Political Parties

This is the first book on the genesis, impact and reception of the most-widely read History of England of the early 18th century: Paul Rapin Thoyras' Histoire d'Angleterre (1724-27). The Histoire and complementary works (Extraits des Actes de Rymer, 1710-1724; Dissertation sur les Whigs et les Torys, 1717) gave practical expression to theorizations of history against Pyrrhonian postulations by foregrounding an empirical form of history-writing.

Rapin's unprecedented standards of historiographical accuracy triggered both politically-informed reinterpretations of the Histoire in partisan newspapers and a multitude of adaptations that catered to an ever-growing number of readers. Despite a long-standing assessment as a "standard Whig historian", Rapin fashioned the impartial persona of a judge-historian, in compliance with the expectations of the Republic of Letters. His personal trajectory illuminates how scholars pursued trustworthy knowledge and how they reconsidered the boundaries of their community in the face of the booming printing industry and the interconnected growth of general readership. Rapin's oeuvre provided significant raw material for Voltaire's and Hume's Enlightenment historiographical narratives. A comparative foray into their respective different approaches to history and authorship cautions us against assuming a direct transition from the Republic of Letters into an Enlightenment Republic of Letters. To study the diffusion and the impact of Rapin's works is to understand that empirical history-writing, defined by its commitment to erudition in the service of impartiality, coexisted with the histoire philosophique.

There are more types of borders today than ever before in history. Borders of all kinds define every aspect of social life in the twenty-first century. From the biometric data that divides the smallest aspects of our bodies to the aerial drones that patrol the immense expanse of our domestic and international airspace, we are defined by borders. They can no longer simply be understood as the geographical divisions between nation-states. Today, their form and function has become too complex, too hybrid. What we need now is a theory of the border that can make sense of this hybridity across multiple domains of social life.

Rather than viewing borders as the result or outcome of pre-established social entities like states, Thomas Nail reinterprets social history from the perspective of the continual and constitutive movement of the borders that organize and divide society in the first place. Societies and states are the products of bordering, Nail argues, not the other way around. Applying his original movement-oriented theoretical framework "kinopolitics" to several major historical border regimes (fences, walls, cells, and checkpoints), Theory of the Border pioneers a new methodology of "critical limology," that provides fresh tools for the analysis of contemporary border politics.

É comum que dúvidas sejam levantadas sobre se um partido político insere-se no campo da esquerda ou da direita. Especialmente no caso brasileiro, a resposta para esse problema é ainda mais complexa dada a quantidade de legendas que competem nas eleições, atualmente 33 partidos. Aplicamos um questionário para 519 cientistas políticos, residentes no país e no exterior. A pesquisa foi realizada em julho de 2018, antes da campanha eleitoral daquele ano. A partir da resposta de cada um deles para os então 35 partidos existentes no Brasil fizemos a média da posição ideológica dessas legendas. Os respondentes foram instados a classificar os partidos em uma escala de zero a dez, em que zero representava a posição mais à esquerda e dez, mais à direita.

This study analyzes controversies and public attitudes concerning the Bandera faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B), the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)
and Stepan Bandera in Ukraine. The research question is: Which factors affect attitudes toward the OUN-B, the UPA and Bandera in contemporary Ukraine? This article employs comparative and regression analyses of surveys commissioned by the author and conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in 2009 and 2013 to determine the effects of regional and other factors on attitudes toward these organizations and the OUN-B leader. The study shows that regional factors and perceptions of these organizations' involvement in mass murder were the strongest predictors of the views concerning the OUN-B, the UPA and Bandera. Their public support is strongest in Galicia and weakest in the East and the South, in particular, in Donbas and Crimea, two major conflict areas since the “Euromaidan.”

