Automatic Fiscal Stabiliser: Make it happen! EPC Discussion Paper, 2 May 2016

The eurozone crisis triggered a whole new series of innovations in EU economic governance in order to make the Union more resilient for the next economic downswing. But one of the more persistent issues are the socio-economic divergences between member states, identified by the Five Presidents’ Report as a major problem in the functioning of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Debates took place in recent years about automatic stabilisers, and more specifically about the possibility of introducing an unemployment insurance within the EMU. While the need for some form of fiscal risk-sharing has become a dominant view in expert circles, there has been much less progress among the main political parties and stakeholders. In this study, Regula Hess and László Andor analyse the political feasibility of the adoption of an automatic fiscal stabiliser (AFS) for the eurozone by evaluating actors’ positions towards three distinctive proposals: 1) cyclical shock insurance, 2) reinsurance, 3) a European basic unemployment insurance; they included an empirical case study of France and Germany as the most relevant players within the intergovernmental bargaining constellation. Although the authors realise the current political context makes the adoption of an AFS improbable, Hess and Andor encourage stakeholders to further pursue the discussion, as windows of opportunities can open at any time, and even give some suggestions on what the parameters of the most feasible proposal might be.

Party Members as an Electoral Linking Mechanism

While party membership figures are clearly in decline in several Western countries, different interpretations have been offered on the likely consequences of this trend. Some authors stress that members have lost most of their importance for political parties that increasingly rely on professionalized campaign techniques. Other scholars have expressed concern about the decline of party membership. They emphasize the fact that party members continue to function as an important linkage mechanism providing a structural alignment between the party and society (and thus also to potential voters). By means of an election forecasting model for Belgium, we test whether party membership figures still can be related to election results. Results show that party membership has a strong effect on election results, and furthermore, that this relation does not weaken during the period under investigation (1981-2010). The analysis also demonstrates that forecasting models can also be used in a complex multiparty system like Belgium.

Election Forecasting under Opaque Conditions

Election forecasting models assume retrospective economic voting and clear mechanisms of accountability. Previous research indeed indicates that incumbent political parties are being held accountable for the state of the economy. In this article we develop a ‘hard case’ for the assumptions of election forecasting models. Belgium is a multiparty system with perennial coalition governments. Furthermore, Belgium has two completely segregated party systems (Dutch and French language). Since the prime minister during the period 1974-2011 has always been a Dutch language politician, French language voters could not even vote for the prime minister, so this cognitive shortcut to establish political accountability is not available. Results of an analysis for the French speaking parties (1981-2010) show that even in these conditions of opaque accountability, retrospective economic voting occurs as election results respond to indicators with regard to GDP and unemployment levels. Party membership figures can be used to model the popularity function in election forecasting.

La política, los partidos y las elecciones en Argentina 2015 : ¿Hacia un cambio en el campo político?

Este artículo propone ordenar el campo político argentino en torno a dos clivajes. El primero está representado por el clásico izquierda y derecha, el segundo por el peronismo y la posición "gorila" (antiperonista). Luego de una caracterización de los espacios ideológicos, usamos conceptos de la física (masa, fuerza y campo gravitacional) para analizar la dinámica de los partidos políticos y el futuro abierto luego de las últimas elecciones presidenciales de 2015

La política, los partidos y las elecciones en Argentina 2015 : ¿Hacia un cambio en el campo político?

Este artículo propone ordenar el campo político argentino en torno a dos clivajes. El primero está representado por el clásico izquierda y derecha, el segundo por el peronismo y la posición "gorila" (antiperonista). Luego de una caracterización de los espacios ideológicos, usamos conceptos de la física (masa, fuerza y campo gravitacional) para analizar la dinámica de los partidos políticos y el futuro abierto luego de las últimas elecciones presidenciales de 2015

Drivers of populism - A four-country comparison of party communication in the run-up to the 2014 European Parliament elections

The aim of this paper is to analyze what different types of populist communication styles emerged during the 2014 EP election campaign and under which conditions political parties selected specific populist communication styles. To do this, a comparative quantitative content analysis of press releases in the run-up of the latest EP elections has been conducted for parties in France, Germany, Austria and Greece. The paper presents a definition of populism based on the contemporary academic discourse, which focuses on the transnational nature of the European political field. It is shown that populist party communication is more pronounced on the fringes of the political spectrum and in countries struggling with severe macroeconomic difficulties. Contrary to intuitive expectations, the perceived populist rhetoric of exclusivity in the context of the European sovereign debt crisis, which is identified as a central feature of right-wing populism, barely takes place within populist party communication.

La acción funesta de los tradicionales en la reforma constitucional

Mode of access: Internet.

Venezuela's Movimiento al Socialismo : from guerrilla defeat to innovative politics /

Includes index.

Carta orgánica del Partido Colorado.

Includes index.

Los partidos políticos en Colombia; breve ojeada histórica, la obra administrativa de los partidos, progresos materiales, adelantos en las instituciones y en las leyes, el último proceso electoral ... la convención de Ibagué ...

Mode of access: Internet.

Toward a farmer-labor party,

"A selected bibliography": p. 54-55.

Stronnictwo Demokratyczno-Narodowe w świetle nauki katolickiej /

Includes bibliographical references.

Plan of a direct election law for determining true primary and final elections [...].

Mode of access: Internet.

I partiti politici e Il Partito operaio /

Mode of access: Internet.

A függetlenségi párt.

Mode of access: Internet.