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This article describes and examines the rural violence associated with the Unidad Popular's (UP) implementation of the Agrarian Reform in the province of Llanquihue, as well as the limits faced by the government in dealing with the situation. Th e analysis focuses on one of the most dramatic yet unknown cases from the period: the shooting death of three peasants in the "Mirador" ranch near the town of Frutillar, which was carried out by a group of landowners and members of Patria y Libertad. Despite the government's involvement in the aft ermath, nobody was found guilty due to the landowners' privileged access to the justice system. While these events occurred within the context of the country's progressive social and political radicalization, therelatively late appearance at the local level of groups specializing in the use of violence helps to explain this dramatic episode. ; El artículo describe y examina la violencia rural asociada con la implementación de la Reforma Agraria en la provincia de Llanquihue durante la Unidad Popular (UP), y los límites que enfrentó el gobierno para manejar esta situación. Se analiza uno de los casos más dramáticos y desconocidos de este periodo, como fue la balacera ocurrida en el fundo "Mirador" cerca de Frutillar, donde un grupo de agricultores y miembros de "Patria y Libertad" asesinaron a tres campesinos. A pesar de que el gobierno intervino en estos hechos, nadie sería declarado culpable, debido al acceso privilegiado de los agricultores a la Justicia formal. Estos hechos ocurrirían en un contexto de progresiva radicalización social y política en el país, mientras que a nivel local sería la tardía aparición de grupos especialistas en violencia, lo que explicaría este dramático caso.

Since the first political alternation in the early 21st century up until just before the 2018 concurrent election, the Mexican political system had consolidated its competition structure around three dominant parties; but where only the PRI and the PAN had alternated into the Executive Power. It was precisely in the 2018 elections when a landmark occurred in the trajectory of both the political and party systems with the emergence of a new left political party (MORENA) and its entry into government. This article analyzes the 2018 general election considering the evolution of political competition from two perspectives. The first one focuses on the trajectories and changes in the structure of the party system; and the second one, on the political power conformation and its effects until the last elections. The investigation concludes that the 2018 elections are the beginning of a new political cycle that consolidates a political left project through which Mexico enters into the processes of Latin American ideological transition and they show the existence of competition cycles in the party system. ; Desde la primera alternancia política a principios del sigloXXIhasta antes de la elección concurrente de 2018, el sistema político mexicano había consolidado su estructura de competencia en torno a tres partidos dominantes, pero en el que solo el PRI y el PAN se habían alternado el poder ejecutivo. Fue precisamente en las elecciones de 2018 cuando se impuso un hito en la trayectoria del sistema político y de partidos por la irrupción de un nuevo partido político de izquierda (MORENA) y su entrada al Gobierno. Este artículo analiza las elecciones generales de 2018 considerando la evolución de la competencia electoral desde dos perspectivas. La primera se centra en las trayectorias y cambios en la estructura del sistema de partidos, y la segunda en la conformación del poder y sus efectos hasta los últimos comicios. La investigación concluye que las elecciones de 2018 son el inicio de un nuevo ciclo político que consolida un proyecto de izquierda a través del que México entra los procesos de transición ideológica latinoamericanos y evidencia la existencia de ciclos de competencia en el sistema de partidos.

This article tests two propositions derived from European transitions to democracy on three countries in East Central Europe: Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. On balance, the paper finds that new party systems seem to be developing differently in postcommunist regimes than they did in Southern and Western Europe. First, the political cleavages of the pre-authoritarian period that might have re-emerged after an interruption in democratic rule did not simply `unfreeze' after the demise of communism. Second, the type of transition - whether by reform or ruptura - does not predict how ex-regime parties fared initially in East Central Europe. These findings suggest that, at least initially, the pre-authoritarian period and transition mode are likely to be less influential in shaping party systems than is the legacy of the communist authoritarian period. They also highlight the particularly destructive nature of communist rule in East Central Europe, in that it may have altered the bases of social and political life to a greater extent than did other types of authoritarian regimes.

Despite a slogan advocating a change from practices of the past, Barack Obama's presidential campaign of 2008 had an intriguing similarity to that of Richard Nixon in 1968. Like Nixon, Obama benefited from and secured victory partly due to his opposition to a contentious 'war of choice.' The wars in Vietnam and Iraq provided the political and cultural circumstances that made Nixon and Obama credible candidates in 1968 and 2008, respectively. The wars weakened support for the incumbent party and caused divisions within the country and in their own parties that both men exploited to neutralize political rivals in the primary season and defeat their opponent in the general election. This article examines the manner in which Obama, like Nixon, benefited directly from conflict by promoting his opposition and apparent solutions to gain public confidence, neutralize political opponents, and secure the presidency. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]

Sweden has been under social democratic rule for decades & is held as a model of the welfare state & full development of citizen rights. Increasing European continental integration is placing stress on the Swedish system as evidenced by the flight of Swedish capital to foreign investments, unemployment, currency & interest rate fluctuations, & banking system failures. Sources of tension within Sweden's social democracy include: (1) fragmentation within the union movement; (2) lack of focus of Social Democratic party leadership & policy; & (3) transformation of the political economy through dismantling of societal corporatism & European integration. There is little question that the old social democratic regime is being transformed, but the specifics of an alternative regime are not yet certain. D. Generoli

What is happiness? -- The two faces of happiness: a brief history -- Between pleasure and well-being: Bentham -- William Thompson's social happiness -- The politics of happiness -- Happiness and utility -- The politics of happiness and democratic principles -- From theory to practice: cooperatives, happiness and democratic social change -- Conclusion -- Appendices -- Appendix 1. Laws and objects of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, adopted 1844 -- Appendix 2. Statement on the co-operative identity -- Notes -- References.