From the volume Introduction:
"Leonardo Campus’ chapter explores the Italian political perspectives on the crisis,  using new documents from Italian, US and British archives, as well as interviews.  The divisive nature and the desire for peace that characterized such reactions are highlighted.  The government, led by the Christian Democrat’s Fanfani, gave unenthusiastic support to the US moves, while Togliatti’s Communist Party supported the USSR. Moreover, as the presence of NATO nuclear missiles made Italy both a target at risk and a possible subject of negotiation, it will be shown how Fanfani secretly tried to use them to play a role as a peace mediator."

This study examines the role of political factors in attitudes toward World War II in contemporary Ukraine. The question under examination is which factors determine public views of the principal warring sides and their leaders in Ukraine. This paper uses a representative national survey specifically designed for this research project and conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in 2012. It analyzes the roles of regionalism, political party preferences, ethnicity, language, age, and sex in attitudes toward the Red Army, Soviet partisans, the German Army (Wehrmacht), and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during the war, as well as toward the wartime leaders of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and the UPA. The analysis of the survey data shows that regional values, political party preferences, ethnicity, language, and age have significant effects on views of the Soviet Army and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army during the war and attitudes toward the wartime activities of Joseph Stalin and Roman Shukhevych. Public perceptions of the German Army and Adolf Hitler in Ukraine do not vary much across regions, political parties, and ethnic, language, age, and sex groups.

Isparta gibi, çok partili hayata geçiş ile birlikte merkez sağ çizgisinin güçlü olduğu bir seçim bölgesi olagelmiştir. Buna karşın 1999 seçimlerinden bu yana merkez sol olarak konumlanan partiler Muğla'da birinci parti olmuşlardır. Dolayısıyla Muğla, parti sistemindeki 2002 kırılmasıyla birlikte, merkez sağdan AKP tabanına kayan bir seçim bölgesi olmamış aksine, Türkiye seçim coğrafyasında CHP'nin güçlendiği ve kıyı şeridi olarak da adlandırılan bölgede merkezi konumda yer almıştır. Bu çalışmada söz konusu öndeğerlendirmeler çerçevesinde Muğla İli'nin siyasal gelenekleri ve değişen konjonktürde yeni yönelimleri milletvekili genel seçimleri, referandumlar ve yerel seçimler düzeyinde araştırılmış; ilçe düzeyinde son dönemde oluşan seçim coğrafyaları ortaya bu yolla Türkiye'de 2002 seçimleriyle birlikte sıklıkla sözü edilen kıyı şeridi olgusu, Muğla örneği üzerinden okunmaya çalışılmıştır. Abstract The Province of Muğla is a constituency which has a strong center right political line although; unlike Isparta and Aydın there are no famous politicians there. However the center left parties have had the first position in Muğla since 1999 elections, which means Muğla has not had a tendency to the power party, the AKP. With the breakage of 2002 elections, the electorates of the province have supported main opposition party, the CHP, on the contrary. Thus Muğla is a part of the coastline constituency in Turkey. In this context, the province of Muğla has been dealt with its political tradition, new political tendencies and electoral geography.

