Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Social Anthropology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-147). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ59167.

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The peaceful handing over of the reins of government is an important symbol of democracy and is arguably the distinctive feature of representative government. Often taken for granted in democratic jurisdictions, peaceful transition is one of the most important elements in the ongoing evolution of modern politics. Throughout history there have been varying types and various levels of success of transitions of power, depending on the circumstance and political environment applicable to each case. In Canada, one type of transition has remained largely unstudied - that in which a new leader takes over government by succeeding someone from his/her own political party - generally referred to as an intra-party transition. This is because intra-party transitions have traditionally been seen as less dramatic and therefore less noteworthy than transitions that include a change from one party to another. Furthermore, intra-party transitions typically occur near the end of a political cycle and are therefore closely followed by a general election. If the new intra-party leader loses the subsequent election, that leader's transition is seen as less noteworthy. In fact, in recent Canadian history, at both the provincial and federal level, there have been only two significant occasions in which intra-party leaders have come from behind to successfully defend their party's right to govern in the next general election: Ralph Klein in Alberta in 1993 and Glen Clark in British Columbia in 1996. This study analyzes all provincial intra-party transitions from 1960 to the present. From this analysis, a continuum has been formed from which these transitions will be assessed as to their relative degree of success or failure. It is argued here that the Clark and Klein intra-party transitions represent a specific "pod" or "cluster" within this continuum and as a result, deserve specific analysis. O f both, the principal question asked is: why, in the face of significant obstacles and contrary to historical precedent, did these transitions succeed? Further questions include; how can this success be defined and measured, what factors led to this success, were these cases equally successful and if not, why? Ultimately these two successful transitions are compared to one of the most unsuccessful intra-party transitions in modern Canadian history, that being the succession of Frank Miller from Bill Davis in Ontario in 1984. The final section of this study involves a test of key exogenous and endogenous variables that may or may not impact the success or failure of these three intra-party transition case studies. Particular attention will be paid to the ability of these new leaders to effectively distance themselves from their predecessors and how quickly and effectively they were able to put their own 'stamp' or 'footprint' on their respective new governments. In the end, it is hoped that these three case studies will provide important lessons and prescriptive insights not only for students of parliamentary politics and public administration but for practitioners and future leaders as well.

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.

Šiame magistro darbe atskleidžiama diskutuotina ir nemažai problemų kelianti politinių partijų finansavimo teisinio reglamentavimo pusė bei tiriamas tokio reguliavimo efektyvumas. Magistro darbo tikslas pateikti objektyvią politinių partijų finansavimo Lietuvoje analizę, kas galbūt pasitarnautų kuriant ir priimant naujus teisės aktus politinio finansavimo srityje. Autorė, aptardama Lietuvoje ir užsienio šalyse susiklosčiusią praktiką, pateikia konkrečių aplinkybių, susijusių su politiniu finansavimu, analizę ir siūlymus. Šiame magistro darbe ieškoma atsakymų į klausimus, iškilusius analizuojant tokias pagrindines sritis: kaip užtikrinti skaidrumą politinių partijų finansinėje veikloje? Kokios reikalingos prielaidos, kad teisinis reguliavimas būtų efektyvus? Kokio lygmens valstybinis finansavimas užtikrintų paramą politinėms partijoms? Kadangi yra studijuojami teisės aktai, reglamentuojantys politinių partijų finansavimą, šiame magistro darbe siekiama išsiaiškinti politinių partijų svarbą demokratinėje valstybėje bei pagrįsti tokių partijų finansinės veiklos teisinio reglamentavimo tikslingumą. Tai leidžia suprasti teisės aktų, reguliuojančių politinį finansavimą Lietuvoje, siekius bei išsiaiškinti, kokios problemos kliudo pasiekti šiuos tikslus. Pagrindinės problemos Lietuvoje, visų pirma, apima politinių partijų finansinės kontrolės ir finansavimo skaidrumo trūkumus, antra, politinių partijų nesąžiningą konkurenciją ir finansinius barjerus, trukdančius tokiam sąžiningumui... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This master‘s paper uses controversial issue of party financing as an example to explore the effectiveness of a particular regulation. The aim of the paper is to give an objective overview of the issue of political party financing in Lithuania that may be worth while elaborating and before adopting new regulations in this sphere. Author discusses the situation in Lithuania and other countries thus giving the analysis and recommendations for particular circumstances of party finance in country. In this master’s paper main further-used concepts are analysed, looking for answers to questions like: how to ensure the transparency of the funding of political parties? What are the preconditions for regulation to be effective? How far should public funding be used to support political parties? As legislation on financing of political parties is studied, the master’s paper searches for main ideas about political parties and the notion what is the aim of financing regulation. Consequently, the answer allows formulating the aim and objectives of party finance regulations introduced in Lithuania, and seeing the main problems obstructing the reaching of the aim. The present problems in Lithuania include, first, lack of control and transparency, second, unfairness in political struggle, and financial barriers to enter it, third, threat of corruption and illegal influences of sponsors, fourth, violation of limitations and restrictions, and finally, fall-off in public trust of political... [to full text]

