Political Parties and Party Systems: Comparative Approaches and the British Experience

Description

Book Cover -- Half-Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Figures -- Tables -- Preface -- 1 Classifying party definitions -- A SCHEME OF ORGANISATION FOR PARTY DEFINITIONS -- What does a party do? -- What motivations underlie party behaviour? -- How do parties operate? Why do they operate as they do? -- THE FORMAT OF THE BOOK -- 2 Party system change -- THE CONCEPT OF CLEAVAGE -- PARTY SYSTEM AS A DEPENDENT VARIABLE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PARTS OF THE SYSTEM -- The 'freezing' hypothesis -- The study of parties and their electorates -- PARTY SYSTEM AS AN INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEM OF INTERACTION -- The place of parties: Sartori's framework -- Government-Opposition relationship as a systemic property: Maor and Smith's framework -- CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN THE BRITISH PARTY SYSTEM -- Arenas of interaction -- Dimensions of interaction -- The political dimension of party competition -- The societal dimension of party competition -- How dimensions and arenas in the British polity relate to each other -- European integration -- Ethnicity -- Environment -- CONCLUSION: PARTY SYSTEM STABILITY? -- 3 Party institutionalisation -- COMPARATIVE APPROACHES OF PARTY INSTITUTIONALISATION -- Institutionalisation as a process -- Panebianco-an integrated theory of institutionalisation -- Institutionalisation as a property or state -- THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH POLITICAL PARTIES: THE FORMATIVE PHASE -- Organisational construction -- Source of legitimation -- Summary -- CONCLUSIONS -- 4 Models of party organisation -- THE COST AND BENEFITS OF PARTY MEMBERSHIP -- MODELS OF PARTY ORGANISATION -- Exchange model: Strom -- Development models: scheme of organisation -- The mass party model -- The electoral party model -- The catch-all party model -- The cartel party model.;This comprehensive textbook outlines and illuminates the main theories of political parties and party systems. Applying these theoretical approaches to British party politics, Moshe Maor covers all the key subjects of study including: * classification of party definitions * party systems change * party institutionalization * cohesion and dissent * intraparty conflicts and ligislative bargaining * multiparty electoral competition Maor's study highlights the importance of the intraparty arena and actors in understanding the shape and behaviour of political parties, providing essential reading to students of party systems and of British politics.