The political party system 1

The main goal of this article is to highlight the Lithuanian political party system of legal regulation of formation of traditions and the disclosure of the legal framework in 1919–1940. This article discusses examination of the development of Lithuanian party system and identifies common patterns.The research is focused on the analysis of the legal regulation of the system of Lithuanian political party. The author discusses legal and historical issues and takes no notice of the issue of political considerations. The author also discusses the historical and political circumstances, which prompted the current legal framework, examines the influence of party system evolution of the statehood of Lithuania and the development of constitutionalism.There are a few authors, who made some researches on a few legal issues, e.g., in the monograph by Professor M. Romeris (“Lietuvos konstitucinės teisės paskaitos”, 1937), the development of political regime and its influence on the political party system was discussed. His monograph “Reprezentacija ir mandatas” (1926) studied the legal regulation of election and its influence of representation of citizenships in the government of the country. One of the most relevant to the subject of the research studies was conducted by E. Šileikis (“Politinių partijų instucionalizavimas”, 1997), where he presented the historical development of regulation of political parties in Lithuania and outlined the significance of modern political parties more extensively. In J. Bulavas’ monograph (“Rinkimai ir ‘tautos atstovavimas’ buržuazinėje Lietuvoje”, 1956), the legal status of political parties, military and emergency and high-security conditions in Lithuania during the interwar period were analyzed. His monograph „Klasės ir politinės partijos Lietuvoje 1919-1926 metais“ (1978) studied the legal regulation of the political parties in the independent Lithuania.This article analyzes the normative legal acts of the independence period of Lithuania, which have regulated the formation of political parties, the legal framework of their activities and meetings. These normative legal acts’ influence on the formation of the political party system of Lithuania is discussed. The research is made on the legalization process of illegal organizations and political parties. It pays attention to the changes of legal regulation of political parties and its dependence on the regime. Moreover, the article compares legal regulation in different periods of development of the regime of the Republic of Lithuania in 1918–1940. Furthermore, the comparison of the changes of legal regulation within the periods of 1918–1926 (the period of the democratic regime) and 1926–1940 (the period of the undemocratic regime) is made.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the political parties and party system in Korea and provide a basic analysis for comparative study among the Asian countries. First, I would explain the distinguishing characteristics of the political parties and party system in Korea. I will then show how this system evolved by using the concept of the cartel party and cartelized party system. Finally, the kind of measures that have been introduced to improve democracy and party politics will be discussed. Whether these efforts are working or not will be addressed from the perspectives of the two different party models.The nature of the political system in Korea can be gleaned by examining three main aspects of the cartelized party system, namely, national subsidies, electoral system, and entry barriers against new or minor parties. After an examination of some of the institutions of the cartelized party system in Korea, the Korean party system may be deemed, by and large, to be moving towards a plural competitive system, one that is more accommodating of new or minor parties.

This chapter discusses political parties and party systems, which form a crucial aspect of a modern representative democracy. The origins and natures of political parties, including their functions and organizations, are explained. Party systems govern the dynamics between parties and are considered as the mechanism to represent divergent interests in the society. How are social cleavages related to political parties? A measure of party system, the Effective Number of Political Parties, is introduced. Figures for Hong Kong are provided for comparative research. Finally, this chapter ends with an account on the decline on the importance and role of parties in the current era, accompanied by a discussion on this idea’s relevance to Hong Kong.

Political party systems are an important element of political systems in Africa and elsewhere. They form the central intermediate institution between the general population and the government. Party systems represent and aggregate diverse political views and group interests, and they form coalitions that then form governments with potentially important consequences of democracy and political stability. Unlike the case in the period directly after independence, African party systems have been overwhelmingly multiparty since the 1990s. As a result, the literature has grown significantly, although most works focus on political parties rather than party systems. Many efforts have been devoted to classification, referring to the legal context as well as, more specifically, the number of relevant parties, the levels of institutionalization, and, less often, the degree of ideological or other polarization. While levels of institutionalization and ideological differences are generally not pronounced, more than half of African party systems have been one-party dominant, of which most are authoritarian. In contrast, two-party and pluralist-party systems, which make up approximately one half of all multiparty systems, are generally more democratic. Besides determining classifications, most analytical work focuses on the determinants of African party systems using quantitative and qualitative as well as macro- and micro-level methodologies. Three determinants are debated: first, ethnicity, which has been cited as the main social cleavage behind African party systems; however, while ethnicity matters, its effects vary and are limited; second, political institutions, especially electoral systems for legislative elections, which only partly explain fragmentation or other features; third, the performance of political parties and rationalist approaches. Scholars largely agree that all of these elements need to be taken into account. While certain functions of party systems may facilitate democratization and political stability or other outcomes, little empirical work exists on the consequences of party systems. Some evidence suggests that highly institutionalized, moderately fragmented, and polarized systems promote democracy. Future research faces many challenges, in particular the development of integrated theory and more fine-grained data, as well as an increased focus on the consequences of party systems.

