The Italian Democratic Party from Merger to Personalism

Abstract

The Partito Democratico (PD) was born as an original Merger Party on the cusp of the economic crisis in October 2007. The party’s genesis and formative years were critical to the party’s failure to institutionalise around a new common ideology or vision, as a result of the persistence of two party souls which could not find unity. Rather than a genuinely ‘new’ reformist party, the PD resembled an organisational vehicle through which the two former parties could continue their struggle. This weakened the organisational nature of the PD and made it a candidate for takeover by a dominant, personal leader such as Matteo Renzi. He set about establishing a personal party whose existence has in many ways confirmed the failure, if not exhaustion, of the PD’s mission to become the reformist party of the majority.     

‘Soft’ forms of direct democracy: Explaining the occurrence of referendum motions and advisory referendums in Finnish local government

This study investigates ‘soft’ forms of direct democracy and identifies factors that explain their occurrence. Soft direct democracy refers to non‐binding referendum motions and advisory referendums, which the literature on direct democracy has largely ignored. Strategic motives have dominated previous explanations of the occurrence of initiatives and referendums, but are less useful in exploring non‐binding procedures of direct democracy. The article distinguishes four types of factors – socio‐structural, party system, political support and learning – and tests hypotheses on their effects with sub‐national data from Finland. The data enable us to compare two different types of instruments – non‐binding referendum motions and advisory referendums – while controlling for many unobserved factors. The findings show that erosion of political support, participatory traditions and policy diffusion explain the occurrence of bottom‐up referendum motions, while the last two together with small population and party system factors predict the occurrence of advisory government‐initiated referendums.     

The Bangladesh party-state: a diachronic comparative analysis of party-political regimes

Since independence in 1971, both civilian and military regimes have ruled Bangladesh. As many other military regimes did, the latter civilianised their rule through the formation of political parties and participation in general elections. When diachronically analysing political formations in Bangladesh, it is appealing to make a clear-cut distinction between autocratic and democratic regimes. However, this article argues that throughout its post-independence history, the dominant form of rule has been the party-state. Revisiting the work of Aristide Zolberg, this article develops a typology of party-states, away from its initial focus on single-party regimes. It argues that party-state formation can also be witnessed in competitive electoral settings.     

Straining without training? Capacity-related problems facing African election executives and officials

This article argues that the empowerment of election officials and executives is usually overlooked, understated or simply ignored; yet elections cannot be conducted without plans in place to improve their efficiency and effectiveness; especially through training. As one of the foremost mechanisms for improving elections, training is crucial to organisational performance enhancement. However, training for election officials and executives is fairly new in many African countries. Generally incorporated in generic university or vocational institute courses globally, training is usually offered as a special tailor-made module for polling officials in western countries. Even then, it rarely covers the severe conditions election officials regularly face, especially in Africa. This article examines these issues based on a review of the extant literature, conceptual and theoretical reflection on election management, and practical interaction with some election authorities who participated as trainees in the Unisa Management of Democratic Elections in Africa (MDEA) course (2012–2014). The article concludes that the training of election officials and executives poses challenges for Africa; partly because some election management bodies (EMBs) prefer to “strain” rather than effectively train their members to ensure sustainable performance, and partly because others prefer short-term irrelevant training that undermines their organisational goals. These hurdles need to be overcome if Africa is to address its election-related challenges.     

民主与共识：陪审制度的理论基础刍议

陪审是现代民主社会非常重要的一项司法制度,其早期的理论基础在于同类人审判,其后在制度发展中获取了新的功能——保护刑事被告人,在步入现代民主社会后,陪审制度更拥有矫正审判异化症,调和法官精英化与民主化之矛盾,建立司法与民意理性的交往协商机制的重大功能。这其中,实现审判民主和达成关于审判公正的共识是支撑陪审制度的核心理论。     

加强大学生党员党内教育问题的思考

发展大学生党员是高校思想政治工作的一项十分重要的任务,是为我党不断补充新鲜血液的重要途径。文章从组织建设、政治理论学习、实践工作等方面,探索大学生入党后党内教育问题的方法、对策,以促使党员教育的机制能够不断创新。     

我国公诉权滥用问题之反思

我国现行的公诉权监督制约机制以不起诉权的监督制约为重心,对起诉权滥用的监督制约仍有不足。谨防公诉权滥用,不仅应当进一步强化对公诉权的外部监督,完善公诉权的内部监督制约机制,更应进一步提高公诉人素质,提升执法水平。     

陈云党内民主建设思想及其当代价值

作为第一代、第二代中央领导集体的重要成员，陈云对党的建设从理论到实践都有重大建树。其党内民主建设思想涉及党内民主生活制度、民主集中制建设、党内决策的民主化和科学化、民主和法制的关系、发扬党内民主以带动人民民主等诸多方面。陈云的党内民主建设思想在现阶段仍然具有显明的价值：必须进一步完善党内民主集中制；加强法制建设以保障民主，不断加强党内监督；以发展党内民主带动和推进人民民主。     

列宁的党群观及其现实启示

列宁在政党和群众关系问题上有许多预见性的重要观点，如执政党最严重最可怕的危险之一就是脱离群众；只有无产阶级才能保证为大多数人的利益服务；社会主义不是少数人或某一个党所能实现的；民主政党的意见只有通过代表大会才能表达出来。在当前我国社会结构急剧变迁和民众利益诉求多样化的现实背景下，深入分析和探究列宁党群观的科学内涵与精神实质，对于我们党破解执政风险和巩固执政基础具有重要的现实启示。     

论党史文化视阈中的遵义会议精神

党史文化视阈中的遵义会议精神,从本质上讲,与井冈山精神、苏区精神、延安精神、长征精神、西柏坡精神、红岩精神等一样,都是中国共产党的宝贵精神财富。但它们又有各自不尽相同的特点。研究遵义会议精神,要深入了解遵义会议召开的历史背景、会议内容和会议的影响。遵义会议精神就是以毛泽东为代表的老一辈无产阶级革命家在遵义会议前后培育的解放思想、实事求是、独立自主、自我纠错、团结一致、一往无前的革命精神。