The massacre of almost 50 Maidan protesters on February 20, 2014 was a turning point in Ukrainian politics and a tipping point in the conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine. This mass killing of the protesters and the mass shooting of the police that preceded it led to the overthrow of the pro-Russian government of Viktor Yanukovych and gave a start to a civil war in Donbas in Eastern Ukraine, Russian military intervention in Crimea and Donbas, and an international conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine. A conclusion promoted by the post-Yanukovych governments and the media in Ukraine that the massacre was perpetrated by government snipers and special police units on a Yanukovych order has been nearly universally accepted by the Western governments, the media, and many scholars. The Ukrainian government investigation identified members of the special company of Berkut as responsible for killings of the absolute majority of the protesters, but did not release any evidence in support, with the exception of videos of the massacre.
              The question is which side organized the “snipers’ massacre.” This paper is the first academic study of this crucial case of the mass killing. It uses a theory of rational choice and a Weberian theory of instrumental rationality to examine actions of major actors both from the Yanukovych government, specifically various police and security forces, and the Maidan opposition, specifically its far right and oligarchic elements, during the massacre.
          The paper analyzes a large amount of evidence from different publicly available sources concerning this massacre and killings of specifics protesters. Qualitative content analysis includes the following data: about 1,500 videos and recordings of live internet and TV broadcasts from mass media and social media in different countries(some 150 gigabytes), news reports and social media posts by more than 100 journalists covering the massacre from Kyiv, some 5,000 photos, and nearly 30 gigabytes of publicly available radio intercepts of snipers and commanders from the special Alfa unit of the Security Service of Ukraine and Internal Troops, and Maidan massacre trial recordings. This study also employs field research on site of the massacre, eyewitness reports by both Maidan protesters and government special units commanders, statements by both former and current government officials, estimates of approximate ballistic trajectories, bullets and weapons used, and types of wounds among both protesters and the police. This study establishes a precise timeline for various events of the massacre, the locations of both the shooters and the government snipers, and the specific timeline and locations of nearly 50 protesters’ deaths. It also briefly analyzes other major cases of violence during and after the “Euromaidan.” This study includes two video appendixes.
            This academic investigation concludes that the massacre was a false flag operation, which was rationally planned and carried out with a goal of the overthrow of the government and seizure of power. It found various evidence of the involvement of an alliance of the far right organizations, specifically the Right Sector and Svoboda, and oligarchic parties, such as Fatherland. Concealed shooters and spotters were located in at least 20 Maidan-controlled buildings or areas. The various evidence that the protesters were killed from these locations include some 70 testimonies, primarily by Maidan protesters, several videos of “snipers” targeting protesters from these buildings, comparisons of positions of the specific protesters at the time of their killing and their entry wounds, and bullet impact signs. The study uncovered various videos and photos of armed Maidan “snipers” and spotters in many of these buildings. The paper presents implications of these findings for understanding the nature of the change of the government in Ukraine, the civil war in Donbas, Russian military intervention in Crimea and Donbas, and an international conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine.

The growing success of populist parties from across the political spectrum in Europe calls for an examination of the link between populist parties and voters and the new (if new indeed) cleavages that such parties exploit. Scholars have pointed to the erosion of traditional cleavages as one reason for the success of populist parties. Such analysis fits well with the established democracies of Europe but has little application in the East European context. Traditional cleavages have taken root in few places in Eastern Europe before communist takeover and became even less relevant following four and a half decades of communist rule. With the fall of communist regimes across Eastern Europe, the only meaningful division within society was that of anti-communists and supporters of the old regime. Similarly, concepts of Left and Right had (and to a great extend continue to have) little relevance in the East European context where the Left came to be dominated by former communist parties and the Right engulfed an ideologically incoherent opposition. The stronger the former communists were (such as in Bulgaria and Romania) the more fragmented the Right was, as it was the only available space for political competition. The present paper aims to examine voter support for populist parties in Bulgaria and analyze on the cleavages that those parties exploit or create. Thus, the paper examines the impact of populist parties on the political landscape in terms of the changes that those parties result in in voter behavior and cleavage formation. The paper utilizes exit-poll surveys, focusing on voter demographic profiles and the mobility of the vote. The findings indicate that populist parties are most successful in mobilizing non-voters when they first appear, but that their support quickly wanes afterwards. At the same time, there is voter mobility from one populist party to a newer populist party, which makes for a prolong trend of populist politics.

At the end of the 1970s a racist rock music movement known as White Power music emerged in Great Britain in connection with political parties of the extreme right and remains a vibrant force in racist social movements today. Throughout the 1990s, White Power music expanded significantly from its origins in a clandestine network of punk-inspired live shows and record promotions into a multi-million dollar, international enterprise of web-pages, radio stations and independent record labels promoting White Power musicians performing a wider range of musical genres. In this article, we view White Power music as a cultural resource created and produced by racist movements and used as a tool to further key movement goals.  Specifically, we examine White Power music’s role when used to 1) recruit new adherents, especially youth, 2) frame issues and ideology to cultivate a White Power collective identity, and 3) obtain financial resources. In doing so we rely upon in-depth interviews with W...