Little is known about why elected officials choose to get involved in presidential nomination struggles. Recent research argues that elected officials have a collective incentive to nominate an electorally viable and ideologically unifying candidate. Yet, elected officials must balance these collective incentives with their own personal considerations (e.g., reelection motives, policy interests, ambition, ideology) that may either foster or inhibit their ability to act on their collective desire to nominate viable, ideologically unifying candidates. Further, this research then determines the extent to which elected officials are rewarded-or punished- for getting involved during the presidential nomination process. In particular, interparty differences between the Republican and Democratic coalitions predict that Republicans, but not Democrats, will be rewarded for attempting to lead intraparty nomination struggles. Finally, this research links the aggregate-level findings that endorsements from elected officials are important determinants of nomination outcomes to the individual level by arguing that elected officials' endorsements mobilize their constituents to get involved in politics. In particular, as the mobilization process targets those who are already likely to participate in the first place, endorsements during presidential primaries leads to differential participation in politics. In sum, this research provides individual level foundations for the causes and consequences of congressional endorsements in presidential nomination contests.

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Political parties have been a common feature in non-competitive political systems, but their fates following an opening of electoral competition vary widely. Some parties continue to be able successfully compete for power, while many others languish as second-class political parties for decades. This dissertation seeks to answer the questions on this variation based on the institutional and organizational characteristics of these parties during the non-competitive era. Parties that play a major role in the non-competitive regime should be more likely to survive after an opening of competition, and parties that are able to reform anti-democratic legacies will be more able to translate their resources into future electoral success. This project builds on a literature that is rich in regional and sub-regional case studies by developing a global approach based upon comparable institutional qualities of non-competitive political systems and their ruling political parties. I also move away from the transitions literature and its focus on democracy, and instead focus on continuity and change in political parties after a time of major political change and the outcomes of that process. I develop an original, global database of 105 different regimes and 136 parties and their successors and their performance in elections ranging from 1975-2013. I find that parties which are a central institutional feature of the non-competitive regime are likely to survive regardless of their electoral success, while parties that play only a minor supporting role in the prior regime are dependent on continued electoral victories in order to survive for any significant period of time.

This Thesis examines the relationship between the organisational and ideological transformation of the Labour Party, and the decline of intra-party factionalism by the groups of the Labour Left during the period from 1979 to 1997. Two central questions are considered. First, whether the fragmentation and decline of the Left during this period can best be understood by examining the interplay between organisational and ideological factors at both the party and individual group levels. Second, whether 'New Labour' continues to exhibit some of the key traits of attitudinal dissent among its grassroots membership, despite the lack of an organisational apparatus within which sub-groups of activists could challenge the centralising tendencies of party leaders and influence the direction of party policy. Labour's ideological and organisational transformation had a number of important consequences for the prevalence of intra-party factionalism. The organisational reforms meant that Labour ceased to represent Duverger's 'branch-mass' type of party. Furthermore, party leaders regained centralised control over members and activists through the resurgence of Michels' 'iron law of oligarchy'. The depth of Labour's ideological transformation also reinforced the narrowing of the ideological gap between (radical) grassroots members and ordinary (moderate) voters, such that May's 'law of curvilinear disparity' appeared extinct inside Blair's New Labour. Labour's transformation had a remarkably fragmenting effect at the group-level. The Labour Left was a collection of various groupings, each of which displayed different structural properties and ideological characteristics. There was no single organisational form of Labour Left factionalism, nor was their any common sense of ideological purpose. The processes of party transformation would act only to further the Left's fragmentation and cement its decline. However, it would be premature to talk of New Labour as a party free from dissent. Despite the dissolution of the Labour Left, New Labour's grassroots membership has retained some of the principal features of factionalism. Using data from original survey research among party members, it is suggested that New Labour has encouraged new types of 'objective' and 'subjective' factionalism. The kind of factionalism typified by the Labour Left of the 1970s and 1980s may have disappeared, but we should not preclude the growth of new dimensions of conflict between party leaders and grassroots members.

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