Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-221).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Banning Political Parties - Theory and Discourse The political regime change of the Velvet revolution in 1989 brought to light many questions, that the Czech politics and law had not to answer until then. Arguments about the legitimacy of the post-revoutionary Czech communist party marked the early years of the free competition of political parties. There being no precedent in the decision-making of Czech courts, the Supreme Administrative Court had to decide many substantial questions when dealing with the case of Dělnická strana (The Workers' Party) in 2010. Some of those were elaborated by the European Court of Human Rights, other were more of a political and philosophical nature. The history and experience of pre-war Czechoslovakia and dissolution of German national-socialist parties in 1933 also influenced the debate. The Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic changed in the decison of Dělnická strana the nature of Czech political discourse and brought it out of the post-communist context to the contemporary European level. Using the concept of self-defending or military democracy, that is also used by the ECHR, it created a shared framework of both Czech and European debate on the limits of political rights and freedoms of association. The concept will be contested in the future, but its...

In what can rightly be said to be one of the most dramatic geopolitical shifts in modern times, the collapse of communist regimes in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union brought about dramatic changes in the entire region. As a consequence, wide ranging political, economic, and social transformations have occurred in almost all of these countries since 1989. The Slovak Republic, as a newly democratic country, went through the establishment of the electoral and party systems that are the central mechanisms to the formation of almost all modern democratic governments. The primary research purpose of this dissertation was to describe and explain regional variations in party support during Slovakia’s ten years of democratic transformation. A secondary purpose was to relate these spatial variations to the evolution of political parties in the post-independence period in light of the literature on transitional electoral systems. Research questions were analyzed using both aggregate and survey data. Specifically, the study utilized electoral data from 1994, 1998, and 2002 Slovak parliamentary elections and socio-economic data of the population within Slovak regions which were eventually correlated with the voting results by party in the 79 Slovak districts. The results of this study demonstrate that there is a tendency among voters in certain regions to provide continuous support to the same political parties/movements over time. In addition, the socio-economic characteristics of the Slovak population (gender, age, education, religion, nationality, unemployment, work force distribution, wages, urban-rural variable, and population density) in different regions tend to influence voting preferences in the parliamentary elections. Finally, there is an evident correlation between party preference and the party’s position on integration into European Union, as measured by perceived attitudes regarding the benefits of EU membership.

