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Wednesday 23 April 2014 14.00 - 16.00
ZB-3 POL13 Political Parties in Transition
Hörsaal 26 basement
Network: Politics, Citizenship, and Nations Chair: Nuno Severiano Teixeira
Organizers: - Discussant: Jose Reis Santos
Herwig De Lannoy : The Nationalization of Politics. Analysis on the Local Level of the Process of Nationalization of Politics in Belgium (1830-1976)
Increasing the homogeneity of support across the nation – party nationalization – is a key concern to political parties in democracies. All of the types of parties were defined with respect to the national level of government. These models of party organization have been generally accepted among the scientific world. ... (Show more)
Increasing the homogeneity of support across the nation – party nationalization – is a key concern to political parties in democracies. All of the types of parties were defined with respect to the national level of government. These models of party organization have been generally accepted among the scientific world. A fundamental research of the accuracy of these models on the level of the local governance has not been made. The study of ‘party nationalization’ is a young topic in the field of political party research. It investigates the regional heterogeneity of political parties and the process of nationalization of politics: political cleavages, parties and party systems. ‘Nationalization’ stands for the homogeneity of parties’ electoral support across regions, or the absence of regional differences in the cleavages and the party system. The building of nationwide electoral alignments and party organizations increased the responsiveness of single personalities and therefore nationalization is a central element in the formation of a political and democratic citizenship.

In previous studies, party nationalization was only seen as a consequence of centralization of government activities: concentration of power at the national level of government gives incentives to form national political organizations. The transformation of political cleavages and the nationalization of parties and party systems was not only a result of the general integration of societies, but also as the product of the actions of parties themselves and of their competitive behavior, which led them to spread across territorial barriers. The level of party nationalization has a prominent effect on such important factors as the survival of democracy, the types of issues that dominate political competition, legislative behavior and public policy. In spite of its importance, party nationalization has been neglected in the comparative politics literature before 2004. In his study ‘The Nationalization of Politics’ (2004) Daniele Caramani tried to describe and explain the formation over the last 150 years of nationwide electoral alignments, party systems, and cleavage constellations in Western Europe. Despite this research, there is no comprehensive historical work on the party system nor do there exist any organic, institutional studies of the parties and their ‘form’ or changing internal structure on the local-governmental level.

Much has been written on the Belgian parties, mainly from the point of view of the national political level. This presentation provides an empirical analysis for a period of about 150 years in one country, Belgium, with the focus on one middle great city: Mechelen, the residence of the archbishop of Belgium since 1559, the sixth city of Belgium in 1830 with 23.300 inhabitants and the fifth of Flanders in 1976, with 78.500 inhabitants. The goal is to reconstruct the territorial structures of electoral participation and support for political parties (the Liberals, the Catholics, the Socialists and the Nationalists), as well as their evolution since the mid-nineteenth century from highly territorialized politics of early competitive elections toward nationwide alignments. (Show less)

