Political party manifesto is one of the most significant ways of communication between a party and the citizens. In these documents, the parties present their values and ideological background as well as their priorities in current political issues. This master thesis deals with the topic of Civic Democratic Party and comparasion of its manifestos. Civic Democratic Party has been established in 1991. former Czechoslovakia. Until 2017 there has been created almost 30 different party manifestos. In this qualitative case study, the manifestos topics have been described, as well as its changes during these years. The analysis has been primarily focused on the topics of Economics and European integration. According to theoretical frame, we assume that the changes are made only in case of the significant changes of political environment. We also focus on the process of change, as the impact of party Conventions and Expertise. This analysis has been primarily based on the interviews made with current and past members of the party.

This master's thesis Political Parties, their Organizational Framework and Functioning deals with the political party organization, especially with their organizational framework and functioning. The observation of the party classification models has shown that models do not reflect party framework and functioning in a sufficient way. Therefore, the aim of the thesis is to define the important phenomena which enable us to study the organization and functioning of political parties and to reflect their inner party dynamic. The considered variables are the power structure, the organizational framework, membership and the hierarchy of members, the role of factions and bureaucracy. The theoretical conclusions are used in the case study which deals with the party organization of the Czech Social Democratic Party.

How do religions and nationalism interact in secular democracies? With its history of nationalism based on religious ideologies, and the subsequent forced separation of state and religion, Japan provides a valuable case to examine how religion and nationalism interact and affect the politics of a secular state. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand and synthesize the divide within the literature regarding the idea that Shinto is fundamentally nationalist in nature. Due to Shinto's historical ties to Japanese nationalism, it is clear that religion and nationalism played a role in Japanese politics in the past. However, with Japan's transition to democracy and the constitutional provision of the separation between religion and state, religion's effect on nationalism in Japan has become blurred contemporarily. In order to explore these relationships between Shinto, nationalism, and Japanese politics, I investigate how political groups and religious organizations influence nationalist sentiment in political institutions and public opinion in Japan using the Japanese Value Orientations survey and an original dataset. I find that even though the evidence is mounting against the accuracy around the idea of State Shinto and the fundamentally nationalist nature of Shinto, the narrative persists. The existence of nationalist circles perpetuates these narratives, regardless of the truthfulness of the association between Shinto and nationalism because this narrative serves as a benefit to some groups. Shinto may not be automatically nationalist, but there are still nationalistic Shinto practitioners. The description of Shinto as inherently nationalist is not likely to go away while that description still serves a purpose.

Plusieurs chercheurs ont constaté que les partis politiques utilisent désormais les nouvelles technologies de l'information et des communications (NTIC) pour renouveler la manière dont ils effectuent leurs opérations traditionnelles, comme les levées de fonds, la mobilisation des militants, la captation des sympathisants et la coordination des activités de militantisme. Certains chercheurs estiment que les NTIC favorisent l'ouverture et la décentralisation, même si les partis politiques sont traditionnellement centralisés et sous le contrôle d'une oligarchie. Dans la ville de New York, au sein du milieu des militants démocrates, j'ai tenté d'appréhender comment les pratiques et les usages technologiques interagissaient avec les forces et mécanismes internes du Parti démocrate. À la suite de mon immersion et des rencontres avec des militants, j’ai constaté que les potentiels et l'utilisation des NTIC semblent d'abord être structurés par les contraintes relationnelles et les rapports de force en présence. Ensuite, il est apparu qu’un ensemble de normes, de pratiques et de valeurs forment une microculture démocrate structurant l'ensemble des pratiques militantes, où l'utilisation des nouvelles technologies joue un rôle non négligeable. Au lieu de permettre une décentralisation et une transparence organisationnelle, l’adaptation du Parti démocrate à une communication et organisation numérique semble plutôt favoriser le maintien des élites en place. / Political parties are now using information and communications technologies (ICT) to renew how they do their traditional operations, as fundraising, recruiting volunteers and organizing activities. However, some research suggest that ICT will help to open and decentralize organizations, even if political parties are traditionally centralized organizations under the control of an oligarchy. In New York city, I interviewed democratic volunteers and I tried to understand how the practices and the usages of ICT interact with the forces and internal mechanisms of the Democratic Party. According to my observations, I noticed that ICT's potentials seems to be first structured by relational constraints and power relations. Furthermore, it seems that a democratic microculture, bound by a set of standards, practices and values, is structuring activists practices within the party, including a common ICT usage. Instead of being a force of organizational decentralization and transparency, the adaptation to virtual communications and organizing rather seems to maintain established elites.

