Pub Date : 2022-03-04DOI: 10.1080/07907184.2022.2046430
S. Scarrow, P. Webb, Thomas Poguntke
ABSTRACT Political observers agree that parties in European parliamentary democracies are more likely than previously to give party members opportunities to vote in decisions about party policies or personnel. Observers are less agreed about the implications of these apparent procedural trends. Some, including Peter Mair, saw them as evidence of the hollowing-out of party democracies; others have seen them as enhancing citizens’ opportunities for meaningful political participation. Because this is ultimately an empirical question as well as a normative one, these radically conflicting interpretations make it crucial to examine which interpretation is best supported by usage to date This is the task we undertake in this article. We use data from the Political Party Database Project (PPDB) to investigate the extent to which parties in 26 European countries have adopted and employed intra-party ballots. We also ask whether there is evidence that such procedures are changing intra-party relationships. We find that balloting of party members is indeed widely used, but it is by no means universal. We find much less support for the implication that such ballots are associated with less competitive contests, or that the new devices are generally used in ways that devalue party-member bonds.
{"title":"Intra-party decision-making in contemporary Europe: improving representation or ruling with empty shells?","authors":"S. Scarrow, P. Webb, Thomas Poguntke","doi":"10.1080/07907184.2022.2046430","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2022.2046430","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Political observers agree that parties in European parliamentary democracies are more likely than previously to give party members opportunities to vote in decisions about party policies or personnel. Observers are less agreed about the implications of these apparent procedural trends. Some, including Peter Mair, saw them as evidence of the hollowing-out of party democracies; others have seen them as enhancing citizens’ opportunities for meaningful political participation. Because this is ultimately an empirical question as well as a normative one, these radically conflicting interpretations make it crucial to examine which interpretation is best supported by usage to date This is the task we undertake in this article. We use data from the Political Party Database Project (PPDB) to investigate the extent to which parties in 26 European countries have adopted and employed intra-party ballots. We also ask whether there is evidence that such procedures are changing intra-party relationships. We find that balloting of party members is indeed widely used, but it is by no means universal. We find much less support for the implication that such ballots are associated with less competitive contests, or that the new devices are generally used in ways that devalue party-member bonds.","PeriodicalId":45746,"journal":{"name":"Irish Political Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48577271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-28DOI: 10.1080/07907184.2022.2043084
R. Katz
ABSTRACT Contrary to some interpretations, the cartel party model was never assumed to be an equilibrium end-state. Rather, it was postulated, on the one hand, that cartelization would lead to its own opposition in the form now identified as anti-party-system parties, and on the other hand, that this development would lead to further adaptation on the part of the cartel parties themselves. But is this continuing evolution leading to parties that are more democratic, either in their internal operation or in their contribution to the wider political system? While a number of empirical trends are evident, whether they represent ‘democratic evolution’ depends in large measure upon how one understands democracy itself.
{"title":"The cartel party - the end of democratic party evolution?","authors":"R. Katz","doi":"10.1080/07907184.2022.2043084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2022.2043084","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 Contrary to some interpretations, the cartel party model was never assumed to be an equilibrium end-state. Rather, it was postulated, on the one hand, that cartelization would lead to its own opposition in the form now identified as anti-party-system parties, and on the other hand, that this development would lead to further adaptation on the part of the cartel parties themselves. But is this continuing evolution leading to parties that are more democratic, either in their internal operation or in their contribution to the wider political system? While a number of empirical trends are evident, whether they represent ‘democratic evolution’ depends in large measure upon how one understands democracy itself.","PeriodicalId":45746,"journal":{"name":"Irish Political Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44743040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-28DOI: 10.1080/07907184.2022.2043082
R. Kenneth Carty
ABSTRACT For most of the twentieth century the Irish party system was stable and unchanging, centred on Fianna Fáil, Europe’s most electorally successful political party. That system suddenly collapsed in 2011 when Irish electoral politics became unusually volatile, ending decades of one-party dominance and leaving democratic elections unable to provide for government choice and accountability. This paper traces this transformation of the party system, unmasking the altered dynamics of the country’s electoral competition, through a focus on its long-dominant natural party of government. It concludes by considering the challenges and prospects for Ireland’s party democracy.
