Democrat or Republican? The two political parties have become fixtures in the American political experience-main choices in all elections, from the national to the local level. But the distinction was not always so clear. When the Democratic Party wa

This book analyses the emergence of modern parties in nineteenth-century Europe and explores their connection with the slowly developing institution of democracy. The close relationship between party and democracy was established by the founders of the first modern parties who presented themselves as representatives of the people. Focusing on the ideas and practices of party founders, this book moves away from the traditional view that party formation was the result of industrialisation. It instead shows that the response of party founders was to frame and establish the modern party as an alternative to existing models of political representation, and one that was characterised by popular participation.In order to mobilize their followers, party founders gave new meaning to existing structures and developed new practices of political organization. The result was the creation of organizations that continue to shape the history of modern democracy. Exploring the foundation of three political parties: the German Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SDAP); the Dutch Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP); and the British National Liberal Federation, the author analyses the phenomenon of innovative party formation in nineteenth-century Europe, before the democratic mass-membership party had become a widely accepted concept. Taking a transnational and comparative approach, this book illustrates the decisive role of party founders in the formation of modern democracy, making it an essential read for anyone researching the history of democracy and political parties.

This work collects decades of the best published scholarship in English on the unequivocally most successful political party in Japanese history: the Liberal Democratic Party (the LDP). Governing Japan for almost the entirety of the post-war period, the LDP also has a claim to be the most successful political party in any post-war democracy. Seminal articles in this collection explore the key aspects of the LDP: the party’s evolution since its founding in 1955; key facets of the LDP’s internal organization including factions and koenkai; the LDP in policy-making, including its relationship with the bureaucracy and interest groups, as well as its policy-making committee apparatus; and, party leadership, including the premierships of Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe.

Western analysts have become increasingly concerned with President Putin's centralization and control, with the term 'managed democracy' becoming a byword for the state of the Russian polity. In this important exploration, David White examines the gradual electoral decline of Russia's leading liberal party, the Yabloko Party. In doing so, he provides fascinating insights into the role of opposition, the development of the party system and, above all, the quality of democracy in Russia under President Putin. As an overtly democratic, liberal reformist party with a strong pro-Western orientation, the place and role of Yabloko in Russian politics is of concern to those interested both in the establishment of democratic norms and the relative strength of political forces promoting democratic and market reforms in Russia.

Originally published in 1981, this book covers the development of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from its inception to the end of the Weimar republic. Within a historical framework it analyses the role and operation of the SPD in the changing social and political climate of Germany and describes the party’s internal struggles throughout the period. The party continually debated its aims and the means to achieve them. Conducted by people such as Kautsky, Bernsteina dn Rosa Luxemburg, with close links to Marx, Engels and other leaders of the international socialist movement, this debate within the party was one of the most fundamental socialist controversies, whose relevance remains today.

Through an examination of key historical documents, this book chronicles the Democratic Party's complete transformation from the small-government, Jeffersonian party to a party of activist government and social progressivism during the presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. What are the objectives of today's Democratic Party, and what historic events have guided its evolution from a decidedly different ideological starting point more than 200 years ago? The Democratic Party: Documents Decoded supplies a thorough historical examination of the Democratic Party from its distant origins in George Washington's administration to the two-term administration of Barack Obama. Told through key documents and speeches, this history comes alive in the words and thoughts of those who built, sustained, and transformed the Democratic Party. No other book uses documents in this way to tell a comprehensive history of this party. The book utilizes primary documents to investigate a breadth of topics such as the Democratic party's positions on civil rights, discrimination, voting rights, taxation, representation, immigration, primary elections, caucuses, the Republican opposition, relations between church and state, the role of government, and foreign policy. The scholarly commentary provides essential context that bridges the gaps between documents and insightful explanations and clarifications of specific passages or terms to ensure reader comprehension. A work unlike any other on the history of the Democratic Party, this book will serve advanced high school students in government and history classes as well as undergraduate students taking courses in political science and history.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1970.