After the 1917 February Revolution, main expectations of the societies both in Russia and Georgia were related to the Constituent Assembly which, apart from the future form of the state, was to solve the truce, land and national issues. The socio-political spectrum of Georgia had a great trust in the Constituent Assembly.

Four major political forces acting in Georgia (Social-Democrats-Mensheviks, Socialist-Federalists, Socialist-Revolutionaries and National-Democratic Parties) actively engaged in the electoral process. Parties explained the essence, purpose and importance of the Constituent Assembly to the population. By means of their published political platforms, they informed the electorate about their promises and called for their support.

Unlike the socialist parties, National-Democrats talked about the model of future free Georgia instead of promises about democratic transformation of Russia.

Elections were held in the South Caucasus on November 12-18, 1917. 15 political organizations in the region took part in it. According to the received votes (27%) Social-Democrat Mensheviks won. The members of the Russian Constituent Assembly were: Noe Jordania, Isidore and Noe Ramishvili, Irakli Tsereteli, Karlo Chkheidze, Akaki Chkhenkeli, Evgeni Gegechkori, Grigol Giorgadze, Vladimer Jibladze and Arshak Zurabov. Ivane Lortkipanidze received the mandate of the SR party, - Federalists and National-Democrats remained without mandates.

After the Bolsheviks dissolved the Constituent Assembly and the hope of democratic development of Russia came to a stop, the political spectrum of Georgia switched to preparation of the local Constituent Assembly.

The paper examines variation in union density in advanced Western countries. It employs newly updated data on unionization which show that differences among industrialized Western nations persist overtime. The analysis includes examination of the role of corporatism, Left party power, Catholic party power, ethnic and linguistic diversity, the religious composition of the population, size of countries and labor force markets, proportion of the government and industry employment, government‟s share of GDP revenue. In addition to cross-national statistical analysis, union density rates are examined by major geographical and cultural clusters of countries, i.e., Northern countries, the Low Countries, English-speaking countries, German-speaking countries and Southern countries. We focus on divergence of union density between the United States and Canada, which belong to the same cluster of Western nations and have similar economic structures. We examine the role of social values and structural, economic, and political factors in divergence of unionism in Canada and the United States. Our analysis employs 1996 Lipset-Meltz survey data on attitudes towards unions in the United States and Canada as well as data from other surveys, such as the World Values Surveys.

Political parties, which provide relation between society and political area, are fundamental elements of political life in the Democratic countries. In comparison to Western democracies, frequency of closure of political parties in the Turkish political history and being a Closure Regime with the constitutionalisation of this matter has both political and social consequences. Closure regime of these Parties, which has active role to give form the relation between politics and society, makes these parties to find new ways to express themselves to the society in the Turkey.

Texto para o Boletim Opsa, de 2013, sobre as eleições seguintes para presidente e para prefeito de Montevidéu. O arquivo está sem a formatação com que foi publicado; o upload foi feito agora porque o acervo do OPSA está fora do ar.