{"title":"Into the void: the collapse of Irish party democracy","authors":"R. Kenneth Carty","doi":"10.1080/07907184.2022.2043082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2022.2043082","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT For most of the twentieth century the Irish party system was stable and unchanging, centred on Fianna Fáil, Europe’s most electorally successful political party. That system suddenly collapsed in 2011 when Irish electoral politics became unusually volatile, ending decades of one-party dominance and leaving democratic elections unable to provide for government choice and accountability. This paper traces this transformation of the party system, unmasking the altered dynamics of the country’s electoral competition, through a focus on its long-dominant natural party of government. It concludes by considering the challenges and prospects for Ireland’s party democracy.","PeriodicalId":45746,"journal":{"name":"Irish Political Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42944583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-22DOI: 10.1080/07907184.2022.2042147
A. Hall
{"title":"Northern Ireland a generation after Good Friday: lost futures and new horizons in the ‘long peace’","authors":"A. Hall","doi":"10.1080/07907184.2022.2042147","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2022.2042147","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45746,"journal":{"name":"Irish Political Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46109161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-28DOI: 10.1080/07907184.2021.2020255
Anna Bryson, Muiris MacCarthaigh
ABSTRACT Demands for accountability are a prominent feature of contemporary public life. Although much academic attention has focused on perceived denials of accountability and blame avoidance in various political, administrative and transitional justice contexts, there has been much less analysis of blame acceptance and efforts to provide accountability. This paper explores attempts to provide such accountability through the medium of public apologies. It considers accountability as an iterative process that is intrinsically linked to perceptions by target audiences. Our analysis draws on a survey of 1007 citizens across the island of Ireland and public attitudes to apologies reflected in focus groups with a stratified sample of the general population. We find that the public appetite for apologies is strong and that they are generally valued as a core element of accountability provision. Public evaluations of such apologies are nonetheless modulated by a range of intersecting variables. In the concluding section we consider these various dynamics and reflect on how viewing public apologies as a complex dialogic process can inform broader conceptual understandings of accountability.
{"title":"Accounting for the past: the role of public apologies in Ireland","authors":"Anna Bryson, Muiris MacCarthaigh","doi":"10.1080/07907184.2021.2020255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2021.2020255","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Demands for accountability are a prominent feature of contemporary public life. Although much academic attention has focused on perceived denials of accountability and blame avoidance in various political, administrative and transitional justice contexts, there has been much less analysis of blame acceptance and efforts to provide accountability. This paper explores attempts to provide such accountability through the medium of public apologies. It considers accountability as an iterative process that is intrinsically linked to perceptions by target audiences. Our analysis draws on a survey of 1007 citizens across the island of Ireland and public attitudes to apologies reflected in focus groups with a stratified sample of the general population. We find that the public appetite for apologies is strong and that they are generally valued as a core element of accountability provision. Public evaluations of such apologies are nonetheless modulated by a range of intersecting variables. In the concluding section we consider these various dynamics and reflect on how viewing public apologies as a complex dialogic process can inform broader conceptual understandings of accountability.","PeriodicalId":45746,"journal":{"name":"Irish Political Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46490498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-16DOI: 10.1080/07907184.2021.2010988
Catherine E. De Vries
ABSTRACT European democracies are undergoing major changes. The major parties of the left and the right that have dominated politics for decades are losing ground, and voting behaviour is more volatile and governments are becoming less stable. The nature of political competition is also changing: the socio-economic cleavages that used to dominate party competition and party ties are becoming less relevant, and new salient issues have emerged, such as immigration, the environment and European integration. How do we explain these changes in European politics? Drawing on a recent book co-authored with Sara Hobolt, Catherine E. de Vries argues that political entrepreneurs provide an important lens through which to understand political change in Europe.