<p>Title: Similarities or differences within the centre-right? A study of the potential for party fusions within in the Swedish centre-right</p><p>Author: Charlie Weimers</p><p>Aim: The thesis seeks to find the potential for party fusions within the Swedish centre-right by analyzing the ideological similarities and differences between the parties.</p><p>Method/Material: In the thesis, four dimensions of the parties’ ideologies are analyzed: view of man, theory for societal structures, fiscal theory and moral values. The results of the study of the ideologies are then compared. The investigation is done with the party manifestos as starting point and with the analysis of ideas as theoretical tool.</p><p>Main Results: The comparative analysis, based on the parties’ ideological views, shows specific party constellations are more probable than others. The biggest ideological similarities are to be found between the Liberal People’s Party and the Centre Party, out of which I conclude that these two parties have the best potential for a fusion. The Moderate Party and the Christian Democratic Party also have clear similarities, thus there is a potential for fusion to a certain degree. The Moderate Party also shows some similarities with the Liberal People’s Party and the Centre Party, hence the possibility for a merger can not be excluded. My conclusion is based upon social liberalism and neo-conservatism as ideal types, which gives the Christian Democratic Party a position to the right. Thus, it would possible to claim that this party has the least options regarding fusion partners. The Moderate Party has the most alternatives, since the party is in a kind of “middle ground” between social liberalism and neo-conservatism.</p><p>Number of pages: 49</p><p>Course: Political Science C</p><p>University: Faculty of Social and Life Sciences, Karlstad University</p><p>Period: Fall, 2006</p><p>Tutor: Anders Broman</p><p>Keywords: centre-right, Sweden, party fusion, ideology, Moderate Party, Liberal People’s Party, Christian Democratic Party, Centre Party</p>

This diploma thesis (Journalism of Social Democratic Exile after February 1948 /1948- 1953/) studies the history of social democratic party in exile between the years 1948 and 1953 with special focus on journalism, news service and propaganda. The thesis describes formation of party fractions and deals with how they defined themselves, communicated and presented themselves in the media. The thesis then goes on to analyse the newspaper format, production and financing thereof as well as the number of copies. It looks into broadcasting activities of social democrats and their plans related to the setup of illegal radio. Based on the cases of party secretary Vilím Blažej and Bohumil Laušman, the last party chairman prior to February 1948, the thesis analyses the question whether single groups within the party in the given time period tried by its journalistic activities to primarily influence events in Czechoslovakia or whether these efforts slowly faded due to rivalry between fractions and frustration over hopeless political situation and lack of audience in such an extent that media outputs were later on confined only to discussions within the party and to barely expressing political views.

Il est assez difficile pour la jeune génération d’électeurs démocrates qui ont contribué à porter Barack Obama au pouvoir en 2008 et 2012 d’imaginer l’état de déroute dans lequel se trouvait le parti démocrate après les victoires électorales de Ronald Reagan en 1980 et 1984. Obama doit sa double élection à la fois à l’efficacité de ses campagnes et aux changements qui ont affecté le parti démocrate depuis les années 1980. Certes, les élus démocrates n'avaient pas attendu l'échec humiliant de Jimmy Carter en 1980 pour engager un travail de réflexion mais c'est pendant les années Reagan que certains démocrates influents commencèrent à se mettre concrètement au travail. Le Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) fut la pièce maîtresse d'une sorte d'aggiornamento politique et idéologique qui permit au parti démocrate de reconstituer ses forces en moins de dix ans et de reconquérir la présidence en 1992 avec l’élection de Bill Clinton. Depuis le début des années 1980 jusqu’à sa disparition en 2011, le DLC se consacra à la modernisation idéologique du parti démocrate. / It is quite difficult for the young generation of Democratic voters who contributed to bring Barack Obama into power in 2008 and 2012 to imagine the electoral losing streak the Democratic Party endured after Ronald Reagan’s electoral victories in 1980 and 1984. Obama owes credit to both his efficient campaigns and the changes which have affected the Democratic Party since the 1980s for winning the executive office twice. The Democratic elected officials certainly had not waited for Jimmy Carter’s humiliating defeat in 1980 to reflect upon the situation but it is during the Reagan years that some Democratic influential members started taking action. The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) became a key part of a sort of political and ideological aggiornamento which allowed the Democratic Party to rebuild its forces in less than ten years and to win back the executive office in 1992 with Bill Clinton’s election. From the early 1980s to its dissolution in 2011, the DLC devoted itself to the ideological modernization of the Democratic Party.