Início do texto (não um resumo):
As eleições são quase semanalmente tema central do noticiário político no Uruguai, apesar de o sucessor de José "Pepe" Mujica na Presidência da República só ser escolhido em 10/2014 e de o pleito para a Prefeitura Municipal de Montevidéu, a capital, onde vive 1,3 milhão dos 3,3 milhões de uruguaios, ser realizado apenas em 05/2015 (juntamente com as demais eleições departamentais). A Frente Ampla é favorita segundo todas as pesquisas nas duas disputas, tendendo, portanto, a permanecer por mais um mandato nos dois cargos executivos eletivos mais relevantes do país. Desde que a coalizão de esquerda Frente Ampla, fundada em 1971, venceu as eleições municipais de Montevidéu em 1990 com o jovem Tabaré Vázquez como candidato, dando fim à supremacia do Partido Colorado na capital, a política uruguaia começou a se modificar. A Frente Ampla gradativamente foi ampliando suas votações nacionais, ao mesmo tempo em que não mais perdeu o controle de Montevidéu. Aquele mesmo Tabaré Vázquez consolidou-se como líder da coalizão e como seu candidato natural à Presidência, e obteve resultados cada vez melhores: terceira colocação em um quase empate tríplice em 1994, vitória no primeiro turno com derrota no segundo em 1999, e eleição já no primeiro turno com maioria absoluta dos votos em 2004. O fato de as eleições presidenciais e parlamentares serem atreladas, sem se poder votar em partidos diferentes em cada uma delas, significa que a Frente Ampla tem a maior bancada no Congresso desde 1999, e que tem a maioria das cadeiras legislativas desde a vitória de Vázquez. Acabou o bipartidarismo em que, desde o início da própria existência do Uruguai como país, dois partidos tradicionais, o Nacional e o Colorado, disputavam o poder. Passou a haver dois blocos, o de esquerda-hegemonizado pela Frente Ampla-e o de direita-em que os dois partidos históricos, com os programas mais próximos do que nunca, sempre se aliam em eventual segundo turno. 1 Foi justamente o que ocorreu quando Mujica se candidatou à sucessão de Vázquez em 2009: passado o primeiro turno, o candidato blanco e ex-presidente Luis Alberto Lacalle teve o apoio do colorado Pedro Bordaberry, mas mesmo assim saiu derrotado e a Frente Ampla permaneceu no poder. Em Montevidéu, depois de Vázquez foram eleitos para a Prefeitura ainda outros três candidatos da Frente Ampla, estando no cargo atualmente Ana Olivera, que pertence ao Partido Comunista, um dos setores fundadores da coalizão. Para tentar romper com essa supremacia da esquerda, blancos e colorados chegaram a um acordo histórico: criar um partido exclusivamente para concorrerem juntos contra a candidatura frente-amplista 2. Assim, formou-se o Partido da Concertação, que lançará três candidatos simultaneamente. Os votos dos três serão somados e, caso superem juntos a votação do nome a ser indicado pela Frente Ampla, conseguirão derrotá-la. Na hipótese de isso ocorrer, aquele entre os três candidatos do Partido da Concertação que for mais votado, mesmo que menos do que o concorrente da esquerda, será o novo prefeito.

Das italienische Parteienrecht ist in der Entwicklung und die allenthalben ubliche Unbeweglichkeit des Gesetzgebers auf diesem Gebiet kollidiert mit zwei Bedurfnissen: Ein Parteiengesetz zu schaffen, dass nicht nur eine Beschrankung, sondern auch eine Garantie fur die Freiheit der Parteien selbst sein kann und einen praktischen Bedarf an Finanzmitteln zu befriedigen, obgleich eine Ruckkehr zur staatlichen direkten Finanzierung nach der gerade erst vollzogenen Abkehr von einem System der (auch) offentlichen Parteienfinanzierung nicht opportun ist. Der Beitrag setzt sich mit den Problemen und den Chancen einer kunftigen Weiterentwicklung des italienischen Parteienrechts auseinander und beleuchtet insbesondere auch die Rolle naher, die der italienische Verfassungsgerichtshof dabei spielen konnte.

In the course of election campaigns politicians and political parties try their best to highlight their most favored topics that would help them draw public attention and increase people’s regard for specific political figures. In contrast to the positive communication content announced during an election campaign, candidates sometimes choose negative messages that focus on their opponents’ weaknesses (real or imagined) rather than their own strengths. The goal of this research is to identify the forms and means of negative communication used in political video advertisements during Lithuanian parliamentary election of 2016. To achieve our goal, we analyze the political video advertisements that were categorized as negative communication. We categorize and analyze those advertisements by using concepts of forms of negativity and targets of negativity. Our findings suggest that negative communication is being used by Lithuanian political organizations, but it is the positive one that...

