Political Parties and Party Systems: Comparative Approaches and the British Experience (Electronic book text)

This introduction to the theme of political parties presents a wide variety of theoretical approaches - illustrating these ideas by applying comparative appraoches to the example of British party politics. Political Parties & Party Systems covers all the key subjects of study, including: the classification of party definitions; change in the party system; party institutionalization; models of party organization; cohesion and dissent; intraparty conflicts and legislative bargaining; multiparty conflicts and legislative bargaining and multiparty electoral competion. Moshe Maor argues that the intraparty arena is key ot the understanding of political party behaviour. Strategic decisions made by party leaders often reflect the internal conflicts with which they are confronted. This study addresses the ways in which intraparty actors solve these trade-offers and in the process how the parties' definitions of activities and motovations are constantly reinterpreted. This is a clear and accessible introduction to modern political science analysis of parties and party systems, which will be essential reading for students of British politics and party systems.