欧洲民主国家正在经历重大变革。几十年来主导政治的左翼和右翼主要政党正在失去优势,投票行为更加不稳定,政府变得越来越不稳定。政治竞争的性质也在发生变化:过去主导政党竞争和政党关系的社会经济分裂正变得不那么重要,新的突出问题已经出现,如移民、环境和欧洲一体化。我们如何解释欧洲政治的这些变化?凯瑟琳·e·德弗里斯(Catherine E. de Vries)在最近与萨拉·霍博尔特(Sara Hobolt)合著的一本书中指出,政治企业家为理解欧洲的政治变革提供了一个重要视角。
{"title":"Political change in Europe: the role of political entrepreneurs","authors":"Catherine E. De Vries","doi":"10.1080/07907184.2021.2010988","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2021.2010988","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT European democracies are undergoing major changes. The major parties of the left and the right that have dominated politics for decades are losing ground, and voting behaviour is more volatile and governments are becoming less stable. The nature of political competition is also changing: the socio-economic cleavages that used to dominate party competition and party ties are becoming less relevant, and new salient issues have emerged, such as immigration, the environment and European integration. How do we explain these changes in European politics? Drawing on a recent book co-authored with Sara Hobolt, Catherine E. de Vries argues that political entrepreneurs provide an important lens through which to understand political change in Europe.","PeriodicalId":45746,"journal":{"name":"Irish Political Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42695337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-30DOI: 10.1080/07907184.2021.2011230
June-Sun Hwang
ABSTRACT As Brexit becomes reality, concerns are growing over environmental degradation due to differences in environmental policies on both sides of the border. At the same time, post-conflict peace occupied by neoliberal ideas remains fragile. However, there is no research that explores the nexus between environmental cooperation and peacebuilding in the Irish context. To narrow this loophole, first, this essay engages with the theory of environmental peacebuilding and sheds light on the role of environmental cooperation as an instrument for peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. Then, it proposes three models for environmental peacebuilding that likely fit in the Irish context. While not singling out one most feasible model, the paper concludes that the island of Ireland already has institutional arrangements and resources to implement any of the proposed models. Building a sustainable peace requires an approach to not only facilitate good relationships between divided human communities, but also resolve the human-nature conflict.
{"title":"Building sustainable peace through environmental cooperation in the island of Ireland: modelling transboundary conservation","authors":"June-Sun Hwang","doi":"10.1080/07907184.2021.2011230","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2021.2011230","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT As Brexit becomes reality, concerns are growing over environmental degradation due to differences in environmental policies on both sides of the border. At the same time, post-conflict peace occupied by neoliberal ideas remains fragile. However, there is no research that explores the nexus between environmental cooperation and peacebuilding in the Irish context. To narrow this loophole, first, this essay engages with the theory of environmental peacebuilding and sheds light on the role of environmental cooperation as an instrument for peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. Then, it proposes three models for environmental peacebuilding that likely fit in the Irish context. While not singling out one most feasible model, the paper concludes that the island of Ireland already has institutional arrangements and resources to implement any of the proposed models. Building a sustainable peace requires an approach to not only facilitate good relationships between divided human communities, but also resolve the human-nature conflict.","PeriodicalId":45746,"journal":{"name":"Irish Political Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48553029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/07907184.2021.1975433
M. Lewis-Beck, S. Quinlan
ABSTRACT At face, Ireland's economy had staged a remarkable recovery by 2020 since the devastating impact of the Global Financial Crisis. The economy was the fastest growing in Europe, unemployment had reached record lows, and Ireland's debt was back to its lowest level since 2009. The traditional economic voting model assumes voters punish outgoing governments for poor economic performance by voting against them but rewards incumbents for a sound economy by voting for them. Nevertheless, Irish voters delivered a stunning rebuke to the Fine Gael government in 2020, registering an incumbent administration's sixth-worst performance since 1932, raising questions about the applicability of the economic vote. Using the 2020 Irish National Election Study, our contribution unpacks this apparent puzzle. We uncover that macroeconomic conditions were less rosy than at first sight, a pattern recognised by voters. We find the economic vote was alive and well, with voter economic perceptions, and their views on income redistribution (and taxes/spending) having a potent effect on the vote. Brexit, as an economic issue, however, was not influential in shaping the vote. The Fine Gael challenge, and the answer to the conundrum, was most voters perceived the economy was lackluster and the government was on the wrong side of economic policy preferences of most voters.