This research paper explores some of the criteria set for elections and the conditions in which the respondents participate. Moreover, the voters’mindset was investigated by drawing the illustrations from newspapers, television, religious, social and particular political condition in the midst of elections as well as its impact on their voting behavior.The study consisted of male and female groups of registered voters, who belonged to urban and rural (sub-urban) areas of Taxila and Wah Cantt, the two major cities of Punjab that make significant difference in the final results of the elections. Our test group consisted of 600 respondents from the area, 383 male voters and 217 female voters. The study proved the variables to be highly significant in light of the demographics. The findings revealed casting of votes was not mostly by the free will of respondents, rather it was imposed by the structure of the society by providing a strict guidelines for voting criteria. The political beh...

La COP21 donne lieu à des prises de conscience fortes dans le chef des partis politiques belges francophones. Tous soulignent aujourd'hui l'enjeu fondamental que représente le changement climatique pour la planète et les générations futures.

ISBN 978-1-108-48087-1 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for ttre persistence oI accuracy of UR[* foı extemal or üird-party internet \i/ebsites referred to in this publication and does not guaıantee üat any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

The political districting problem has been studied since the 60's and many different models and techniques have been proposed with the aim of preventing districts' manipulation which may favor some specific political party (gerrymandering). A variety of political districting models and procedures was provided in the Operations Research literature, based on single-or multiple-objective optimization. Starting from the forerunning papers published in the 60's, this article reviews some selected optimization models and algorithms for political districting which gave rise to the main lines of research on this topic in the Operartions Research literature of the last five decades.

Providing an innovative conceptualization to extremist political movements founded upon "world-historic" populations and vanguard party organizations, Vanguardism sets out a new path in investigating the intellectual and historical influences that created extremist politics, the totalitarian movements and regimes of the twentieth century, and a framework for interpreting extremism in the present.

Expanding its view across the turbulent intellectual currents of the nineteenth century, Philip W. Gray illustrates how these ideas shaped the shared ideational and organizational structures that would develop into Leninism, Fascism, and Nazism in the early twentieth century. Moving beyond the Second World War, the book explicates how vanguardism did not vanish with the war’s conclusion, but was modified throughout the period of national liberation movements and Western extremist groups over the ensuing decades. Concluding in the present with an eye to the future, Gray presents a framework for comprehending the extremist movement of today, and how organizational shifts can give us clues to the forms of totalitarian politics of tomorrow.

Original and provocative, Vanguardism will become essential reading for everyone looking to understand totalitarianism and extremist politics of our time.

¿Los partidos brasileños responden a una dinámica regional, operando en ciertos espacios del país? ¿Los partidos argentinos se estructuran nacionalmente, hiriendo el federalismo y esfumando las realidades provinciales? ¿Hasta dónde esto es cierto? ¿Qué sucede hoy en estos federalismos? Partidos, sistemas de partidos, sistemas electorales y fenómenos vinculados a estos (como la sobre-representación distrital y su efecto sobre los partidos, etc.) en las esferas federales de Brasil y Argentina se analizan en el presente trabajo. Inicialmente, se realiza un estudio de los sistemas electorales a nivel federal. Luego, se produce un análisis del sistema de partidos en la arena nacional y sobre lo que expresan las constituciones (Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil, de 1988 –CF88; y la Constitución de la Nación Argentina –CN94) sobre estos instrumentos de ejercicio democrático. También se realiza un estudio sobre el presente de los partidos y la forma de clasificarlos. El fenómeno de la sobre-representación distrital (SRD) también es objeto de investigación, por la importancia que cobra en estas federaciones. La forma en que las unidades federativas menores se encuentran sobre-representadas coloca un desafío a estos federalismos: establece pautas del juego político federal