In this paper, I first provide an idealized functional account of political parties and party systems. I argue that parties are difficult to regulate constitutionally because of their Janus-faced public-private character. The key function they perform, when functioning as they ought to function, is to facilitate a mutually responsive relationship between public policy and popular opinion by acting as an intermediary between a state and its people. They perform this intermediary function in a unique manner, because of their bi-directionality and their plenary character. When they perform this function effectively, political parties significantly reduce four key information and transaction costs which would otherwise make democratic governance impossible: political participation costs, voters’ information costs, policy packaging costs, and ally prediction costs. This idealised account helps us identify pathological parties and party-systems and ground four principles that constitutions should seek to optimise in relation to political parties. The second part of this paper outlines and defends these four principles. Here I argue that state constitutions: i. should guarantee maximum autonomy for the formation, organisation, and operation of political parties, moderated by the restrictions necessitated by their purpose of winning (a share in) state power (for fixed terms) in competitive elections by acting as intermediaries between the state and its people (the ‘purposive autonomy principle’); ii. should try to optimise the party system such that the total number of serious political parties is large enough to broadly represent every major ‘voter type’, but not so large that the information costs on judicious voters are too high (the ‘party system optimality principle’); iii. should ensure a separation of parties and the state (the ‘party-state separation principle’); and iv. should discourage the factionalization of political parties (the ‘anti-faction principle’). These political principles are drawn from the value of democracy itself. They are likely to bring real world political parties and party systems closer to their idealised form, thereby improving and deepening democratic governance. As such, they should—alongside other relevant political and constitutional norms—inform fundamental constitutional design choices.

Political Parties in Constitutional Theory

The article examines the peculiarities of the formation and development of multiparty system in the regions at the present stage of Russia’s political development. The article analyzes the processes of transformation of the Russian party system in the context of systematic changes in the mechanisms of legislative regulation of their party and political activities. The aim of the study is to determine the degree of influence of the regional party system on the exercise of political power in Russian regions. This is necessary to determine the main directions for improving the system of party legislation in the process of establishing a new political system. Conclusions. As a result of the conducted research, a number of unresolved contradictions in the formation and development of the modern Russian regional party system have been identified. These contradictions do not allow this type of party system to achieve the level of influence that would give them the opportunity to really and effectively participate in the current political process. It can be argued that the party systems that have developed today in the regions are lagging behind in their development in comparison with the all-Russian party system. The author concludes that in order to change the current situation, it is necessary to improve the quality of representation from political parties in regional and municipal authorities. In order for political parties in the regions to articulate the interests and needs of various social groups, they must have the necessary power resources in making decisions on the leadership and management of the region. One of such ways to increase the level of influence of the regional party system is, in the author’s opinion, the reform of party legislation in the direction of creating broader opportunities, both for creating parties of different political spectrum and for increasing their power capabilities.

This chapter describes the foundation, evolution, organization, and societal connections of Portugal’s main political parties, and reviews the main cleavages and lines of competition of the party system. It argues that Portugal is home to an institutionalized, consolidated, and nationalized party system of moderate pluralism, and that Portuguese parties have an electoral-professional organization with relatively weak roots in society. These features make the Portuguese party system stand out when compared to other third wave democracies, where party systems are generally less stable, more fragmented, and in which political parties include organizations that are less durable and professionalized than in older democracies. Perhaps surprisingly, the Portuguese party system closely resembles party systems in other Western European countries, where democracy was consolidated much earlier than in Portugal.

In this paper, I explore the relationship between organized crime and the features of political party systems, particularly countries that underwent economic and political transition. The paper argues that during periods retreat from authoritarian rule, when the state is weakened and when economic hardships occur, there are mutually beneficial connections made between organized crime groups and political parties – parties need voter support and money, and organized crime needs stable partners who can provide access to patronage, and protection from “legal” authorities. Further, even after “transition” these relationship leave a collaborative legacy. I suggest that this relationship will affect features of the party system particularly reducing the number of political parties. Using data from 39 post-communist and Latin American countries from 1985-2017, the results indicate that higher the level of organized crime’s penetration of political parties the fewer political parties, as expected by the theory.

In this article, I explore the nature of party systems that have emerged in Africa in the wake of the adoption of democratic political systems after 1990. Although political parties help shape core democratic processes and institutions, parties and party systems have received relatively scant attention in the scholarly literature on democratization in Africa. I argue that party systems in most African countries are built on quite a different foundation from the one that undergirds both advanced industrial democracies and the theories about party systems generated by their experiences. I assess the strengths and limitations of the comparative literature on party system development in the light of African experiences, and argue for a more critical examination of concepts from that literature that have been widely used to assess the prospects and progress of party system institutionalization, including pluralism, system fragmentation and volatility.

