. Dahl and nine collaborators analyze the role of the opposition in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. In introductory and concluding chapters, Dahl compares the patterns of opposition in these countries and makes predictions for the future. He carries forward on the basis of this evidence the theory of a pluralistic society he has explored in earlier books such as Who Governs? Mr. Dahl is Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University. His collaborators are Samuel Barnes, Hans Daalder, Frederick Engelmann, Alfred Grosser, Otto Kirchheimer, Val R. Lorwin, Allen Potter, Stein Rokkan, and Nils Stjernquist. "This stately volume is distinguished by several unusual features. First, it straightforwardly focuses on a crucial issue of Comparative Politics without being vitiated by the familiar behaviorist semantics and jargon. Secondly, contrary to the ubiquitous trend in this country, flooded by discussion—more journalistic than scientific—on the emergent states, it centers on constitutional democracy in Western Europe, a region which for a decade and more had been badly neglected by the rampant computerizers. Thirdly, for the ten countries under discussion Professor Dahl was fortunate to enlist the services of genuine experts, the majority of whom are specialists in their field. . . . On the whole the volume is one of the major contributions to Comparative Politics that have appeared in this country for some time. The study of the issue as such as well as of the individual reviews is highly rewarding."—Karl Loewenstein, The Annals.

Between Prague Spring and French May
Between Prague Spring and French May

Author: Martin Klimke

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2011-06-01

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 0857451073

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Abandoning the usual Cold War–oriented narrative of postwar European protest and opposition movements, this volume offers an innovative, interdisciplinary, and comprehensive perspective on two decades of protest and social upheaval in postwar Europe. It examines the mutual influences and interactions among dissenters in Western Europe, the Warsaw Pact countries, and the nonaligned European countries, and shows how ideological and political developments in the East and West were interconnected through official state or party channels as well as a variety of private and clandestine contacts. Focusing on issues arising from the cross-cultural transfer of ideas, the adjustments to institutional and political frameworks, and the role of the media in staging protest, the volume examines the romanticized attitude of Western activists to violent liberation movements in the Third World and the idolization of imprisoned RAF members as martyrs among left-wing circles across Western Europe.

Opposition in Western Europe
Opposition in Western Europe

Author: Eva Kolinsky

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-06-10

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 1317362306

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This book, first published in 1987, analysed the state and changing nature of political opposition in Western Europe at the time. For each country covered, it discusses the concept of opposition and the approach adopted by opposition parties. It explores the institutional framework that was in place at the time, the electoral support for opposition, attitudes towards opposition and the criteria for the success of opposition parties. It shows how opposition had changed in nature as a result of both voter re-alignments and also because some interest groups have engaged directly in opposition activities, rather than working through opposition parties as was done previously, thereby increasing the scope of extra parliamentary opposition. Opposition is a fundamental element in democratic politics, and this book therefore throws considerable light on the whole range of political activity in the countries covered. This title will be of interest to students of politics.

Partnering with Extremists
Partnering with Extremists

Author: Kimberly A Twist

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2019-12-06

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 0472131346

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As long as far-right parties—known chiefly for their vehement opposition to immigration—have competed in contemporary Western Europe, many have worried about these parties’ acceptability to democratic voters and mainstream parties. Yet, rather than treating the far right as pariahs, major mainstream-right parties have included the far right in 15 governing coalitions from 1994 to 2017. Parties do not care equally about all issues at any given time, and Kimberly Twist demonstrates that far-right parties will agree to support the mainstream right’s goals more readily than many other parties, making them appealing partners. Partnering with Extremists builds on existing work on coalition formation and party goals to propose a theory of coalition formation that works across countries and over time. The evidence comes from 19 case studies of coalition formation in Austria and the Netherlands, countries where far-right parties have been excluded when they could have been included and included when the mainstream right had other options. The argument is then extended to countries where coalitions are less common, France and the United Kingdom, and to cases of mainstream-right adoption of far-right themes. Twist incorporates both office and policy considerations in her argument and reimagines “policy” to be a two-dimensional factor; it matters not just where parties are located on an issue but how firmly they hold those positions.