Anders Forsell : The Local Origins of Political Parties
The general aim of this paper is to explore the local perspective as a way to understand general development of democratization and political development. This paper will argue that more attention to the local level of government will provide to a more complex and therefore a more complete understanding of ... (Show more)
The general aim of this paper is to explore the local perspective as a way to understand general development of democratization and political development. This paper will argue that more attention to the local level of government will provide to a more complex and therefore a more complete understanding of the processes of political modernization. This is especial the case of local politics in Sweden, which of ideological reason, captured in the notion of the Swedish “Folkhem”, often is regarded as highly un-political and lack of conflicts. This paper will argue that this is highly questionable empirical, even for the formative democratic period in Swedish history of democratization, ca 1880-1920, and that new insights in the processes could be gained through the investigation of the local formation of political parties.
Through two case studies, of two small towns, this paper will investigate how political parties were formed and shaped by local leaders and activists. This paper will argue that local conflicts, between local elites and about local issues, both informed and shaped the early parties in Sweden. The theoretical claim in the paper is that we need local knowledge to understand the complicated process of party-formation. Most theories on party-formation are from a top-down perspective, but this paper would argue that this is a highly one-sided way to understand party-formation process, and the process of democratic development. In the end, this paper argues, most theories of party-formation, can’t explain party-formation properly, and that we need to see these processes as complicated and involving both national leaders and local elites and activists. The study will demonstrate that a perspective, which would connect the macro-and micro levels, is needed for a proper understanding of processes of democratization and political development.
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Zuzana Polackova, Pieter van Duin : Between Socialism and Nationalism: The „Nationalisation“ of Slovak and Hungarian Social Democracy, 1890-1914.
Between Socialism and Nationalism: The „Nationalisation“ of Slovak and Hungarian Social Democracy, 1890-1914.
Although rhetorically and ideologically the Hungarian multi-ethnic socialist movement was always an „international(ist)“ one, in reality the different ethno-national groups of the broader movement became increasingly focused on the meaning and practical implications of their respective national identities. ... (Show more)
Between Socialism and Nationalism: The „Nationalisation“ of Slovak and Hungarian Social Democracy, 1890-1914.
Although rhetorically and ideologically the Hungarian multi-ethnic socialist movement was always an „international(ist)“ one, in reality the different ethno-national groups of the broader movement became increasingly focused on the meaning and practical implications of their respective national identities. This paper looks at the Slovak case in particular, although this can only be understood in the context of ethnic-Hungarian domination in the movement and the policy of assimilation of the non-Magyar nationalities in multinational Hungary. However, in addition to the factor of „national defence“ of Slovak culture and identity vis-à-vis the Hungarians, there was arguably also a second factor underlying the process of Slovak social democratic „nationalisation“. This was the emergence of modern national consciousness among the Slovak social democratic leaders as well as the Slovak rank-and-file. This probably would have happened even if the Magyarisation policy had been less brutal. The paper will attempt to answer the intriguing question how far national consciousness within the Slovak social democratic movement was the result of growing national antagonism, and to what extent it may have arisen as an immanent process. To answer this question a concrete analysis must be made of cultural and national issues as reported in the social democratic press and as articulated in the changing policy of the Slovak social democratic leadership.
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Vit Simral : Financing Political Competition in the Czech Lands, 1907-1938
Funding is one of the most significant, but also the least transparent part of political activity. Even though in the Czech lands, mass party politics emerged already in the second half of the 19th century, the issue of how the politics was funded has never been given much attention in ... (Show more)
Funding is one of the most significant, but also the least transparent part of political activity. Even though in the Czech lands, mass party politics emerged already in the second half of the 19th century, the issue of how the politics was funded has never been given much attention in the academic literature. The present paper addresses this gap by focusing on the development of the legal framework regulating political finances in the Czech lands between 1907 and 1938 and its impact on the then-existing national party systems. The first part gives a general overview of the different party regulations and funding laws as they were successively in force in the Austro-Hungarian and Czechoslovak state, respectively, and compares them with other European cases. The legal, cultural and political sources of the successive legal frameworks are profiled. In the second part, the Austro-Hungarian era is described in detail, with particular attention on how party regulations influenced the development of party systems in Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia and how the gradual enfranchisement of masses transformed the style of political campaigning and its financing. Specific long-term links between parties and their respective donors are noted and traced from the Cisleithanian to the Czechoslovak regime. The third part focuses on parties in the political system of the First Czechoslovak Republic and on the major financing scandals that plagued the party system. New findings from original archival research, that show the ‘shady’ face of the Czechoslovak politics, are presented. The concurrent development in Slovakia and in Carpathian Ruthenia is also discussed. In the final part, the paper is concluded with a review of the major characteristics of the Czech system of political funding between 1907 and 1938. (Show less)

Keviuya Sote : Political Consciousness, Nationalism, and the Emergence of Political Parties: the Case of Nagaland
Formation of political parties were mostly either movements for independence or groups of urban elites, notables and professionals, dependent mainly on the upper and middle classes, whose main function was to deal with rulers for certain benefits or to secure public offices.
Nagaland, one of the smallest states of the ... (Show more)
Formation of political parties were mostly either movements for independence or groups of urban elites, notables and professionals, dependent mainly on the upper and middle classes, whose main function was to deal with rulers for certain benefits or to secure public offices.
Nagaland, one of the smallest states of the Indian union located in the North East region of the country (India), a strife-torn state; also experience more or less the same political transition. Having a unique history, the state has the presence of one of the oldest insurgent groups in India and at the same time, fosters one of the oldest regional political parties present in the country. It is in this context, the study of the emergence of political parties in the state becomes crucial. Though there had been many researches done on the Nagas’ struggle for independence, and ample literatures on the Naga nationalist movement, not much research linking the historical developments and the nationalist movement with the growth or emergence of political parties in the state, had been carried out, in its specificity.
Thus, this paper is an attempt to delineate the historical backdrop of the formation of political parties in Nagaland which is very much related to the Naga nationalist movement. Thus, the importance of examining the political history of the state holds a key position in understanding the political transition that shaped the future course of party politics. Political parties emerged as regionalist forces that took the form of a regional political party; a party that propagates the ideology of regionalism or thrives on regional pride. These regional political parties emerged as a distinct political force in the state. The paper aspires to discuss the emergence of regionalist forces under three heads: 1. Modernisation of Naga society under the British Raj and the impact of the 1st World War and; 2. Naga Nationalist movement: the moderates and the extremist; 3. Statehood (province) and the rise of modern politics.
To adequately examine the political changes and developments that paved way for the emergence of political parties in the state, it is, first, necessary to delve into the emergence of political consciousness and the construction of Naga identity carried out by the Naga intellectuals and elites during the period. This paper will extensively analyse the role and formation of the various organisations in the pre-statehood period that form as a basis for the creation of political parties and the beginning of electoral politics which marked a watershed in the political history of the Nagas.

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