Search Results

Value Orientations and Party Choice

Oddbjørn Knutsen and Staffan Kumlin

in The European Voter: A Comparative Study Of Modern Democracies

The general hypothesis of the book is that the power of long-term factors to explain party choice has gradually become weaker. Since value orientations can be considered as long-term factors, one ... More

The general hypothesis of the book is that the power of long-term factors to explain party choice has gradually become weaker. Since value orientations can be considered as long-term factors, one should expect the explanatory power of value orientations to decline over time. However, the empirical evidence in this chapter suggests that the impact of values is regulated by the political context. This contextual factor includes the extent to which citizens learn to make use of ideological labels and concepts, the extent to which they receive ideological cues in order to choose on the basis of values, as well as the affective strength with which values are endorsed. The apparent decrease in perceived party polarisation in the 1990s led to a decline of the extent to which extremely economic left-right values matter for party choice.Less

New Zealand: The Consolidation of Reform?

Jack Vowles

in The Politics of Electoral Systems

New Zealand experienced fundamental electoral system reform in the mid-1990s when voters, in a referendum, decided to replace the single-member plurality system by proportional representation ... More

New Zealand experienced fundamental electoral system reform in the mid-1990s when voters, in a referendum, decided to replace the single-member plurality system by proportional representation achieved through a mixed compensatory system. This has reinforced the trend towards a multi-party system, and resulted in coalition government becoming the norm. It has also produced a more socio-demographically representative parliament. Some opposition to the mixed system remains, but overall, the effects of the change are perceived as beneficial.Less

Explaining Expenditure Outcomes

Francis G. Castles

in The Future of the Welfare State: Crisis Myths and Crisis Realities

Uses statistical techniques to model the determinants of aggregate social expenditure change in 21 OECD countries over the period 1980 to 1998. The main focus is on testing hypotheses relating to the ... More

Uses statistical techniques to model the determinants of aggregate social expenditure change in 21 OECD countries over the period 1980 to 1998. The main focus is on testing hypotheses relating to the impact of economic globalization and the so-called ‘new politics’ of the welfare state. The analysis suggests that neither of these accounts is persuasive. Instead, the main factors shaping recent expenditure change appear to have been programme maturation, economic growth, deindustrialization and left partisan politics.Less

Contested Authority in Rebuilding Ground Zero

Maarten A. Hajer

in Authoritative Governance: Policy Making in the Age of Mediatization

The decision what and how to rebuild at ‘Ground Zero’ is a highly symbolic and contentious act, with high financial stakes, in which the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Port Authority, ... More

The decision what and how to rebuild at ‘Ground Zero’ is a highly symbolic and contentious act, with high financial stakes, in which the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Port Authority, private stakeholders, mourning families, and inhabitants compete about the meaning of the site. Examining the stories of Ground Zero the chapter makes out four different discourses: (1) The Programme (2) Memorial Discourse, (3) Revitalization, and (4) Phoenix. The chapter studies the policy process focusing on two policy practices through which the meaning of rebuilding Ground Zero gets enacted in a particularly interesting way for the book. Listening to the city and the subsequent Design study constitute examples of opening up a closed process. The empirical analysis shows how new techniques of deliberation were employed, allowing many publics into the policy conversation. It also reveals interesting examples of how to recombine expertise and participation, and design experts cooperating with various audiences. However, by the lack of a creative follow-up, and a script that would have kept the public involved, the ‘rebuilding as a democracy’ in the end turns out to be an unhappy performative. In the end the oyster of classical-modernist politics that was forced open, closed again. A chance for an authoritative governance based on the story line of ‘we must rebuild as a democracy’ was missed.Less

Politics and Poker: The Body Beautiful and Fiorello! and the Late 1950s

Philip Lambert

in To Broadway, To Life!: The Musical Theater of Bock and Harnick

This chapter explores the early years of the songwriting partnership between Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, who began writing songs together in 1957 for a Broadway musical about boxing, The Body ... More

This chapter explores the early years of the songwriting partnership between Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, who began writing songs together in 1957 for a Broadway musical about boxing, The Body Beautiful. Though the show, which opened in 1958, was not a success, Bock and Harnick worked together again on songs for a musical based on the life of Fiorello La Guardia, the beloved New York City mayor, congressman, and war hero. Fiorello! (1959) was a huge success, earning them and their collaborators—writer-director George Abbott and his co-author Jerome Weidman—Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Bock and Harnick quickly became known not only for their stylish, singable melodies and clever lyrics, but also for their attentiveness as songwriters to the dramatic circumstances of each song in the show.Less

