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Proposal to reconstiture the Workers party, introduction by Proinsias De Rossa, Workers Party President.

On the basis of an extensive analysis of the party literature of three extreme-right parties, the paradox of the anti-party party is studied. Two types of anti-party sentiments are distinguished: extremist and populist. The first type holds a rejection of the political party per se and seems to have gone out of vogue. The second type holds a critique of certain parties either on the basis of their policies or their behaviour. It is these sentiments that are (omni)present, in different interlinked themes, in the literature of extreme-right parties. They serve, on the one hand, to help them to profit from the existing anti-party sentiments at the mass level and, on the other hand, to help them present themselves in a positive manner, by self-defining the party as the opposite of the other parties. It is thus that the paradox of the anti-party parties can exist.

In common with most other mass democratic parties the Conservative party has a large group of active members who sustain the party over time. A model is developed to explain variations in activism within the party, which takes account of the 'paradox of participation'. The results, based on the first national random sample survey of Conservative party members, show that activism is motivated by three classes of factors. Activism is motivated, firstly, by a variety of selective incentives, such as ambitions for elective office. It is motivated, secondly, by a desire for the party to achieve policy goals. These are 'collective goods', which are subject to the problem of free-riding. However, since activists can influence policy outcomes, via their contacts with party leaders, they have high levels of personal efficacy and a direct incentive to participate, which can override the paradox of participation. Finally, activism is motivated by expressive concerns, as measured by the strength of the respondent's partisanship, a motivation for involvement which lies outside a narrowly cast rational choice model of political participation.

Analayses an original Brazilian contribution, the Workers' Party, to the politics of the Left--a party which in its brief lifetime has established an independent organisation and a solid national presence. As the transition to a parliamentary system gathers pace, the new Brazilian Left faces the dual challenge of overcoming traditions of workerism and liberalism and of making a durable imprint on the process of political change. (Abstract amended)

One of the social and political changes that post-materialist theory anticipated was the need for the democratic deepening of political institutions in modern democracies. This change in political values would mean that, together with an expansion in post-materialist values, parties would be pushed towards an alternative view of politics which would mean greater assimilation of democratic procedures. This paper tests the validity of this explanation in four European party systems. Specifically, it aims to ascertain if most post-materialist parties (the Greens) display a significantly better position in their support for democracy and voter representation than other parties, as post-materialist theory leads us to believe. It also tests whether the explanation for higher levels of party representation is related to post-materialist party features. The findings of this research do not show enough evidence to validate the literature"s theoretical expectations. ; Entre outras mudanças sociais e políticas, a teoria pós-materialista antecipou a necessidade de aprofundamento democrático das instituições políticas nas democracias modernas. Esta mudança nos valores políticos significaria que os partidos, a par do crescimento dos valores pós-materialistas, seriam levados a adoptar uma perspectiva alternativa sobre a política que implicaria uma maior assimilação dos procedimentos democráticos. Este paper pretende testar a validade desta explicação em quatro sistemas partidários europeus. Visa, especificamente, confirmar se os partidos mais pós-materialistas (os Verdes) detêm uma posição significativamente melhor no que respeita ao apoio à democracia e à representação dos seus eleitores, por comparação aos outros partidos, como a teoria pós-materialista sugere. Pretende ainda verificar se a explicação de níveis mais elevados de representação partidária está relacionada com características partidárias pós-materialistas. Os resultados da pesquisa não fornecem evidência suficiente que permita validar estas expectativas teóricas.