Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

In democracies, contemporary politics is party politics, and parties serve to organize the political process even as they ensure democratic representation of minority and majority policy preferences. How do they do this? In great part, as this ambitious survey shows, parties translate policy preferences into policy priorities by articulating and enacting clearly defined party platforms. There is, this international author team demonstrates, a strong connection between what parties say they will do in an election campaign and what they actually do when elected. In sum, we are shown that political parties deserve more credit than they often receive.This book addresses questions central to the operation of modern democracies and can be used to inform institutional development in emerging democracies. It is at once an ambitious summary of original research and a model text for students of comparative politics. First the theory and method are introduced. Then, ten key countries are covered in parallel detail, with the discussions proceeding from general consideration of institutional and political context and program and party trends to more specific examinations of the congruence between party programs and policy outcomes. The data for all countries and parties span the post-World War II period up to the late 1980s. The analyses employ agenda, mandate, and ideology models and expenditure analyses across key policy arenas.Because of its commitment to comparative rather than merely descriptive analysis, Parties, Policies, and Democracy offers convincing answers to basic questions about the functioning of democratic political systems. Rigorous comparative analysis of forty years' experience across ten countries demonstrates that political parties in contemporary democracies work better than critics have claimed. This is important news for emerging democracies just now establishing institutions and policies that bear watching over the next forty-year period.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Theoretical Lenses on Public Policy(p. iii)
• Preface(p. xv)
• Acknowledgments(p. xvii)
• Introduction(p. xix)
• 1 A Theory of Democratic Policymaking(p. 1)
• Summary(p. 16)
• Notes(p. 17)
• 2 A Revised View of Party Competition(p. 20)
• Conclusion(p. 35)
• 3 Measures and Models(p. 36)
• Conclusion(p. 52)
• 4 Britain(p. 55)
• Conclusion(p. 78)
• 5 Australia(p. 81)
• Conclusion(p. 93)
• 6 Canada(p. 95)
• Conclusion(p. 115)
• 7 France(p. 117)
• Conclusion(p. 133)
• 8 United States(p. 136)
• Conclusion(p. 151)
• 9 Sweden(p. 155)
• Conclusion(p. 170)
• 10 Austria(p. 172)
• Conclusion(p. 186)
• 11 Federal Republic of Germany(p. 188)
• Conclusion(p. 203)
• 12 The Netherlands(p. 206)
• Conclusion(p. 220)
• 13 Belgium(p. 222)
• Conclusion(p. 238)
• 14 (p. 240)
• Conclusion(p. 267)
• Appendix A (p. 271)
• Notes(p. 279)
• Appendix B Special Methodological Considerations(p. 280)
• Notes(p. 286)
• Appendix Tables(p. 287)
• Bibliography(p. 300)
• About the Book and Authors(p. 309)
• Index(p. 310)

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This is a must reference for serious students of comparative democratic studies. Although specialists will quibble--and justifiably so--with a number of assumptions and methodological applications offered by the authors, the book nonetheless is a tour de force in theory and social science analysis. The authors systematically explore a number of categories of national budgets (welfare, justice, defense, agriculture, housing, education, etc.) across ten countries (US, Britain, France, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Holland, Canada, Australia, and Belgium) over 40 years. Their objective is to sort out the relative contribution of issue saliency (coded from the party manifestos of all major parties in the countries), ideology, and mandate politics to the overall variance in cross-national budgetary patterns. Their findings have important implications for understanding how party politics influences policies within certain institutional settings. For instance, by relying upon Lipset and Rokkan's earlier analysis of pre- and postindustrial party ideologies, they find that mandate politics is strongest where ethnicity and religion are the basis of party cleavages, suggesting a modest refinement in our thinking of the relationship between postmaterialism and policy priorities within democracies in general. Overall, this is a work full of insight and empirical revelations, destined to be one of the most widely cited and influential works on comparative public policy produced during this decade. J. D. Robertson; Texas A&M University

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Hans-Dieter Klingemann is professor of political science at the Free University of Berlin and director of the Research Unit on Institutions and Social Change in the Science Center in Berlin. Richard I. Hofferbert is professor of political science at the State University of New York at Binghamton and recurring visiting research professor at the Science Center in Berlin. Ian Budge is professor of government at the University of Essex, Colchester. Hans-Dieter Klingemann is professor of political science at the Free University of Berlin and director of the Research Unit on Institutions and Social Change in the Science Center in Berlin. Richard I. Hofferbert is professor of political science at the State University of New York at Binghamton and recurring visiting research professor at the Science Center in Berlin. Ian Budge is professor of government at the University of Essex, Colchester. Hans-Dieter Klingemann is professor of political science at the Free University of Berlin and director of the Research Unit on Institutions and Social Change in the Science Center in Berlin. Richard I. Hofferbert is professor of political science at the State University of New York at Binghamton and recurring visiting research professor at the Science Center in Berlin. Ian Budge is professor of government at the University of Essex, Colchester.