The purpose of this study has been to find out if the Christian Democratic Party of Sweden have changed their policy in their fundamental questions of value. In order to do this, I have based my study upon the following two questions: 1. How did the Christian Democracy's view and politics look at the issue of abortion? 2. How did Christian Democracy's family policy and view of family look like? The reason for choosing these two issues – the Christian Democratic Party’s abortion stance and family policy – is because these two issues are the founding core of the ideology that is known as Christian democracy – family and dignity. In order to answer my questions, I have chosen to go through parliamentary bills at the website of the swedish parliament. There I found bills from the Christian Democratic Party in the issues of abortion and family between the years 1985 and 1998. I have chosen a qualitative method and with that method dived into the archives of the swedish parliament. The reason for chosing a qualitative method has been because that method relies on the possibility of reaching results by analyzing words rather than numbers, which is preferable as this study intends to analyze and interpret what Christian Democratic MPs have written in their parliamentary bills. With the qualitative method, I have gone through the motions and focused on writing about abortion legislation and the right to life when it comes to abortion, and staying in daycare versus children in home care when it comes to family policy. The study shows that the Christian Democratic Party of Sweden did infact radically change in some core issues like the abortion stance when, for example, they supported the abortion legislation. They have also increasingly come to focus on the abortion and pregnancy prevention work. The Christian Democratic family policy, however, has proved to be more consistent, although here too, some pragmatism has been shown, for example when it comes to testing the need for child allowance for certain groups.

<p><strong>Essay in Political Science, C-level, by Camila Alvarez Cea, spring semester 2010.</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Tutor: Alf Sundin</strong></p><p><strong>“Reality or a Political Mirage? – A Study of the Swedish Press Views on the Health Insurance Reform in the USA”</strong></p><p> </p><p>The purpose of this essay is partly to examine whether the picture that Swedish press presents of the health insurance reform in the US, which is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Act bill, will be of crucial importance to the possibilities that the American population has to receive health insurance. The main research question is accordingly: <em>“Does the picture that Swedish press presents of the health insurance reform in the USA, seem like something that will be of radical importance to the possibilities of the population to receive healthcare?”</em> The purpose is also to examine in which model (demand or market) the opinions of the Swedish press fits. This purpose will be answered by using three specific questions asking whether their opinions differ when it comes to three criterions: organization, financing/resources and delivery systems. These criterions come from a model from Milton I. Roemer’s book “National health systems of the world,” which also is the theoretical foundation of this essay.</p><p> </p><p>The methodological approach of this essay is a qualitative text analysis along with an analysis chart, where the three criterions have been examined from the reporting of the four Swedish newspapers chosen for this essay. The conclusions that have been reached from the analysis chart are that the opinions differ greatly within Swedish press, and that the picture that Swedish press presents of the health insurance reform is that it will become easier for the American population to receive health care.</p>

The main objective of this thesis is to examine both external and internal dynamics in terms of their preparation for the ways to democratization in Turkey between 1945 and 1950. It was asserted in many academic and nonacademic works that the main influences for democratization of Turkey in this period came from outside as external dynamics. But in this study, it will be argued that while the external dynamics may stimulate different actors for democratization, survival and consolidation of this democratization process requires internal dynamics more than the external ones. In order to check the validity of this argument, the thesis focuses on Turkish democratization period between 1945 and 1950. This historical interval is important / because, although there were some efforts for transition to democratic regime by that time, all those efforts failed due to the unpreparedness of the Turkish rulers, the Turkish people, and also insufficient social, economic and political conditions in the country. Within the five year period between 1945 and 1950, both the internal and the external dynamics which would contribute democratization in Turkey had changed. The new conditions emerging from the WW II and the post war period transformed economic, political, and social structures of the society that changed expectations in the country. All these dynamics playing important roles in the democratization of Turkey will be mentioned in the thesis. The period in the thesis will start with the termination of the WW II and it will end with the general elections held on May 14, 1950.