On Crises, Myths, and Measurement

Francis G. Castles

in The Future of the Welfare State: Crisis Myths and Crisis Realities

Explores the themes of what follows. It argues that the welfare state literature of the past quarter century has been big on crisis theories of the welfare state and much weaker on facts. The chapter ... More

Explores the themes of what follows. It argues that the welfare state literature of the past quarter century has been big on crisis theories of the welfare state and much weaker on facts. The chapter suggests that, in order to say something meaningful about the future of the welfare state, we need to test crisis accounts, such as those built around globalization and population ageing, with facts drawn from comparative analysis to establish which are myths and which are realities.Less

Black Power May Be the Only Hope America Has: Black Power, Feminism, and the New Left, 1966–1967

Sherie M. Randolph

in Florynce "Flo" Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical

This chapter focuses on Flo Kennedy’s organizing in the Black Power Conference, the National Conference for New Politics and the National Organization for Women and establishes Kennedy’s significance ... More

This chapter focuses on Flo Kennedy’s organizing in the Black Power Conference, the National Conference for New Politics and the National Organization for Women and establishes Kennedy’s significance as a leader who bridges movements and translates ideas and strategies from one struggle to another. She brought the ideas of the Black Power movement to the emerging women’s movement and made Black Power into a pivotal ideological influence on the radical feminist politics that was developing among predominantly white women.Less

Pursuing the Promise of the New Deal: Relief and the Politics of Nationalism in the Thirties

in Puerto Rican Citizen: History and Political Identity in Twentieth-Century New York City

During the worst years of the Great Depression, many Puerto Rican migrants, barely scraping by, focused only on feeding their families, on their next paycheck or next job—or a threatened eviction—and ... More

During the worst years of the Great Depression, many Puerto Rican migrants, barely scraping by, focused only on feeding their families, on their next paycheck or next job—or a threatened eviction—and paid little attention to labor politics, much less to electoral politics. Not that migrants as a group lacked an interest in politics: many of them closely followed, and sometimes participated in, the turbulent elections, bitter political rivalries, and rancorous ideological battles of their homeland. By the early 1930s, though, colonia leftists had an easy time convincing their compatriots of the importance of everyday political struggles. The Depression itself was motivating thousands of migrants to focus on local issues, and the promise of New Deal politics changed many migrants' minds about the payoffs of political participation at the local level.Less

Rooted in the Black Community but Not Limited to It: The Perils and Promises of the New Politics of Race

Enid Logan

in "At This Defining Moment": Barack Obama's Presidential Candidacy and the New Politics of Race

This chapter presents a theoretical explanation of the aspects of the new politics of race. Journalists, experts, and commentators from across the political spectrum now refer to the “new race ... More

This chapter presents a theoretical explanation of the aspects of the new politics of race. Journalists, experts, and commentators from across the political spectrum now refer to the “new race politics” in seeking to describe, and influence, racial dynamics in the age of Obama. The largely celebrated new politics of race is an outgrowth, or elaboration, of the ideology of colorblind individualism which focuses on the responsibilities of blacks in achieving a society free of racial strife. The chapter demonstrates how there were many moments in the 2008 election in which the “new” politics of race were juxtaposed against the “old.” While the new race politics constitute a form of colorblindness in the defense of white racial privilege, it may hold some promise in terms of formulating new ways of thinking about and dealing with race.Less

“Everybody Is People”: Bella Abzug and the New Politics of Feminism

Jeffrey Bloodworth

in Losing the Center: The Decline of American Liberalism, 1968–1992

New Politics liberals significantly informed the trajectory and shape of the women's movement. Combining the moralism and activism of the New Politics with the aims of Second Wave Feminism, Bella ... More

New Politics liberals significantly informed the trajectory and shape of the women's movement. Combining the moralism and activism of the New Politics with the aims of Second Wave Feminism, Bella Abzug advanced both movements. Abzug successfully transformed the Congress and helped usher an era of unprecedented change and women's participation in national politics. Spawned by the Zionism of her youth and independent minded radicalism of the non-communist post-war left, Abzug leapt into the Reform Democratic movement of the 1950s. The predecessor to the New Politics, Abzug's experience with Reform Democrats helped inform the New Politics. Though Abzug significantly changed the Congress, her insurgent politics and rabble-rousing tendencies helped define both the women's movement and liberalism for a generation.Less

Partners for Progress?: Liberals and Radicals in the Long Twentieth Century

Doug Rossinow

in Making Sense of American Liberalism

This chapter argues that from the Popular Front of the 1930s and 1940s through the anti-Vietnam War movement and the “new politics” of the 1960s and 1970s, liberals and leftists worked together to ... More

This chapter argues that from the Popular Front of the 1930s and 1940s through the anti-Vietnam War movement and the “new politics” of the 1960s and 1970s, liberals and leftists worked together to strengthen individual political and social rights. They sought to advance the interests of the industrial working class within the framework of liberal capitalist society, and to oppose war and empire. The chapter also describes the left edge of the liberal political tradition across the broad sweep of industrial U.S. history, revealing both the way in which the radical left provided idealistic, sometimes utopian fuel for liberal reform projects, as well as the broad influence of liberal ideas on the political left in the United States.Less

Rights talk and moral protest

Frederick Powell

in The politics of civil society: Neoliberalism or Social Left?