Political party leaders are among the most influential actors in parliamentary democracies, and a change in party leadership is an important event for a party organization. Yet, we do not know how these leadership changes affect voter perceptions about party policy positions. On the one hand, we may expect party leadership changes to renew attention to the party, educate voters about its policy positions, and hence reduce disagreement among voters about party positions. On the other hand, rival parties may use a leadership change as an opportunity to defame the party, its leadership, and policies, and hence, increase voter confusion about the party's policies. Using data from seven Western European democracies, I show that leadership changes help parties reduce voter disagreement about party policy positions. This effect is stronger if the new leader shifts the party's policy positions.

The polarization of political parties in the United States is a well-documented phenomenon. This paper considers polarization of the judicial branch and relates it to the evolution of the parties. In this paper we define polarization specifically as movement from a modal distribution (of votes, attitudes, or decisions) to a bimodal distribution along a liberal-conservative spectrum over time. Using data compiled from 90,000 United States District Court decisions published in the Federal Supplement between 1934 and 2008, we find that the judiciary began to polarize in the 1960s and has remained polarized. We consider a number of competing explanations for the polarization of the district courts, including a top-down view that emphasizes presidential power and a bottom-up view that focuses on the sorting of elites that form the pool of potential judges.

The architects of the European project made a significant effort to create a set of symbols for the community (such as the EU flag, the map of Europe, the anthem, etc.), and recent evidence suggests that the main European values are nowadays spontaneously associated with them. We know little, however, about if and when national political actors choose to display these symbolic visual manifestations of Europe. In this study, we examine the presence of such symbols in parties' Euromanifestos since the first European elections. The presence of EU community symbols is correlated with several factors, suggesting that the display is consistent both with a policy-driven and with a vote-seeking logic. We explore at length the implications of these results for future visual analysis of parties' European messages and for the larger issue of European identity.

Vertical integration is an important concept for political parties. In multi-level or federal contexts, it is said to affect party strength, national integration and federal stability. Despite this, difficulties with the conceptualization and operationalization of vertical integration and a lack of cross-national data impede research. This article clarifies the concept of vertical integration, distinguishing it from related concepts of strength, centralization and autonomy and distinguishing the indicators of integration from the effects of integration. It introduces the measures of vertical integration and autonomy used in the Party Organization in Multi-Level Systems (POMLS) dataset comprising data from survey responses from 204 state-level parties in eight countries. The data confirm the theoretical distinctions among forms of vertical integration and between vertical integration and autonomy and show that not all forms of vertical integration are mutually reinforcing.

Proximity and directional spatial models yield different predictions for mass-elite linkages under alternative electoral systems. Whereas the proximity or Downsian model predicts that parties are likely to adopt positions that are closer to their voters, the alternative directional model predicts parties will adopt more extreme positions in order to generate political support among an electorate that has diffuse policy interests (Macdonald and Rabinowitz, 1989; Macdonald et al., 1991; Rabinowitz et al., 1991). Theoretical arguments lead us to expect that the directional model is most applicable in plurality systems, while the proximity model is best for describing party and voter behaviour in multiparty systems. While others have examined these models from a cross-national perspective, we employ an alternative research design using candidate and mass opinion data from New Zealand, where voters have experienced a change in the electoral system.

This article reports a comprehensive overview of new data on the levels of individual membership of political parties in twenty contemporary European democracies. Among the patterns noted in the data is the contrast between large and small democracies, as well as that between new and older democracies. However, the most striking feature to be noted is the sheer extent and consistency of membership decline through to the end of the 1990s. Not only have levels of party membership continued to decline as a proportion of the electorate, a trend which was already apparent at the end of the 1980s, there is now also compelling evidence of a major decline in the absolute numbers of party members across all the long-established European democracies. As these data clearly reveal, parties in contemporary Europe are rapidly losing their capacity to engage citizens.

This book provides a concise and accessible account of the historical experience of European parliaments - why different electoral systems were adopted, how they have functioned, how they have affected the development of political parties, and in what respects they have been found over time to be either suitable or unsatisfactory. The book begins with a summary of the main electoral systems, analysing and re-assessing each in the light of historical experience. The core of the book, however, is a country-by-country account of the systems which have operated in each of the main West European.

Examines the gradual mutation of the Finnish political system resulting from complementary processes of de-presidentialization that involved a shift from a semi-presidential towards a parliamentary type of executive & an increase in the prime minister's power within the newly parliamentarized political executive. Even though European integration has enhanced the personal power of prime ministers from other countries, it has strengthened parliamentarism in Finland. A description of the semi-presidential political system is followed by an overview of the changing balance of power from 1917 to 2000. Special attention is given to post-1980 factors that have resulted in movement from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary system characterized by a decrease in the president's power while those of the cabinet have been strengthened. Although the prime minister has become the effective head of the executive, the president retains prerogatives in both foreign policy & the appointment of senior civil servants. The importance of personal characteristics to the balance of power between president & prime minister is discussed. 4 Tables, 32 References. J. Lindroth