This paper is a critical analysis of the model of organization of power, which intends to prove that the traditional dichotomy parliamentary - presidential system has a relative methodological value in view of the character of the contemporary organization of power models. The Macedonian organization of power model is no exception to this statement. The political system is not determined only by the constitutional framework. It is also determined by the (un)democratic tradition, the model of political culture, the electoral and party system. In this sense, the same normative model works differently in different countries or different periods of development of the same political system. This is especially evident in the relations between Parliament and Government. The dominance of the executive government is not characteristic only of the organization of power model in the Republic of Macedonia, it is a global tendency as well. In that sense, the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia shares the “fate” of the representative bodies in the contemporary parliamentary system. However, in the absence of a democratic tradition, the presence of subject political culture, strong elements of partocracy and party state, fragile and fragmented civil society and weak general public, the dominance of the executive over the legislative government acquires dramatic dimensions.

The purpose of the article consists of complex research political and administrative aspects of the influence of the political system and activity of political parties on the forming of democratic principles of community development. During research uses on the complex of logical methods, in particular, comparatively-political, abstractly logical, and also scientific approaches: comparatively and bibliographic. In the article, complex research is presented politiсal-administrative aspects of the influence of the political system and activity of political parties on forming of democratic principles of community development. It is noticed that the determining line of the functioning of any political system is its interconnectedness with other subsystems of society, that is why national features have a degree of its democratizes and becoming a problem, and a method of functioning of power is the determining criterion of typologies of the political systems. Therefore at the research of influence of the political system on forming of democratic principles of community development, in particular, it is necessary to examine the aggregate of political institutes, relations and political and legal relations, which public relations are regulated by, viability and efficiency of functioning of that or other are provided as a system influence of which on development of the indicated principles is provided an implementation of its functions (normatively regulatory, informatively communicative et al). Is it set that becoming of the democratic system of public management in Ukraine remains foreground job of nowadays and factors which brake indicated becoming are at the same time selected, among which, in particular, disunity national elite, weakness of political institutes, political corruption. It allowed to come to the conclusion, that success of decision of this task on the domestic walks of life substantially depends on the combination of advantages of conservative and democratic types of acceptance and realization political-administrative decisions, which are examined as the quintessence of satisfaction of political requirements of individuals, task forces, and others like that in the process of adjusting of social relations. Taking into account its attention is accented on importance of prevailing foremost of state character in the activity of political parties, as main subjects of forming of political space, institutes of the state and optimization, politicaladministrative processes, what in Ukraine is not observed, that is the main factor of low efficiency of mechanism of responsibility of political power before electors. The scientific novelty of the article consists of execution complex research politiсal-administrative aspects of the influence of the political system and activity of political parties on forming democratic principles of community development. Practical meaningfulness of the article is related to the possibility of the subsequent use of its materials in an educational process and research secret services at research political-administrative aspects of the influence of the political system and activity of political parties on becoming of the modern system of democratic governance in Ukraine in the context of found out factors which generate considerable difficulties in relation to becoming of the indicated system on the domestic walks of life.

This is the third of three chapters on political party systems and structures of competition, and presents an overall review. In the first section, Approaches to the Classification of Party Systems: A Review it looks at the principal existing approaches to the classification of party systems, pointing to both their limits and possibilities when applied within comparative analysis. It then goes on in the second section, Party Systems and the Competition for Government, to underline the importance of understanding the structure of competition in any given party system, since in many ways the whole notion of a party system is centred on the assumption that there exists a stable structure of competition. Structures of competition can be seen to be either closed (and predictable) or open (and unpredictable), depending on the patterns of alternation in government, the degree of innovation or persistence in processes of government formation, and the range of parties gaining access to government. The emphasis in the third section, Party Systems and Electoral Outcomes, is on the need to distinguish between processes of electoral change on the one hand, and changes in party systems and the structures of competition on the other, a distinction which also allows the possibility of situations in which electoral change is the consequence rather than the cause of party system change.

This chapter sets out to analyse political parties in Central America within the context of the multiple, rapid and as yet inconclusive transitions affecting the region in the 1990s.1 Due emphasis is placed on the particularities and differences which have characterised the development of each country (historical, cultural, political and economic) as well as their external relations. By recognising these differences, the significant continuities and similarities between the party systems in each country can be identified. Lastly, a critical comparison of the current state of political parties in Central America is provided.KeywordsPolitical PartyPolitical SystemElectoral ProcessParty SystemArmed GroupThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the lack of political willingness in Nigeria as a challenge to combating fraud among public employees. This study is a qualitative approach. The sources of data collection involve government reports, newspapers and interviews. In all, 12 participants were employed for the study. The study found that a lack of political willingness in Nigeria shows a persistent challenge to combat fraud. Our findings suggest that (1) political intervention, (2) party system or political party and (3) lack of commitment from the government make fraudulent practices in Nigerian public sector (NPS) perennial. Thus, it has hindered the effort to combat fraud in NPS. This study has practical implications for regulators (like CBN), and anti-corruption bodies such as EFCC, ICPC, AMCON, and CCB. The study could perhaps redirect their efforts and eases the way of mitigating fraudulent practices in Nigeria's public sector. The study also has an academic contribution to the body of knowledge and inFraudsight to the literature. This paper is original and unique in its form and has the value on fraud prevention, detection of corruption, combating the contemporary fraud cases in the Nigerian public sector, and useful to those who might cherish its standing.