This chapter discusses the emergence of rights talk and moral protests. It explains that social movements became the vehicles that provided expression to this new politics. It details that human ... More

This chapter discusses the emergence of rights talk and moral protests. It explains that social movements became the vehicles that provided expression to this new politics. It details that human rights had become an overarching discourse, used by new social movements to benchmark their campaigns for greater democracy and social justice.Less

“No Foreign Ecclesiastical Authority”: Catholics and Republican Citizenship

Jason K. Duncan

in Citizens or Papists?: The Politics of Anti-Catholicism in New York, 1685-1821

This chapter focuses on the status of New York Catholics as citizens in the new republic. A group of Federalists emerged as the lay leaders of St. Peter's Church in the 1780s. ... More

This chapter focuses on the status of New York Catholics as citizens in the new republic. A group of Federalists emerged as the lay leaders of St. Peter's Church in the 1780s. These included foreign diplomats such as Don Diego de Gardoqui; his king, Charles III of Spain, extended his generosity to New York Catholics to help establish a Catholic presence in the capital of the United States. While Catholics were understandably grateful for this assistance, the visible royal presence at the early public Catholic ceremonies in New York City highlighted the unique and potentially troublesome position of Catholics in the new republic. A long-persecuted religious minority in New York, they were now easily the church with the strongest connections to Europe. Although no individual Catholic was a major figure in New York politics, there were several prominent Catholics nationwide, all of whom were Federalists.Less

Latte Liberals: Donald Peterson and the Birth of the New Politics

Jeffrey Bloodworth

in Losing the Center: The Decline of American Liberalism, 1968–1992

Outraged by the Vietnam War, Donald Peterson helped launch the “Dump Johnson Movement” and convince Eugene McCarthy to challenge LBJ for the Democratic nomination. His role in McCarthy's insurgent ... More

Outraged by the Vietnam War, Donald Peterson helped launch the “Dump Johnson Movement” and convince Eugene McCarthy to challenge LBJ for the Democratic nomination. His role in McCarthy's insurgent campaign and leadership of the Wisconsin delegation at the 1968 Democratic Convention changed Peterson from an anonymous grassroots activist into a minor celebrity. Following the convention, Peterson became a key figure in the New Politics Movement. Comprised of educated, middle class activists, New Politics liberals rejected the Cold War and made controversial social issues more prominent than economic matters. Due to their organizational prowess, these middle class activists slowly displaced working class Democrats and their issues during the 1970s.Less

Party Preferences and Institutional Choices: A Search for a New Electoral System

HeeMin Kim

in Korean Democracy in Transition: A Rational Blueprint for Developing Societies

This chapter discusses the possible answers to two pressing issues: whether a set of institutions could satisfy a number of political actors' various objectives, and how these politicians react in ... More

This chapter discusses the possible answers to two pressing issues: whether a set of institutions could satisfy a number of political actors' various objectives, and how these politicians react in the absence of a set of institutions. It reviews the officially and unofficially stated objectives of the National Conference for New Politics' (NCNP) political reform. It introduces alternative electoral institutions proposed by various political actors, and assesses whether these electoral institutions could achieve the objectives of the NCNP. It finally explains why the governing NCNP stressed the need for the so-called political reorganization in addition to political reform.Less

Choices

Robert Rohrschneider and Stephen Stephen

in The Strain of Representation: How Parties Represent Diverse Voters in Western and Eastern Europe

This chapter considers the party representation model in light of its first criterion – that parties should present policy choices to voters. The conclusions that emerge from these analyses are ... More

This chapter considers the party representation model in light of its first criterion – that parties should present policy choices to voters. The conclusions that emerge from these analyses are generally happy ones for this representational criterion. Voters in both West and East are offered a range of policy alternatives and not just by small and fringe parties. Moreover, parties offer policies that are sensibly rooted in their ideological and social characteristics. Furthermore, the chapter also finds strong and sensible connections between theoretically relevant country characteristics on the range of positions offered by parties. However, the chapter also found some evidence of the potential problems that might occur, in particular, where the number of independents in the electorate was larger, party systems tended to offer more limited policy choices across a wide spectrum of issues.Less