Suchergebnisse

The study of comparative European politics since the 1930s shows a shift from a largely normative and institutional concern with a few larger European countries towards a clear subdiscipline of modern political science. Marked influences were the need to rethink democratie development in the light of the rise of totalitarianism and the rapid decline of democracy in most emerging new states after 1945.The field shows a strand influence of the wish to bring the particular experience of individual countries onto the map of general comparative politics.Thus, one finds the effect of a typical cross-Channel dialogue contrasting Britain and France, the extrapolation of 'polarised pluralism' from an Italian background, the deliberate challenge to the Westminster model from consociational democracy theorists, and the transposition of Norwegian experience onto a Macro-Model of Europe in center-periphery terms. More recent developments also mirror new political developments, e.g. , neo-corporatism, the rise and crisis of the welfare state, and concerns about public policy generally. Yet such challenges pale compared to the potential effect which processes of European integration, the decline of bipolar international polities, and above all problems of democratic development in post-totalitarian Eastern and Central Europe, must haveon comparative politics in and on Europe.

Offers and discusses 9 principal themes for an analysis of political development from a comparative perspective. (RSM)

Zunächst stellt der Verfasser Organisationsstruktur und Selbstverständnis im niederländischen Parteiensystem des 19. Jahrhunderts im Zusammenhang mit der herrschenden Ideengeschichte dar. Die Rolle der Liberalen darin wird als gemäßigte, von deren Führer Thorbecke geprägte Bewegung gezeigt, die sich durch ideologischen und konstitutionellen Einfluß einerseits und das Fehlen einer festen Parteiorganisation andererseits auszeichnete. Mit dem Erstarken ihrer konfessionellen und sozialistischen Gegner stellte sich die Frage von Wahlbündnissen nur kurzfristig, das 1917 eingeführte Verhältniswahlsystem förderte zusammen mit der zunehmenden gesellschaftlichen Versäulung die Eigenständigkeit der Parteien; typisierend ist nach Ansicht des Autors, daß die Erfolge der anderen "Subkulturen" die Liberalen zu einer Minderheit in der niederländischen Politik stempelten. (KS)

The history & development of the concept of consociational democracy, proposed originally by Arend Lijphart (The Politics of Accommodation: Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands, U of California Press, 1968) are traced. The history of the Netherlands & interpretations of its politics predating Lijphart's are recounted. The state of comparative politics as a field is also outlined. Lijphart achieved a notable success, based on combining two theoretical foci: comparative elites, & the degree of fragmentation in political culture. Despite its substantial contributions, however, Lijphart's book is somewhat lacking in empirical evidence, being primarily analytical in focus & limited to a single case; moreover, its imitators sometimes fail to share its theoretical subtlety, making its influence not wholly favorable. W. H. Stoddard

Data are presented on 3 groups of factors in the pol'al recruitment of Dutch members of Parliament sitting in the Spr of 1968: (a) pol'al orientation & activity of fathers & other members of the representative's fam; (b) the development of soc & pol'al interests during the member's younger yrs; & (c) the cursus honorum through which members moved before nomination to Parliament. Within each of these groups the following tables are presented: (1) Fam milieu: degree of interest & pol'al activity of fathers & mothers of members; fam relationship between soc stratification & pol'al activity of father & other fam relations; degree of pol'al heredity in pol'al choice; the relation between pol'al identification & pol'al activity in parental circles & crossing of traditional party lines by members; diff's between the parties in pol'al activity of members' fam's. (2) Activities during youth: province & type of community in which members grew up; members' assessments of factors which influenced their pol'al choice; activity in various types of youth assoc's; extent of membership in certain traditional student fraternities & other student assoc's; party vote at first election in which member participated; age at which they began to show interest in pol'al office. (3) Cursus Honorum: membership of party executives at central & local level; membership of lower representative bodies; experience in other pol'al roles; factors in nomination; assessment of importance of certain desirable qualities in a member of Parliament. Certain diff's between Upper & Lower House, & between the major Dutch parties are summarized. These diff's can be partly attributed to diff's in the instit'al arrangement of the 2 Houses (eg, diff's in size, in nomination & election procedures, in demand on members' time, in party composition), & partly to historical & org'al diff's between the Dutch parties. IPSA.

Using data on fathers & parental grandfathers from a largescale survey held among all members of either House of the Dutch Parliament sitting in 1968, the soc background of members of Parliament is traced both re occup & soc stratification. The data show very little stability over 3 generations in occup'al background, & considerable verticle mobility. For the larger parties & for the 2 Houses as a whole, an index is constructed showing the average ranking of fathers & grandfathers on a prestige status scale. It appears that members of the Lower House come from higher soc milieus as measured by the ranking of fathers than members of the Upper House. This is particularly true of socialist members in the Lower House who score higher than either socialist Upper House members, or Lower House members of the 2 larger religious parties. Extensive data on the denomination of parents, grandparents & husbands or wives of members allow some insight into the extent to which traditional religious cleavage lines continue to determine pol'al recruitment. A diagram is presented to show the degree of traditional congruence between pol'al choice & religious denomination (or sub-denomination) & the extent to which 2 new anti-system parties (Democrats '66 & Farmer's Party) have successfully challenged the traditional divisions. On the whole, the close alignment between religious adherence & pol'al choice persists, both when measured by formal church association & actual church attendance. But liberals come from circles which are more traditionally identified with secular poi than members of the socialist party. In the latter case, the pot of 'breaking through' traditional religious boundaries materialized in some deliberate recruitment of orthodox-Protestant & Catholic members. But the traditional left-right division remains evident even when measured by the faith of parents & grandparents; a process of secularization is more characteristic for members of the non-confessional parties than a deliberate crossing of traditional pol'al boundaries by Catholics or orthodox-Protestants. IPSA.