Suchergebnisse

Examines results in elections to the lower house of parliament, focusing on loss of power to form coalition strategy by the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and further gains by the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), which displaced the People's Party (ÖVP) as the second strongest party at the national level.

This article explores party strategies in situations where a plebiscitary instrument - the initiative - allows citizens to get a bill on the agenda of parliament. The initiative is a unique means for citizens and opposition parties to attract public attention to an issue both in its pre-parliamentary and parliamentary phases. This article identifies the requirements for an initiative to be successful in terms of building new electoral alliances. While the characteristics of the issue are crucial, the instrument of the initiative, as distinct from the issue itself, has the potential to have an impact on the processes of issue competition and opinion formation. The Austrian experiences make clear how the instrument of the initiative has an in-built advantage for the party employing it.

Examines the use of plebiscites by political parties to improve the electoral position of the initiating or supporting party; based on data from two referenda and 19 initiatives, 1931-97.

This article is a case study of how one of the strongest mass parties of western democracies, the Austrian Socialist Party (SPÖ), largely replaced its mass organization with the survey method and modern means of mass communication as its major links with the general electorate. These party changes are compatible with both an `environmentalist' and a `purposive-action' interpretation. However, party adaptation to environmental changes did not occur automatically, as implied by the `environmentalist' approach. Rather, each innovation met resistance and was introduced only belatedly or half-heartedly. The most elaborate `purposive-action' theory of party change (Harmel and Janda, 1994) fits well with the case of the SPÖ's organizational modernization. Leadership change, change of the dominant faction and external shocks exhaust the factors required to explain party organization change. On the basis of this case study leadership change is considered as the single most important factor.