No description available.

Texte abrégé de: Thesis--University of Calcutta, 1977. / Bibliogr. p. 247-156.

This thesis explains why individuals are active in the British Columbia Liberal Party, considering it was finished as a viable force in BC politics following the 1975 election. What are their motivations and incentives, and the factors that govern them, given the party's inability to reward its workers in terms of winning elections? The analysis is conducted using a two-pronged theoretical approach. This approach posits first, that incentives are dependent on, and independent of, the Liberal Party's ends, including its political principles and its goal of being elected. Second, it posits their incentives arise from both personal gain and psychological needs. Using survey data collected from the BC Liberal Party 1987 leadership convention, I demonstrate that activists are inspired by a variety of motivations that are both dependent on, and independent of, the party's ends. Due to their distinct ideological orientation and purposive concerns, the activists would not fit in any other provincial party. Analysis also reveals that there are two groups of Liberal activists—optimists and realists regarding the future success of the party. Paradoxically, the least optimistic are the most involved in party activity, and the most hopeful are the least involved. I demonstrated that closeness to the federal Liberal party influences the realists' activism in the provincial party. The existing literature on incentives for political party activism tends to focus on patronage, ideology and party-related concerns, such as policy, issues, leaders and candidates. As such, it diminishes the importance of psychological motivations. This thesis found the latter played an equally powerful role in governing motivations for political party activism. In this regard, this thesis has contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of party activism. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1956. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 470-491).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1962. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

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

In the past decade, party systems have collapsed in Venezuela and Peru. Scholars have suggested that Colombia may be following a similar fate. I argue it is not. Despite loosing national elections the Liberal Party still wins subnationally. Regional clientelistic networks, based on goods that do not depend upon the central state, help provide votes to those candidates who have been in politics the longest. The latter are likely to be liberal politicians, with privileged positions within the party. They get nominated, thus, they have no reason to defect. Because they distribute goods that are independent from the national state, they also have little incentive to promote national candidates. Consequently, the LP wins within the regions but is unable to attain control of national offices. As long as it keeps doing so this party is unlikely to disappear. / text

This study examines the influence of polls and pollsters on politicians. The analysis reviews the American literature, which suggests that electoral technology is used by private political consultants to assist the politician in manipulating the voter. Six hypotheses are identified from the electoral manipulation literature, focusing specifically on the influence of political consultants on politicians. These hypotheses are tested with an historical analysis of the use of polls in the political organization of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1943 to 1984. Secondly, in-depth interviews were conducted with prominent Liberals, and are reviewed to further test the hypotheses as they relate to the influence of polling on politicians. The study concludes by examining the rise of electoral technocracy in the party, and by assessing the pollsters' influence on political decision-making.

This thesis examines the ways in which the Liberal Party - the Natal Division in particularattempted to become an effective political force in South Africa. The Party was fanned in May 1953 as a non-racial political party. Initially, it concentrated on working among the white electorate, and on achieving political change through parliamentary means. The Party gradually shifted its attention to the voteless black majority, and took its active opposition beyond the boundaries of parliamentary politics. Members of the Natal Division played a leading role in this shift. The party gave expression to a distinctive strand of radica1liberalism, within a broader spectrum of South African liberalism. The Party was unsuccessful in preventing the entrenchment of the apartheid policies it so vehemently opposed. However, the Natal LP succeeded in developing a good working relationship with Congress Alliance, especially the African National Congress, in the region, in attracting a large number of black members through its grass-roots involvement, and in keeping liberal principles and priorities in the public eye in inauspicious circumstances. From 1960, Party leaders attracted increasing government persecution for their anti-apartheid activism. The Party deserves more attention than is commonly given to it in the South African historiography of resistance politics. The Liberal Party's continued existence as a non-racial political party was rendered impossible by government legislation in 1968. The Party disbanded, rather than compromise its non-racial principles. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.