Party Politics in New Democracies

Edited by Paul Webb and Stephen White

Comparative Politics

Contains contributions from leading scholars in the field

Party Politics in New Democracies

Edited by Paul Webb and Stephen White

Description

The sister volume to Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies, this book offers a systematic and rigorous analysis of parties in some of the world's major new democracies. Drawing on a wealth of expertise and data, the book assesses the popular legitimacy, organizational development and functional performance of political parties in Latin America and post-communist Eastern Europe. It demonstrates the generational differences between parties in the old and new democracies, and reveals contrasts among the latter. Parties are shown to be at their most feeble in those recently transitional democracies characterized by personalistic, candidate-centered forms of politics, but in other new democracies--especially those with parliamentary systems--parties are more stable and institutionalized, enabling them to facilitate a meaningful degree of popular choice and control. Wherever party politics is weakly institutionalized, political inequality tends to be greater, commitment to pluralism less certain, clientelism and corruption more pronounced, and populist demagoguery a greater temptation. Without party, democracy's hold is more tenuous.

Party Politics in New Democracies

Edited by Paul Webb and Stephen White

Comparative Politics

1. Introduction: Conceptualizing the Institutionalization and Performance of Political Parties in New Democracies, Paul Webb and Stephen White
2. Russia's Client Party System, Stephen White
3. Political Parties in Ukraine: Virtual and Representational, Andrew Wilson and Sarah Birch
4. Poland: Party System by Default, Krzysztof Jasiewicz
5. Building Party Government: Political Parties in the Czech and Slovak Republics, Petr Kopecký
6. The Only Game in Town: Party Politics in Hungary, Zsolt Enyedi and Gábor Tóka
7. Parties and Governability in Brazil, Barry Ames and Timothy J. Power
8. 'Que se Vayan Todos!' The struggle for Democratic Party Politics in Contemporary Argentina, Celia Szusterman
9. Strong Parties in a Struggling Party System: Mexico in the Democratic Era, Joy Langston
10. The Durability of the Party System in Chile, Alan Angell
11. Political Parties in Costa Rica: Sustaining Democratic Stability in a Latin American Context, John A. Booth
12. Political Parties in New Democracies: Trajectories of Development and Implications for Democracy, Paul Webb and Stephen White
Index

Party Politics in New Democracies

Edited by Paul Webb and Stephen White

Comparative Politics

Author Information

Paul Webb is Professor of Politics at the University of Sussex. He is author or editor of numerous publications, including The Modern British Party System , Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Societies (OUP, 2002, coedited) and The Presidentialization of Politics: A Comparative Study of Modern Democracies(OUP , 2005, coedited). He is currently an editor of the journals Party Politics and Representation.

Stephen White is Professor of International Politics in the Department of Politics at the University of Glasgow, and a Senior Research Associate of its School of Slavonic, Central and East European Studies. A former president of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies and chief editor of the Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, his recent books include Russia After Communism (coedited, 2002), Postcommunist Belarus (coedited, 2005) and Developments in Russian Politics (2005).

Contributors:

Barry Ames, University of Pittsburgh
Alan Angell, St. Antony's College, Oxford University
Sarah Birch, University of Essex
John A. Booth, University of North Texas
Zsolt Enyedi, Central European University, Budapest
Krzysztof Jasiewic, Washington and Lee University
Petr Kopecký, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
Joy Langston, Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), Mexico City
Timothy J. Power, St. Cross College, Oxford University
Gábor Tóka, Central European University, Budapest
Paul Webb, University of Sussex
Stephen White, University of Glasgow
Andrew Wilson, University College London