According to numerous recent cross-national studies of public support for democracy, citizens of both well-established and newer democracies continue to share a strong commitment to the ideals and principles of representative democracy. Paradoxically, however, these same citizens are increasingly 'critical' of and 'dissatisfied' with the performance of their national democratic institutions. One response has been to call for the 're-invention of government' through the use of referendums and ballot initiatives. This article explores what happens when the national referendum was introduced in Portugal in 1998 -a polity that only recently consolidated its transition to democracy. We examine in some depth the context under which the referendum was introduced and its results in terms of electoral behaviour. The main goals are to explain both abstention and vote choice in the 1998 Portuguese referendums, analysing the role of political parties, social structural factors and pressure groups on those phenomena.

In her chapter Nathalie Tocci argues that ‘‘spoiling characterizes the very nature of the persisting conflict in Cyprus’’ and the failure of numerous peace processes on the island. She suggests that spoiling has taken the form of actions undertaken by parties normally involved in the long-lasting peace process under the aegis of the United Nations, and aimed at bolstering specific (spoiling) bargaining positions. This has taken place both within the context of negotiations and outside it through unilateral measures. As a result, it has been difficult to distinguish spoiling from ‘‘legitimate’’ political actions aimed at bolstering an actor’s bargaining position. Indeed, what has constituted spoiling to one party has represented legally and morally legitimate action to another. In line with other cases in this volume, Tocci suggests that the distinction between spoiling and ‘‘normal politics’’ has thus been a question of degree rather than one of clear-cut categories.

Over two decades have passed since the 'third wave' of democratization began to roll across sub-Saharan Africa in the early 1990s. The introduction to this collection provides an overall assessment of the (lack of) progress made in democratization processes in Africa from 1990 to 2010. It highlights seven areas of progress and setbacks: increasingly illegitimate, but ongoing military intervention; regular elections and occasional transfers of power, but realities of democratic rollback and hybrid regimes; democratic institutionalization, but ongoing presidentialism and endemic corruption; the institutionalization of political parties, but widespread ethnic voting and the rise of an exclusionary (and often violent) politics of belonging; increasingly dense civil societies, but local realities of incivility, violence and insecurity; new political freedoms and economic growth, but extensive political controls and uneven development; and the donor community's mixed commitment to, and at times perverse impact on, democracy promotion. We conclude that steps forward remain greater than reversals and that typically, though not universally, sub-Saharan African countries are more democratic today than in the late 1980s. Simultaneously, we call for more meaningful processes of democratization that aim not only at securing civil and political rights, but also socioeconomic rights and the physical security of African citizens.

Public demand for environmental policies can only influence policies when political parties incorporate environmentalism into their platforms. The economic downturn that began in 2009 may have caused European parties to abandon their commitment to environmentalism as they focused on solutions to the economic crisis. Particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, where commitment to the environment is not as central to party competition, public environmental concerns may have been placed on the periphery of the policy agenda. Examining this issue, this study finds that political parties, especially mainstream parties, in Western Europe represented economic and environmental preferences of voters about equally as well in 2013 as they did prior to the economic crisis. However, in Central and Eastern Europe, parties tended to be less responsive to environmental preferences, presumably because economic differences dominate political divisions in newer democracies. It is concluded that environmental interests are well protected by mainstream actors in the West, though less so in Europe's newer democracies.

Elected officials routinely do not reflect the racial diversity of the citizenry. In Latin America, these descriptive gaps are particularly pronounced. A growing number of studies investigate the causes of racial disparities in representation, however, extant research largely focuses on national assemblies. In this paper, I extend this well-trod line of research to an understudied context, local elections. Using a dataset that covers mayoral elections in Brazil, I demonstrate that multiple factors hinder Afro-Brazilians, who comprise a majority of the Brazilian population, from winning public office. I show that barriers to candidate entry, resource disparities between white and Afro-Brazilian candidates, and race-based preferences among voters contribute to racial inequality in political representation. These results indicate that members of marginalized racial groups often must overcome multiple barriers to achieve electoral success.