The Legacy of Division
The Legacy of Division

Author: Ferenc Laczó

Publisher: Central European University Press

Published: 2020-10-15

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9633863759

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This volume examines the legacy of the East–West divide since the implosion of the communist regimes in Europe. The ideals of 1989 have largely been frustrated by the crises and turmoil of the past decade. The liberal consensus was first challenged as early as the mid-2000s. In Eastern Europe, grievances were directed against the prevailing narratives of transition and ever sharper ethnic-racial antipathies surfaced in opposition to a supposedly postnational and multicultural West. In Western Europe, voices regretting the European Union's supposedly careless and premature expansion eastward began to appear on both sides of the left–right and liberal–conservative divides. The possibility of convergence between Europe's two halves has been reconceived as a threat to the European project. In a series of original essays and conversations, thirty-three contributors from the fields of European and global history, politics and culture address questions fundamental to our understanding of Europe today: How have perceptions and misperceptions between the two halves of the continent changed over the last three decades? Can one speak of a new East–West split? If so, what characterizes it and why has it reemerged? The contributions demonstrate a great variety of approaches, perspectives, emphases, and arguments in addressing the daunting dilemma of Europe's assumed East–West divide.

Western Europe’s Democratic Age
Western Europe’s Democratic Age

Author: Martin Conway

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2022-06-14

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 0691204594

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A major new history of how democracy became the dominant political force in Europe in the second half of the twentieth century What happened in the years following World War II to create a democratic revolution in the western half of Europe? In Western Europe's Democratic Age, Martin Conway provides an innovative new account of how a stable, durable, and remarkably uniform model of parliamentary democracy emerged in Western Europe—and how this democratic ascendancy held fast until the latter decades of the twentieth century. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Conway describes how Western Europe's postwar democratic order was built by elite, intellectual, and popular forces. Much more than the consequence of the defeat of fascism and the rejection of Communism, this democratic order rested on universal male and female suffrage, but also on new forms of state authority and new political forces—primarily Christian and social democratic—that espoused democratic values. Above all, it gained the support of the people, for whom democracy provided a new model of citizenship that reflected the aspirations of a more prosperous society. This democratic order did not, however, endure. Its hierarchies of class, gender, and race, which initially gave it its strength, as well as the strains of decolonization and social change, led to an explosion of demands for greater democratic freedoms in the 1960s, and to the much more contested democratic politics of Europe in the late twentieth century. Western Europe's Democratic Age is a compelling history that sheds new light not only on the past of European democracy but also on the unresolved question of its future.

Opposition, Repression, and Cold War
Opposition, Repression, and Cold War

Author: Corina Snitar

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-03-01

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 1793641609

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Corina Snitar examines the student protests in Timisoara in 1956 following the Hungarian uprising of the same year. Snitar analyzes the students’ demands regarding Soviet occupation, the situation in Hungary, and insufficient student accommodations. This book shows how the Hungarian revolt was the catalyst for opposition during a time of social duress. Snitar examines the methods of repression against real and imaginary opposition to the Communist rule and shows how the fates of students were tied to the political goals of the Romanian leadership.

Policy, Office, Or Votes?
Policy, Office, Or Votes?

Author: Wolfgang C. Müller

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1999-08-28

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9780521637237

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This book examines the behaviour of political parties in situations where they experience conflict between two or more important objectives.

The Extreme Right in Europe
The Extreme Right in Europe

Author: Paul Hainsworth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2008-03-17

Total Pages: 173

ISBN-13: 1134154321

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This book is a concise critical introduction to one of the most emergent themes in late twentieth-century history, politics and society and looks at how extremist and nationalist popular fronts have grown under the influence of modern-day issues.

The Oxford Handbook of Populism
The Oxford Handbook of Populism

Author: Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 737

ISBN-13: 0198803567

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The Oxford Handbook of Populism presents the state of the art of research on populism from the perspective of Political Science. The book features work from the leading experts in the field, and synthesizes the main strands of research in four compact sections: concepts, issues, regions, and normative debates. Due to its breath, The Oxford Handbook of Populism is an invaluable resource for those interested in the study of populism, but also forexperts in each of the topics discussed, who will benefit from accounts of current discussions and research gaps, as well as a map of new directions in the study of populism.