This thesis explores the effects of the federal political system upon the organization of the Liberal Party of British Columbia by means of an examination of those manifestations of disunity and conflict which can be related to the changing balance of power between the federal and provincial segments of the party. Although both parts of a Canadian political party generally recognize the value of a unified and closely integrated organization, their separate interests and requirements frequently create internal conflicts. These sources of strain between the federal and provincial wings of Canadian political parties may well reveal those distinctive attributes of Canadian party organization which are derived from participation within a federal system. Within the Liberal Party of British Columbia the changing pattern of federal-provincial party relations have been closely associated with the relative electoral strength of the two wings of the party. Challenges to the leadership and control of the provincial Association have-generally occurred when, the balance of political power was not adequately represented in the leadership of the Association. Since a combination of administrative and policy differences between the two groups provided the main sources of friction, the changing electoral fortunes of the two wings also affected the emergence and intensity of federal-provincial strains. With the exception of a five year period between 1928 and 1933, the provincial wing of the party held power in Victoria from 1916 to 1952 and the provincial leader maintained effective control of the Liberal organization in British Columbia. Although the federal party also held power throughout most of this period, the federal wing never demanded control of the provincial organization. Confrontations between strong Liberal premiers and a Liberal Prime Minister were frequently responsible for internal party friction since the sectional policies pursued by Liberal premiers of British Columbia often involved challenges to federal government policy. Although the provincial coalition with the Progressive Conservatives, between 1941 and 1952, eventually initiated severe federal-provincial strains, the campaign by federal leaders to discredit the coalition Liberals was also directed at a specific provincial leader rather than at the principle of the provincial control of the organization. The electoral eclipse of the party's provincial wing after 1952 for the first time placed the federal wing in a dominant position within the provincial party. Although the federal leaders in the province sought no official change In the party's organization, they attempted to extend their Influence within the Association. The realignment of the federal and provincial wings of the party in turn affected the sources and expression of federal-provincial strains. Although effective control of the Association has shifted from the provincial to the federal leaderships over the past decade, the Liberals In British Columbia have maintained a unified provincial organization. But while the party has always recognized the advantages of a unified organization which serves the needs of both wings of the party, the federal political system has, nevertheless, profoundly influenced the organization and fortunes of the party. The conflicting Interests created by the federal division of power not only affect the formal organization of the political party but also determine the pattern of intra-party relations. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Stable democratic systems are characterised by the persistence and distinctiveness of political subcultures which offer alternatives to the status quo. This case study describes the New Democratic sub-culture in terms of its persistence and distinctiveness. The data was drawn from a survey of New Democratic activists in the Vancouver area. The concept of political socialization was used to examine the persistence of the New Democratic subculture. Primary and secondary agents of socialization provide continuity of sub-cultural values overtime; primary agents such as family and peer groups socialize New Democrats to sub-cultural values, while secondary agents provide socialization both to the general political culture, which is primarily liberal democratic, and to values which are consonant with the organic-socialist New Democratic sub-culture. New Democrats are strongly committed to their sub-culture, but seem to be attracted to the liberal culture in some degree. The liberal value of equality of opportunity seems to be particularly attractive to New Democrats. But the New Democratic sub-culture is distinctive in the very strong value placed upon the ordinary working person's welfare. When New Democrats contrast themselves with other sub-cultures, they see themselves as the party of the working class, the underdog, while other parties are for doctors, bankers, and the status quo. The study of political culture, especially of political sub-cultures which together make up the general political culture of a system, requires more study of two problems which must be examined together. First, it is necessary to establish a taxonomy of the values which constitute a sub-culture. Second, the process of socialization to those values must be studied in a manner that will enable the researcher to make use of that taxonomy of cultural values. An ideal research strategy would combine ideographic testing with small group methods. Political activists provide an excellent laboratory for this kind of study. Once we know more about the content of political culture and the way in which it is modified in the process of socialization, we will be able to study the interaction of political sub-cultures in a much more systematic way. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Most studies that have examined parties that challenge the political establishment have focused their attention on certain types of 'anti-political-establishment parties' (a-pe parties), such as left-libertarian parties or right-wing populist parties. It is argued here that before moving on to an exploration of the reasons behind the electoral success or failure of specific a-p-e parties, one should take a closer look at the preconditions for the success of a-p-e parties in general. This makes it necessary to avoid any 'time-specific' or 'ideology-specific' explanations. Consequently, only those explanatory variables that could be tested at any point in time and for any a-p-e party regardless of its position on the left-right political scale were included in this study. Six hypotheses that fulfilled these criteria were selected to be tested using data from nineteen advanced industrial democracies covering the entire 1945 to 1999 time period. These hypotheses stress the importance of the electoral system, political traditions, the economic conditions of a country, the colluding behaviour of the establishment parties, certain party system features and the 'availability' of voters. In contrast to prior research which has often emphasized the importance of socioeconomic and institutional factors, the results of the bivariate and multivariate analyses suggest that political variables explain much of the variance in the level of electoral support for a-p-e parties in different democracies, at different points in time. Thus, the economic situation of a country as well as the electoral system do not appear to have a significant impact on the electoral fortunes of a-p-e parties. On the other hand, anti- political-establishment parties thrive in an environment where and when the establishment parties are fairly close to each other ideologically and where and when weak partisan attachments make voters available to their appeals. In addition, the behaviour of the establishment parties, especially the mode of interaction between them and the main opposition is very important. That is, a-p-e parties profit from collusion between the main establishment parties, especially in an environment that is characterized by mutual distrust between the governing party(ies) and an opposition that is excluded and sometimes even ostracized. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

For more than two thousand years, "democracy" had referred to chaos, violence, irrationality and the tyranny of the mob. Almost all the principal founders of what we now call the "democratic" systems of the United States and France openly and proudly proclaimed their opposition to "democracy." "Democracy" was a term which, for them, had a disparaging connotation. Thus, the term "democracy" was an effective weapon for undermining the legitimacy of a political actor, faction or platform. Despite this inauspicious beginning, political leaders gradually became defenders and promoters of "democracy" (around 1830-40). The shift may be explained by the birth of the official parties in the United States and by the introduction of Universal suffrage (for adult males) in France. The word "democracy" was consciously employed to induce the people into believing that the politicians cared about representing their wishes and interests. In both cases—the United States and France—political factions competed for control of the term "democracy" and even openly acknowledged the existence of this semantic competition. It may be said, therefore, that it is mainly due to successful propaganda that we use the label "democracy" today to characterize the American and the French regimes. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The research question addressed by this study is: what is the relationship between Europeanization and the rise of extremist parties? In particular I examine the impact of Europeanization on the rise of extreme right parties in Europe from 1984 to 2006. Europeanization in this paper is defined as a process whereby the transformation of governance at the European level and European integration as a whole has caused distinctive changes in domestic politics. This process of Europeanization is one part of a structure of opportunities for extremist parties (which also include social, economic, and electoral factors). Although this study finds that Europeanization does not have a statistically significant effect it is still an important factor when examining domestic political phenomenon in Europe.

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