Left–Right Categorization and Perceptions of Party Ideologies

Political Behavior - Political similarities and differences are often described in terms of left and right. However, while scholars have long focused on their substantive policy content,...     

Defeat of the People's Army? The 2015 British general election and the UK Independence Party (UKIP)

The 2015 general election in Britain saw a major attempt by a relatively new party - the UK Independence Party (UKIP)- to secure elected representation. While UKIP received nearly four million votes, the party left the 2015 general election with just one Member of Parliament. Our evidence, drawn from analysis of British Election survey data and in-depth qualitative interviews with activists, suggests that UKIP's campaign was a major factor in its inability to translate widespread support into elected representation. While the party pursued a targeted campaign, this had only a modest impact on its own vote. UKIP's lack of resources, inexperience and inability to operationalize highly effective, targeted local campaigns severely hamstrung the party and prevented it from converting support into MPs at Westminster.     

China–North Korea relations and the 19th Party Congress

China has come under increasing American pressure to lean on North Korea to curtail its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes. But Chinese President Xi Jinping's priority is to maintain the domestic and international status quo to ensure the Communist Party's smooth transition behind him at the 19th Party Congress next autumn. Until that process has been completed, major change in Beijing's behaviour towards Pyongyang is unlikely.     

The Practical Way of Communist Party of China to Bring up and Assemble Young Talents in the Early Years of Reform and Opening up （1978-1989）

In 1978, China entered the era of reform and opening up. Faced the great depression, cultivating and assembling young talent became an important power to support rapid development of the country. The leadership of Communist Party led by Deng Xiaoping had a global sight, and began to reform higher education system, gradually cultivated and assembled the generation of young talents. This paper reviews the theoretical ideas and practical measures of Communist Party of China （CPC） to train and assemble young talents at the beginning of reform and opening up, analyzes and displays the particular and scientific method of young talents and the great achievements of young talents in this period. The paper consists of three parts, the practice of bringing up young talents, young cadres, young professional and technical personnel, and the modernization construction from young talents. These methods cultivate so many young talents as the pillars of state development, and the quality of youth increased rapidly. So many practical ways also have been used and influenced in China today, and these are not only the wealth for China, but also the important experience for the whole world.     

Membership Premium or Self-Selection? Communist Party Recruitment and Social Stratification in Urban China

Journal of Chinese Political Science - Although a large literature has found the enduring income advantages of Communist Party members in post-reform socialist economies, little is known about...     

The Endgame or Resilience of the Chinese Communist Party’s Rule in China: A Gramscian Approach

Journal of Chinese Political Science - This paper intends to provide a framework for conceptualizing and interpreting the resilient capacity and adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party to cope...     

The (dis)continuation of Scottish nationalism? A discursive comparison of the Scottish National Party and National Collective

The Scottish independence referendum in 2014 was propelled by the Scottish National Party (SNP), but the referendum also saw the emergence of a plethora of pro-independence groups. One of the most prominent was National Collective (NC), a cultural movement emphasizing the empowerment of the younger electorate. NC has been described as part of a radical pro-independence movement, heralding the end of the nationalist hegemony and the arrival of a new post-nationalist politics in Scotland. This article investigates that claim from a political discourse perspective by analysing interviews conducted with NC and SNP representatives. The analysis of the interview data is framed by Gorski’s conception of nationalism as discourse and mobilization, and the ideological presentation of these two organizations are analysed by drawing on Freeden’s morphological approach. The findings suggest a great degree of discursive overlap between NC and the SNP but wide divergences in terms of imagined recipient scope.     

The Malayan Security Service (1945–1948)

The Malayan Security Service (MSS) was the main intelligence agency of the British when they returned to Singapore in September 1945 following the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. It was responsible for obtaining and collating information on subversive organisations and personalities in Singapore/Malaya. As there was some dissatisfaction over its alleged failure to forewarn the British colonial authorities of the impending uprising of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), it was disbanded in August 1948 just after the start of the Malayan Emergency, and its functions were taken over by the Singapore and Malayan Police Special Branches.     

