1st Edition

New Parties in Government In Power for the First Time

Edited By Kris Deschouwer Copyright 2008
    224 Pages 9 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    224 Pages 9 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Party literature is largely focused on the rise and success of new parties and their effects on party systems and older parties. This book, on the other hand, provides a valuable and original addition to such literature by analyzing what happens to a party when it enters government for the first time.

    Leading contributors assess how these parties, whether old or new, change when entering government by answering a set of questions:

    • How and why has their role changed?
    • What are the consequences of change?
    • What explains the evolution from principled opposition to loyal opposition and eventually to participation in the executive?
    • Which characteristics of the parties can be held responsible?
    • Which characteristics of the parties’ context should be brought into the picture?
    • What have been the effects of the status change on party organization, party ideology and electoral results?

    Covering a wide range of European parties such as the Finish Greens, right wing parties (FN, Lega Nord and Alleanza Nazionale) and new parties in Italy , The Netherlands and Sweden to name a few; this book will be of particular interest to scholars and students concerned with party systems, political parties and comparative politics.

    Chapter 1: Newly governing parties: a framework for analysis

    Kris Deschouwer

    Chapter 2: Moving from movement to government: the transformation of the Finnish Greens

    Jan Sundberg (University of Helsinki) and Niklas Wilhelmsson (University of Helsinki

    Chapter 3: Green parties between office and opposition in Sweden and New Zealand

    Tim Bale (Sussex University), Torbjörn Bergman (Umea University) and Nicholas Aylott (Umea University)

    Chapter 4: New parties between votes, office and policy

    Nicole Bolleyer (European University Institute)

    Chapter 5: Outsider parties in government: explaining change in Front National, Lega Nord and Alleanza Nazionale primary goals

    Joan Hillebrand Neumiller (University of Minnesota)

    Chapter 6: Newly governing parties in Italy: comparing the PDS-DS, Lega Nord and Forza

    Piero Ignazi (Universita di Bologna) and Jonathan Hopkin (London School of Economics and Political Science)

    Chapter 7: The short road to power, and the long way back: Newly governing parties in the Netherlands

    Paul Lucardie (Universiteit Groningen), Alena Kantoriva (Universiteit Leiden) & Christian-Pierre Ghillebaert (Université de Lille)

    Chapter 8: Include, exclude of co-opt: How political parties affect public opinion towards new minorities in Western Europe

    Elisabeth Ivarsflaten (Oxford University)

    Chapter 9: Are the Greens still different. Comparing the participation in government of green parties in France, England and Sweden

    Guillaume Duseigneur (Université de Lille)

    Chapter 10: Independents in government: a case-study of Ireland

    Liam Weeks (Trinity College Dublin)

    Chapter 11: The electoral fate of newly governing parties

    Jo Buelens (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Airo Hino (Essex University)

    Chapter 12: Conclusion

    Kris Deschouwer (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

    Biography

    Kris Deschouwer is Professor of politics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.

    "Recommended.  General readers and students of all levels." -- CHOICE, Jan 2009 Vol. 46 No. 05