Suchergebnisse

This article focuses on the participation of party members in intra-party elections and on explanations for this behaviour. The number of intra-party elections is increasing, but their study remains an under-researched phenomenon in contemporary party politics. I test whether participation theories applicable to participation in society also obtain in intra-party elections. The theories tested are: instrumental motivation theory, mobilization theory, resource theory and participation as habit. My analysis on the individual level focuses on two particular internal elections in Belgian parties (VLD and VU) that differ in type and in the membership and ideology of the parties organizing these elections. The results largely confirm the instrumental motivation theory and participation as habit. Neither the mobilization theory nor the resource theory are supported.

The paper critically reviews the consequences of a bifurcation of Political Science and Public Administration. This divorce of two closely related academic fields has removed political explanations to key developments in the public service from Public Administration research and thus it tends to provide a partial view of the reality that it seeks to capture. There are several developments underway in the public sector, which underscore the political nature of public administration. These developments include the rise of administration politics; a growing emphasis on strategic management; governance-driven democratization and administrative micro-politics; the increasing significance of interactive and collaborative forms of governance; the rise of multilevel governance; and the development toward a more active citizenship. We find that in all of these areas, public administration research would benefit from incorporating a political science understanding of power, democracy, governance and citizenship.