Party over Policy? Scottish Nationalism and the Politics of Independence

The Scottish National Party (SNP) won control of Scotland's devolved government in the 2007 election yet opinion polls show no majority for its objective of independence in Europe. While the party is adept at exploiting short‐term political opportunity structures in the wider British context, as well as appealing to the ‘opinion electorate’, it appears less successful at persuading a majority of Scottish voters to agree with its core ideology. Helpful parallels can be drawn between 2007 and the last time the party polled over 30 per cent of the popular vote in Scotland at the 1974 (October) British General Election—then, as now, the Scottish voter appears to be willing to distinguish between party and policy.     

Party organizational development and the electoral performance of the radical right: exploring the role of local candidates in the breakthrough elections of the Sweden democrats 2002–2014

It is today commonplace to view radical right parties as masters of their own fates. However, whereas most authors in the field focus on dominant leaders, the impact of party organizations remains understudied. To remedy some of this, we study the impact of three unique measures of organizational development on the electoral performance of the Sweden Democrats (SD) in four consecutive local elections between 2002 and 2014. When controlling for crucial demand- and supply-side factors, while holding the appeal of the national leadership constant, we find that the size, competence, and stability of the local candidate base were all decisive for explaining the success of the SD. These findings suggest that a developed organizational base not only matters to the long-term persistence of radical right parties, but also to their electoral breakthrough. Additionally, we suggest that party organizations are likely to have a greater impact in countries where radical right parties are already established. We conclude by arguing that our findings potentially provide insights into mechanisms that explain how new parties in general establish themselves.     

From Class Party to Catchall Party?: The Adaptation of the Finnish Agrarian-Center Party

This article seeks to apply Kirchheimer’s ‘catchall party thesis’ to the transformation of the Agrarian-Center Party in Finland. On at least two counts this might seem a hopeless endeavor. First, Kirchheimer excluded most parties in the smaller West European democracies like Finland from his analysis on the curious grounds that they either had effective majorities or regular access to power and, therefore, had no need of catchall strategies. Second, he expressly excluded certain parties, including significantly Agrarian parties, from his purview because they were too narrowly based to become catchall parties. Kirchheimer also asserts that in general only major parties could successfully achieve a ‘life-saving transformation.’ The Finnish Agrarian Party was certainly that. In the early 1960s, it was the largest single party, with a substantial classe gardée, and was also the pivotal party of governing coalitions. Accordingly, this article addresses three interrelated questions: a) Why did the Finnish Agrarians seek catchall status? b) What were the catchall strategies they pursued? c) Has an archetypal mass-class party, contrary to Kirchheimer’s submission, been able to extend the basis of its support to become a catchall party? It is argued that although the Center Party today exhibits the electoral attributes of the catchall party – and is the only Finnish party really to do so – it lacks the organizational characteristics of the genre as enumerated by Kirchheimer.     

Franco-German Intelligence Cooperation and the Internationalization of Algeria's War of Independence (1954–62)

Between 1958 and 1960, the French domestic security and intelligence services came to establish a close, multi-layered, and secret working relationship with their German counterparts. The purpose of this collaborative arrangement was to enlist German support in combating the subversive activities of the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale, whose members had taken refuge in Germany. In particular, the metropolitan authorities sought to impose on their German counterparts some of the same methods of colonial policing and intelligence that characterized their own counter-insurgency in France. These efforts proved counter-productive, however, for in internationalizing the Algerian war, they drew public attention to the colonial nature of France's hold over Algeria.     

The Administration’s Retreat and the Party’s Advance in the New Era of Xi Jinping: the Politics of the Ruling Party,the Government,and Associations in China

Journal of Chinese Political Science - In the new era of Xi Jinping, the Party has become more assertive, reclaiming the function of managing social organizations that the government agencies had...