{"title":"Brexit and prosperity but defeat: the economic vote conundrum in the 2020 Irish election","authors":"M. Lewis-Beck, S. Quinlan","doi":"10.1080/07907184.2021.1975433","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2021.1975433","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT At face, Ireland's economy had staged a remarkable recovery by 2020 since the devastating impact of the Global Financial Crisis. The economy was the fastest growing in Europe, unemployment had reached record lows, and Ireland's debt was back to its lowest level since 2009. The traditional economic voting model assumes voters punish outgoing governments for poor economic performance by voting against them but rewards incumbents for a sound economy by voting for them. Nevertheless, Irish voters delivered a stunning rebuke to the Fine Gael government in 2020, registering an incumbent administration's sixth-worst performance since 1932, raising questions about the applicability of the economic vote. Using the 2020 Irish National Election Study, our contribution unpacks this apparent puzzle. We uncover that macroeconomic conditions were less rosy than at first sight, a pattern recognised by voters. We find the economic vote was alive and well, with voter economic perceptions, and their views on income redistribution (and taxes/spending) having a potent effect on the vote. Brexit, as an economic issue, however, was not influential in shaping the vote. The Fine Gael challenge, and the answer to the conundrum, was most voters perceived the economy was lackluster and the government was on the wrong side of economic policy preferences of most voters.","PeriodicalId":45746,"journal":{"name":"Irish Political Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45574100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/07907184.2021.1974717
Colm D. Walsh, Johan A. Elkink
ABSTRACT Ireland is a setting where citizens’ assemblies (CAs) have played a prominent role, driving considerable policy change and impactful referendum initiatives. Irish citizens are therefore particularly likely to be aware of the potential of such deliberative processes. We examine citizen’s support for political reforms towards more deliberation, as well as their potential willingness to engage. We find that support and participation are driven by citizens who are dissatisfied with the regime, or who are particularly likely to be politically engaged. While the former tend to support most types of political reforms, the latter are in particular driven towards more deliberative modes of politics. Our findings furthermore suggest that participation rates in CAs will be lower among some cohorts of society than others and correlated with factors such as education, political interest, and perceived corruption.
{"title":"The dissatisfied and the engaged: citizen support for citizens’ assemblies and their willingness to participate","authors":"Colm D. Walsh, Johan A. Elkink","doi":"10.1080/07907184.2021.1974717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2021.1974717","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Ireland is a setting where citizens’ assemblies (CAs) have played a prominent role, driving considerable policy change and impactful referendum initiatives. Irish citizens are therefore particularly likely to be aware of the potential of such deliberative processes. We examine citizen’s support for political reforms towards more deliberation, as well as their potential willingness to engage. We find that support and participation are driven by citizens who are dissatisfied with the regime, or who are particularly likely to be politically engaged. While the former tend to support most types of political reforms, the latter are in particular driven towards more deliberative modes of politics. Our findings furthermore suggest that participation rates in CAs will be lower among some cohorts of society than others and correlated with factors such as education, political interest, and perceived corruption.","PeriodicalId":45746,"journal":{"name":"Irish Political Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41958523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/07907184.2021.1980651
L. Keenan, Mary C. Brennan
ABSTRACT Ireland is the first country in the world to apply a legislative gender quota under an STV electoral system. Since 2016, the quota has required parties to ensure that at least thirty percent of their candidates running in the general election are women. Due to the nature of the electoral system, namely that it is candidate-centred, the impact of the quota has the potential to be limited if voter bias is present among the electorate. While the initial gains from the quota’s first election in 2016 were maintained at the 2020 general election, with one more woman elected to Dáil Éireann, the headline figures may be misleading. In this earthquake election, a significant number of high-profile women from across the political spectrum lost their seats, while male colleagues retained theirs, suggesting that female candidates may have been evaluated differently from their male counterparts. Using self-reported voter attitudes from the 2020 Irish National Election Study, we investigate whether there is an underlying bias against women amongst voters. We test whether such a bias has an impact on the share of women running and the share of women winning, as well as individual women’s level of electoral success. Overall, we find no evidence that voter bias affected outcomes for women at the 2020 Irish general election.
{"title":"Are Irish voters biased against female candidates? Evidence from the 2020 general election","authors":"L. Keenan, Mary C. Brennan","doi":"10.1080/07907184.2021.1980651","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2021.1980651","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Ireland is the first country in the world to apply a legislative gender quota under an STV electoral system. Since 2016, the quota has required parties to ensure that at least thirty percent of their candidates running in the general election are women. Due to the nature of the electoral system, namely that it is candidate-centred, the impact of the quota has the potential to be limited if voter bias is present among the electorate. While the initial gains from the quota’s first election in 2016 were maintained at the 2020 general election, with one more woman elected to Dáil Éireann, the headline figures may be misleading. In this earthquake election, a significant number of high-profile women from across the political spectrum lost their seats, while male colleagues retained theirs, suggesting that female candidates may have been evaluated differently from their male counterparts. Using self-reported voter attitudes from the 2020 Irish National Election Study, we investigate whether there is an underlying bias against women amongst voters. We test whether such a bias has an impact on the share of women running and the share of women winning, as well as individual women’s level of electoral success. Overall, we find no evidence that voter bias affected outcomes for women at the 2020 Irish general election.","PeriodicalId":45746,"journal":{"name":"Irish Political Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48741114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}